NYC&HRRR 4673

Work Continues on Loco 2.

I installed the lag bolts from the frame into the milk bottles.  Well 3.9 of them.  Two of them got tight during installing, so I switched to hand tools after starting with the impact driver.  Sadly I did the second one first, and when I went back to the first it snapped.   Most likely at the joint between the threads and the shank.  So it is only into the milk bottle about 3/4 of an inch.  As it is it is adding rigidity to the corner post.  It will hold up if someone pushes on the body that slides over the top, but either way, solid bolt or broken one will have damage in a major crash or derailment.

I also mounted the battery charger again.  as well as the remaining motor and power wires to the sabertooth.

In the past the mount for the charging plug was loose.  It would occasionally fall out the door.  I mounted the holding bracket on a piece of oak screwed and glued to the battery charger plywood base so I can get my fingers under the plug to pull it free.

Setting the batteries on the loco has a good ride height and each corner goes up and down with added and reduced weight.

The radio system functions as it did before.  It is interesting, when the handheld if shut off the speed ramps to zero quickly, when the receiver is shut off the speed ramps to zero about 5 times slower.  The first has to be in the radio receiver programming, the second in the sabertooth's.

I will have to reprogram the sabertooth to accommodate the head end choice switch, which is now non-functioning.  But the other 4 "switches":

Switch 1 - Master Slave
Switch 2 - TX power
Switch 3 - Head End Selection
Switch 4 - Foot Pedal Override
MU plugged in or not

0,1,0,0,0 -correct - Not responsive to radio volts and amps show on screen
1,1,0,0,0 -correct - Responsive to radio 0 to speed step 4.  Deadman pedal responsive 0-16

0,0,0,0,1 -correct - Speed & direction controlled by MU pendant. 0-8mph it would be nice if top speed was dependent on deadman pedal position like with the radio system but it is not.

0,0,0,1,1 -correct - Speed & direction controlled by pendant, 0-8mph
0,1,0,0,1 -correct - Speed & direction controlled by pendant.  Radio shows voltage & amp, does not control the speed or direction
1,1,0,0,1 -correct - Not fond of how this works.  Direction responsive to radio, speed responsive to pendant but does adjust very slightly with radio, radio can not stop the locomotive.  basically what I am doing is having two things as master, the pendant and the radio system, so I know the system may fail in that condition.   Later we can switch to i2c for the MU system and we can have better responses.  IE two masters will result in neither one running.

I also realized I forgot to put grease behind each bearing on the journals.  Now to do that I need to undo the chains, drop the axles, add the grease and reassemble.

Also on the to do list is adding in an odometer.  I have to make a mounting bracket and mount the display.  This can be done the same time as I do the greasing.

If I want to I can add a headlight hidden behind the lumber door.

I may also add brakes to the loco.  Mechanical brakes are more important to me than air brakes, but I may set it up for both.  The compressor would be in a riding car.