Juddery County Class

[ajcooper4]

I posted about this issue on the last forum just as it shut down and the old material was lost!

My Hornby County Class has a Zimo sound chip from youchoos fitted and working. There are times when it's a bit juddery - even after the track has had a good clean.

I realise it's a Railroad and so not the most expensive loco but I'm thinking it shouldn't be this bad - when it judders the sounds goes as well. Move the loco a little, turn the sound back on and off we go again. I recall two things. Someone mentioned issues with back EMF and snipping off some of the DC components. Someone else mentioned stay alives - which I'm guessing are capacitors which keep feeding the motor if there's any kind of interuption.

Can anyone offer any words of wisdom please? Many thanks.

[Walkingthedog]

Did it work perfectly on DC before it was converted.

[Brian]

I would firstly check the wheels treads are all spotlessly clean and any rear of wheel wipers are continually in contact with the wheels all the time, even when the wheels move across the loco slightly and of course the face of the wipers and the wheels inside face they rub onto are clean. Use a fibre pencil and follow up with Isopropanol Alcohol (IPA) 99.9 % type or Meths applied via a cotton bud.

Use the IPA or Meths to clean the rails too. Use a lint free cloth to apply the fluid to the rails.

[Mountain Goat]

Dissable (Or reduce) both the back emf and the inertia settings. I had to reduce the inertia to a very low level to get good running.

[ajcooper4]

Never ran on DC so can’t say. Back emf & inertia settings? Is that via the DCC controller?

I will also carefully clean again. I’m still working on it so suspect it gets dirty rather more quickly!

[Mountain Goat]

Yes, via the dcc controller. Most dcc controllers you can alter the cv settings. Take a look at the decoder instructions first as this tells you what the decoder features are. I then find the need to check my controllers manual as I dont use it often so I tend to forget how to use it for things like programming.
What I found is that locos which dont have all wheel pickups may have small interuptions in their current collection which can pay havoc if one has a decoder with inertia. I had one loco which would do a complete stop at the slightest bit of current interuption. Once I set the inertia settings to cancel out the inertia I had no issues with it. I was told that decoders with EMF can also act up and by altering the EMF settings one can solve issues. I found that it is a bit of trial and error. One can always use the factory reset command if one alters too many settings and messes things up.

[Of corse wheels need to be clean and contacts checked that they work ok etc].

[Forfarian]

Do you run any other locos that are fitted with traction tyres?.
If you do they are probable one of the causes, due to the dirt and rubber being transferred to the track and interfering with the wheel contact of the DCC loco.
Traction tyres are banned on my layout!

[Walkingthedog]

Which County class is it, the 4-4-0 or the 4-6-0?

[ajcooper4]

At the moment the County is the only one running as the layout is very much in its infancy. It is the Hornby Railroad 4-4-0 with youchoos sound chip - Zimo I think.

One legacy issue is that when I first had the loco the middle tender axle didn’t turn well - too much friction from the brushes off the bus bar. Now only front and rear pick ups as had to bend the middle brushes back to allow rotation. I really don’t think this is the issue though. Going forward I may replace the pick up assembly in the tender but, as I say, I’m pretty sure this isn’t the issue.

[ajcooper4]

Forgot to add - I am using the Gaugemaster Prodigy Express.