[callmeIshmael2]

Although I've been an O-gauger for years, I'm trying to help my son with his HO layout. We have trouble understanding the hookup from the tender wipers to the loco. Right now, the loco moves okay on its own. as soon as the tender is on the rails, the loco won't work. I've tried different wiring solutions with no luck. Could someone pls. explain how the tender works and why it has a resistor or capacitor inside it? Is it only for the light hookup to the loco? I notice the tender also has a light on rear. No lights work so far. Thanks!

 

[LateStarter]

Have you tried turning one of the tender trucks around?

 

[callmeIshmael2]

Thanks, Late Starter for the reply. Don't know why turning tender truck around would work as both look exactly the same. Forgive my ignorance - HO tech is not my strong point. To do that would do what? Thanks...

 

[Krieglok]

Thanks, Late Starter for the reply. Don't know why turning tender truck around would work as both look exactly the same. Forgive my ignorance - HO tech is not my strong point. To do that would do what? Thanks...

The tender trucks usually pickup current. If they are turned the wrong way, they will produce a dead short when attacked to the engine.

You can see which side of the truck is insulated by the plastic inserts in the wheels. You may have one truck turned the wrong way...

Tom

 

[traction fan]

Diode

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View attachment 513510 Although I've been an O-gauger for years, I'm trying to help my son with his HO layout. We have trouble understanding the hookup from the tender wipers to the loco. Right now, the loco moves okay on its own. as soon as the tender is on the rails, the loco won't work. I've tried different wiring solutions with no luck. Could someone pls. explain how the tender works and why it has a resistor or capacitor inside it? Is it only for the light hookup to the loco? I notice the tender also has a light on rear. No lights work so far. Thanks!

callmeIshmael;

The electronic component inside the tender is a diode, not a resistor or capacitor. It's used for turning the rear-facing light on the tender on, when the loco and tender are going in reverse. A diode only conducts current in one direction so the tender light will turn off when going forward. The diode should have nothing to do with your loco not moving. It only operates the backup light.

To find out why the tender is stopping the loco, first turn the tender trucks so that both trucks have the insulated wheels on the same side of the tender. From your photos, I can see that both tender trucks have electrical pickup terminals attached to the screws that hold the trucks to the tender's plastic floor. The front and rear truck's terminals are connected to each other by a wire. Assume your son's HO track runs east to west. If one truck is positioned so as to pick up power from the "north" rail, and the other tender truck is positioned to pick up power from the "south rail, The two truck's pickups, through that wire, between them, will provide a direct short-circuit path from the "north" rail to the "south" rail.
Try it with both truck's insulated wheels on the right side, and if that doesn't work, try it with them all on the left side. To understand two-rail DC electrical control, think of the center rail, and one of the outside rails of your three-rail O-gage track. Those work the same as two-rail. If anything shorted between those two rails, your O-gage loco wouldn't go.

If that doesn't fix the problem, you will need to use a multimeter to find out what's shorted in the tender. If you don't own a multimeter, they're available cheap ($5-$10) from harbor freight tools. www.harborfreight.com The meter comes with directions, and batteries already in it.

good luck;

Traction Fan :smilie_daumenpos:

 

[Dennis461]

..... Right now, the loco moves okay on its own. as soon as the tender is on the rails, the loco won't work. I've tried different wiring solutions with no luck. Could someone pls. explain how the tender works and why it has a resistor or capacitor inside it? Is it only for the light hookup to the loco? I notice the tender also has a light on rear. No lights work so far. Thanks!

Turn the tender over.
Take a picture.
Post it in this thread.
Does the tendor have metal wheels?
Does the tender have metal axles?

I suspect both + and - must come from the engine to tender.

And there is a short in the tender.

 

[Dennis461]

duplicate post

 

[Jscullans]

Will the locomotive run without the tender? I’ve got one of the ihc 4-8-2 locomotives that doesn’t need the tender that will isolate the issue to where ya possibly need to look.

 

[Jscullans]

As I read further through the post I realized I mis understood the issue. You definitely have a short in the tender. One of the trucks is backwards. I’ll grab my tender and get you pictures of what it’s supposed to look like

 

[x_doug_x]

I'm looking at the picture, and for starters the tender is backwards, there is suppose to be a white plug on the locomotive that plugs into the white plug on the tender. Also the light on the tender is suppose to be towards the rear of the tender not towards engine. The whole tender needs turned around first, then try running the 2 wires from the engine to that white plug, you can just touch them to the track first or each side of the white plug and see if it moves.

 

[Lemonhawk]

It looks to me that the leads of the diode are not insulated and could short to the weight when the top of the tender is put on. Does anyone know for sure if the if the tender trucks need to be set to pick both the A and B side of the track? Or does the the tender only pick up one side and the locomotive the other? It's certainly not clear from the pictures. The Locomotive appears to have had the connector removed or perhaps this tender does not go with the locomotive. Too many possibilities here to figure out!

 

[x_doug_x]

It looks to me that the leads of the diode are not insulated and could short to the weight when the top of the tender is put on. Does anyone know for sure if the if the tender trucks need to be set to pick both the A and B side of the track? Or does the the tender only pick up one side and the locomotive the other? It's certainly not clear from the pictures. The Locomotive appears to have had the connector removed or perhaps this tender does not go with the locomotive. Too many possibilities here to figure out!

Tender prob. goes with locomotive and clip was removed from locomotive. Not a big deal, they can be wired together and left together to work fine. Next off, judging from the fact there are 2 wires going to the tender i'm willing to bet the tender picks up positive and negative somehow.

 

[CTValleyRR]

It looks to me that the leads of the diode are not insulated and could short to the weight when the top of the tender is put on. Does anyone know for sure if the if the tender trucks need to be set to pick both the A and B side of the track? Or does the the tender only pick up one side and the locomotive the other? It's certainly not clear from the pictures. The Locomotive appears to have had the connector removed or perhaps this tender does not go with the locomotive. Too many possibilities here to figure out!

I have a couple of IHC Command XXV steamers made by Mehano. The tender wheels on those have both the positive and negative pickups. I accidentally reversed a truck on one of those and it was dead as a door nail until I fixed the truck.