# Adding extra elecrical wheel pickup



## Mister Bill (Jan 30, 2014)

I read the "supplies needed" post and saw the You Tube demo adding the .0125 wire.

Has anyone tried the additional pickup and does it really make a difference?

Bill


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

in some cases, yes
most newer loco's have all wheelset power pickup, i have an old rivarossi heisler that had one side front, opposite side rear, i that case it did make a difference, i have insulated frogs which made it worse, but all is good now ..


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

With the Overland brass models, I'm surprised that they still only get power off of two wheels on each side of the C truck locos.


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## Howard1975 (Jan 6, 2014)

I'm a firm believer that adding additional pickups when needed is a wise decision. Otherwise you will experience stalling and hesitation in the train. Which is another reason modelers often use two or more powered locomotives for a single train. It means more reliable electrical pickup. And I have observed locomotives with many wheels (that pickup electricity) usually run better, compared to something with only a few wheels. It's almost impossible for a tiny locomotive with only 4 wheels (like a 0-4-0 steam engine), to run as good as something with 12 wheel pickup (like most modern diesels). The tiny 0-4-0 will tend to stall at any opportunity it gets, such as going slowly over a turnout (switch), especially switches with plastic frogs. The 12 wheel diesel on the other hand, will normally easily glide over the exact same piece of track, with little or no hesitation.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

I haven't seen the Youtube video showing how to add power
pickups to loco wheels. How do you find it?

Don


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## Sasha (Jul 8, 2012)

I have owned 6 or 7 Bachmann Spectrum DDA40X Centennials. They are all-wheel drive, but only 8-wheel electrical pickup. I modified all of them to have 16-wheel electrical pickup. They certainly do run better with no stalling, no flickering, etc. The trick is to be careful enough not to add drag and needlessly tax the motors.

- Dad


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## thetramp (Dec 14, 2012)

here's the link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFxTNI-HILc


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## deedub35 (Jan 29, 2014)

I have bought bronze phosphor wipes from Rod Miller several times ...

http://www.rodmiller.com/parts.html#wipers


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