Large Scale Central

REVO Overload Pronlem

Electronics Power and Sound
#1

So, I recently installed the new REVO onboard into my 2008 edition of a SD 45, pulling a battery car, plus 5 other cars, and a caboose. Cars were all recently serviced and lubed. It ran perfectly for about 45 minutes, then suddenly stopped. The TX indicated “Overload,” where it normally indicates “LinkOK.” I unplugged the battery, and it restarted fine. It ran for 15 minutes, and stopped again. It stopped in an incontinent place, so I repeated the battery disconnect/restart, to get it down to a more convenient place. It ran 20 feet.

It starts up fine, now, on the test track, but I haven’t taken it out for a spin.

Any ideas?

I’ve tried to find contact info for Navin, but, so far, no joy. Anybody have his phone number?

#2

Hi Steve, the Revolution can handle a steady 5 amp draw and 7 amp stall current for a short time. The display is telling you the receiver is overheating and shutting down. Can you run the loco & battery car without any cars for a longer time? If it was your battery shutting off the display would not report that. What battery did you choose?

Call Navin at 201-565-6069

#3

Steve if it is new and under warranty here is the contact info.

Contact info:
16 Chestnut St. Ste 201E 3, Emerson , NJ 07630
[email protected]
201-221-6766
http://www.revoelectronics.com/contacts/

you may or maynot get Navin

Richard

#4

Don Sweet said:

Hi Steve, the Revolution can handle a steady 5 amp draw and 7 amp stall current for a short time. The display is telling you the receiver is overheating and shutting down. Can you run the loco & battery car without any cars for a longer time? If it was your battery shutting off the display would not report that. What battery did you choose?

Call Navin at 201-565-6069

Hi Don. Haven’t tried to run the loco and battery car by themselves. It was a cool morning, perhaps 75° F at the time of overheating. I was using the 18.5v 6 amp lipo that I got from Robbie. I’ll be contacting you soon on another battery. Thanks for the info.

#5

Richard Beverly said:

Steve if it is new and under warranty here is the contact info.

Contact info:
16 Chestnut St. Ste 201E 3, Emerson , NJ 07630
[email protected]
201-221-6766
http://www.revoelectronics.com/contacts/

you may or maynot get Navin

Richard

Thanks, Richard.

#6

Update. I took it for a test drive just now. 88°F, all downhill or level, battery car only. It lasted just over 6 minutes, before crapping out. It’s definitely sick. I’ll call Navin tomorrow. It’s nearly 6:00 pm in New Jersey. If he hasn’t left yet, he’s on the way out the door.

#7

It stopped in an incontinent place…

Well that stinks. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

#8

David Maynard said:

It stopped in an incontinent place…

Well that stinks. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

I hate Bill Gates and his autocorrect that only works when you hit the “do it” button.

#9

David Maynard said:

It stopped in an incontinent place…

Well that stinks. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

I hate Bill Gates and his autocorrect that only works when you hit the “do it” button.

#10

Steve, I had a problem a while back (couple of years ago) with a revolution going into overload… When It was checked out, we found a wire had been pinched when the engine shell was put back on… Moved the wire, and really haven’t the problem with that engine or revo again… Just a thought…

#11

Worth checking out. Thanks, Andy. Trons got choked off eh?

#12

A friend of mine also had an incident where, there was one wild hair from a wire, did not affect the engine when running on traditional DC, but the Revo Receiver was doing something similar.

#13

Hi Steve,

Just had this problem with my LGM Mallet. It would run for a little while - then overload. Intervals got shorter and shorter before the overload occurred. The Loco had run fine all summer. Anyway, I took it apart and after a complete inspection, I test ran each motor block seperatley and noticed one was a fair bit “noisier” than the other. Then I bench tested each motor block using an ammeter…Voila!. One of the motors was using twice the amperage as the other and periodically it would spike the meter way past 10 amps. This coincided with the noise I was hearing. I could also see a lot of sparking inside the motor can when I took it out of the block. It was cooked. I orderd a new pair of LGB short shaft motors, replaced them and It’s been running fine since. I’m not sure what happened to the motor but It doesn’t seem like it can be taken apart and rebuilt. Using cleaners and such didn’t help either. Might be worth a look.

Mike

#14

I just spoke with Navin, and here’s the gouge.

It seems that the problem lies with the PC Board that came with the SD 45. Yes, the receiver is fried, but the problem lies with the PC Board that came with the SD 45. Apparently, the Chinese found a cheaper easier, less expensive way to build that board. It didn’t become apparent until after the REVO 1 was introduced. That required a flight to the factory to get it fixed, and the new, correct board was included in the late, last run of SD 45s. My SD is not one of those, though it is described as a last run. All SD 45s are affected, no other Aristo locomotive is affected. If your SD 45 PC Board is labeled Version 1.10, and dated 11/15/2000, you have the problem.

Now, for the good news. Navin purchased the last shipment of SD 45 PC Boards. Also has parts for the drive. The board includes all the wiring, so it is really plug and play, no soldering needed. There is also an updated smoke board (?), as that seems to be most of the problem. I plan to get one for each of my two SD 45s. $40.00 each. It’s not a warranty item, as Aristo no longer exists, Scott’s attempt folded, and Navin doesn’t work for the family. I just count myself lucky that the boards are available.

Note to retailers, if you still have SD 45s for sale, you might think about letting your customers know. You might even think about changing out the board before sale.

#15

One more thing. The switches on the new boards don’t line up with the holes for the switches. Some minor surgery is required.

#16

I’ll have to call Navin to find out what the issue is. Since the loco runs, there must be some other part of the circuitry that is causing the overload, should be simple to fix.

Greg

#17

Greg, any word from Navin?

#18

Did not have a chance yet to ask, will try tomorrow.

Greg

#19

Hi Guys, I did talk to Navin and you would have to modify the traces on the circuit board to fix the problem. Greg could probably do it but I am not going to spend that much time or ruin the board. So I bought a board to make the swap out.

#20

Don Sweet said:

Hi Guys, I did talk to Navin and you would have to modify the traces on the circuit board to fix the problem. Greg could probably do it but I am not going to spend that much time or ruin the board. So I bought a board to make the swap out.

I have no idea what you’re talking about. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)

I’m buying 2 new boards. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

@Greg. Remember, not many of us have a double E degree. Please keep it simple. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)