Australian and New Zealand Fans Of LEGO - Forum
Login to ANZFOL!

Don't have an account? If you're in the Australia and New Zealand region, then why not make one?

It's free, it gets rid of those annoying unrelated ads when browsing the boards, and it only takes a few seconds to set up before you can start posting and discussing LEGO with the great ANZFOL community!

We look foward to seeing you on the boards!


Cheers,


Darth Legois, Captain Zuloo and the ANZFOL team!

Join the forum, it's quick and easy

Australian and New Zealand Fans Of LEGO - Forum
Login to ANZFOL!

Don't have an account? If you're in the Australia and New Zealand region, then why not make one?

It's free, it gets rid of those annoying unrelated ads when browsing the boards, and it only takes a few seconds to set up before you can start posting and discussing LEGO with the great ANZFOL community!

We look foward to seeing you on the boards!


Cheers,


Darth Legois, Captain Zuloo and the ANZFOL team!
Australian and New Zealand Fans Of LEGO - Forum
Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.

9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v

4 posters

Go down

9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v Empty 9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v

Post by Kaila Thu 01 Nov 2012, 10:51 am

Hi I got a question about track maintenance, tried to pose it over on EB but nobody replied >.<

Basically I had some track from 30 years ago and back then the train stopped going around the track. I thought the transformer was broken and/or the motor. At the time I tried to 'fix' the motor and actually broke it for real lol. Well fast forward to 2012 and a couple guys on EB told me that probably it's just the 12v track that needs cleaning legoeyeshutlaughing Nobody ever told me this when I got it in the early 80's and I figured it should just work unless of course it's rusty..

Well anyways I cleaned the track with metho 2 days ago and behold it works.. oh and for the record I now have 3 transformers and the 2 euro ones seem to put out around 15% extra speed over my Aussie one.. don't ask me to explain I dunno whats going on.

So this brings me to my next question.. I now have a few 9v sets but am yet to actually open and try them, do they require the same level of cleaning/maintenance as the 12v stuff or are they easier to deal with?


9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v Train-10
Kaila
Kaila
Silver Fern
Silver Fern

Number of posts : 460
Location : Brisbane
Registration date : 2012-07-07

http://www.giantess.ws

Back to top Go down

9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v Empty Re: 9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v

Post by peterab Fri 02 Nov 2012, 12:56 pm

The 9V rails tend to self clean, at first the train may be a little jerky, but after a while it should improve. My train club just runs a bare motor around the circuit for a few laps during setup. You may have to clean the rails if they've not been used for years. An eraser should help or metho would also work.

The European transformers are designed for 220V rather than our 240V, so you get about a 10% speed increase. You also get an increased risk of overheating and burning out your motor.


Last edited by peterab on Fri 02 Nov 2012, 1:22 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : typo corrected)
peterab
peterab
Town Moderator
Town Moderator

Title : Slippery roundhouse fingers
Number of posts : 665
Location : Melbourne Australia
Registration date : 2009-04-04

Back to top Go down

9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v Empty Re: 9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v

Post by Lightningtiger Fri 02 Nov 2012, 1:09 pm

Those 220V ones might get a little warm too ! legowink
You can also try using Silvo polish on the metal rails......works great for polishing electrical contacts. legowink
Lightningtiger
Lightningtiger
Kelly Gang Member
Kelly Gang Member

Title : Town MOC builder genius !
Number of posts : 1668
Location : Adelaide
Registration date : 2009-10-30

Back to top Go down

9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v Empty Re: 9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v

Post by brickie Sat 03 Nov 2012, 3:19 am

I gave up using 12V track a few years ago as you would have to spend a lot of time cleaning the track [ and the connectors under the motors ] before you could run your trains. As peterab said, 9v is self cleaning usually.

12V is superior to 9V in the range of accessories available; motorised points, flashing boom gates, etc.

I found that it was more efficient to convert the 12V trains to 9V and find [ borrow ] MOC solutions for points, crossings, etc. A search of the net will give details on these.

I find that 9V is also superior to PF on a large layout for ease of control.

One of the BrisBricks members at train shows loves putting basic 9V motors with a few attachments on the track. At the last show he had a cowboy riding a horse on one motor closely followed by an Indian galloping along with spear in hand.

The kids loved it and were cheering on their favourite. legolaugh
brickie
brickie
Forum Administrator
Forum Administrator

Number of posts : 565
Location : Logan City
Registration date : 2011-02-23

Back to top Go down

9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v Empty Re: 9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v

Post by brickie Sat 03 Nov 2012, 3:31 am

Kaila wrote: EB told me that probably it's just the 12v track that needs cleaning Nobody ever told me this when I got it in the early 80's and I figured it should just work unless of course it's rusty..



Inside the back cover of the instruction books [ 7740 ], it shows a picture of track cleaning and says to 'clean regularly with metho'.

It should have said every 10 minutes. legoheadbang


Last edited by brickie on Sat 03 Nov 2012, 3:32 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : didn't need photo)
brickie
brickie
Forum Administrator
Forum Administrator

Number of posts : 565
Location : Logan City
Registration date : 2011-02-23

Back to top Go down

9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v Empty Re: 9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v

Post by Kaila Sat 03 Nov 2012, 4:22 am

brickie wrote:
Kaila wrote: EB told me that probably it's just the 12v track that needs cleaning Nobody ever told me this when I got it in the early 80's and I figured it should just work unless of course it's rusty..



Inside the back cover of the instruction books [ 7740 ], it shows a picture of track cleaning and says to 'clean regularly with metho'.

It should have said every 10 minutes. legoheadbang

Yep I'm starting to get that impression lol. Could this be the reason Lego dumped 12v in the first place? And if it was then wouldn't it have been more logical for them to create a new signal/accessory add on for the 9 volt range to emulate 12v?
Kaila
Kaila
Silver Fern
Silver Fern

Number of posts : 460
Location : Brisbane
Registration date : 2012-07-07

http://www.giantess.ws

Back to top Go down

9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v Empty Re: 9V track maintenance as opposed to 12v

Post by Sponsored content


Sponsored content


Back to top Go down

Back to top

- Similar topics

 
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum