# Short with passenger car light?



## chrisallen21 (Sep 1, 2016)

Trying to diagnose an apparent electrical problem with one of my passenger cars (960 series) being pulled by my 474 Diesel Rocket. 

The light has varying intensity as it goes around the track so I am guessing there is a short somewhere. Any thoughts on where to look? If there was a short on the truck beds you would think that the light wouldn't come on at all. The rubber insulators as part of the rivet attachment seem to be fine and I cleaned the wheels so they look fine from a contact perspective. I know the track isn't the best but I would have expected varying intensity from the Rocket light as well if the track was the issue.

I have uploaded a short video to show you what I mean. I had to zip the file because the upload function on this forum does not allow videos. It is a mp4 video which should play in just about any player.

I will add that all of my passenger cars have the same problem so I is there an outside chance that this is by design? It just seems odd that they all do it but who knows, maybe the same problem is affecting all of the cars. I did see a video of a sweet setup pulling some passenger cars and the last one exhibited the same behaviour as what I am seeing.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

ALL, and I mean ALL, of my flyer passenger cars do the same thing. It doesn't matter if it's my green passenger cars, red,plastic, aluminum, or even some of my cabooses. It must be a Gilbert design fluke, unlike my Lionel stuff or MTH stuff, which work great...No matter what I do, I can't get them to work the way I'd like.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Anytime that you have flickering lights on a car
there is an electrical continuity problem. I don't
think you have a short circuit, the loco would stop
or pause if you did.

More likely you have dirty car wheels or track, or
the wipers that contact the wheels or axle are
not firmly touching.

There can also be a broken wire from the
trucks to the light.

Don


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

If one pickup isn't connected, they'll flicker more. What you have is probably what Don suggests, dirty wheels or track.

Of course, LED lighting would solve that...


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

DonR said:


> Anytime that you have flickering lights on a car
> there is an electrical continuity problem. I don't
> think you have a short circuit, the loco would stop
> or pause if you did.
> ...


Or the wipers themselves are corroded. Besides cleaning the track and pick-up wheels, polish the wipers and the axles (or wheel backsides) that they contact with.


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## The New Guy (Mar 11, 2012)

I've read you can add capacitors and other gizmo type thingys* to even out the lights. I have not tried it, but a search should bring up some leads.

*technical vocabulary unavoidable.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

The New Guy said:


> I've read you can add capacitors and other gizmo type thingys* to even out the lights. I have not tried it, but a search should bring up some leads.
> 
> *technical vocabulary unavoidable.


It's not quite as simple as adding capacitors. First off, if you're running incandescent bulbs, you'd have to have large storage capacity to eliminate flicker. My lighting modules for LED's rectify the AC to DC, then add a large filter capacitor to eliminate the flicker, and finally have an adjustable constant current regulator to keep the lights steady.


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## chrisallen21 (Sep 1, 2016)

Thanks for all of the replies. I sat the car on the track by itself and added some power from the transformer and I did notice that if I pushed down a little bit on the truck or moved the wheels slightly, the light intensity would vary so the comments regarding wheel contact are likely bang on. As well, if I repositioned on a different section of the track, the light intensity would also vary. For now I will call it a 'feature' of the passenger cars and move onto other repairs like replacing the fingers on the Eunit of my 474 Diesel. That should be some fun!


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

The 660 and 960 series cars have die cast trucks that with use show axle hole wear. First check the truck sideframes to see how far out of round the axle holes are. If they are close to round the axle holes, axle ends and pickup wheels need to be thoroughly cleaned with contact cleaner. If they are oval shaped to the point the sideframes begin to contact the rails they will need to be repaired with brass bushings. With clean track these will then run with a minimum of flickering.


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## PhoebeSnow (Mar 1, 2014)

I've noticed that when I run my 600 series passenger cars behind my 334 DC Northern which runs on DC current the lights don't flicker but when I run them behind my 325 AC Berkshire which runs on AC current on the same track the lights flicker.


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## The New Guy (Mar 11, 2012)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> It's not quite as simple as adding capacitors...


Hence the thingys. 

What I read was so long ago, and with an interest of near zero, it's lucky I remember seeing it at all. I bet they were swapping out the lights too. That would be more practical. seems anyway.


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