Well things progress, aside from my first shipments from Japan being en-route (boy does the shipping hurt lol), but I also today dismantled and fixed the 1 defective of the 8 Takara locomotives I received from Hong Kong the other week! 
It was really weird, the battery terminals were pristine as was the general look of the train, however after some careful dissassembly (not knowing how these things go together) and then doing some continuity testing I found that the fault was the negative wire from the battery box.
That proved a bit of a pain as although the middle car was fixed together with screws, the top and bottom were also glued/welded presumably at manufacture - I guess they assume people would never really have a problem with that part. Anyway the fault turned out to be the negative wire had simply seemed to have rotted away, as when I got it open it was broken in several places although there was no pressure or stress points - very odd. Even more curiously the positive wire went through the single pole on/off switch then again through the micro on/off switch and had perfect continuity.
Anyway I rewired both just in case, checking for contuinity as I went, re-assembled it several times while trying to remember/figure out the wire routing, and finally got it all back together and working. It now runs like a new train, superb
So my easter break starts in a good way!!!
On top of that I've also figured out how these all work now so if any of my other auction wins prove to be troublesome I have a good idea how to disassemble and repair them. The only component that worries me a bit at the moment is the surface mount on/off micro switch. I can find several similar ones, but they are all just momentary contact rather than on/off. But I'm sure I'll find a supplier eventually
Have fun...
It was really weird, the battery terminals were pristine as was the general look of the train, however after some careful dissassembly (not knowing how these things go together) and then doing some continuity testing I found that the fault was the negative wire from the battery box.
That proved a bit of a pain as although the middle car was fixed together with screws, the top and bottom were also glued/welded presumably at manufacture - I guess they assume people would never really have a problem with that part. Anyway the fault turned out to be the negative wire had simply seemed to have rotted away, as when I got it open it was broken in several places although there was no pressure or stress points - very odd. Even more curiously the positive wire went through the single pole on/off switch then again through the micro on/off switch and had perfect continuity.
Anyway I rewired both just in case, checking for contuinity as I went, re-assembled it several times while trying to remember/figure out the wire routing, and finally got it all back together and working. It now runs like a new train, superb
So my easter break starts in a good way!!!
On top of that I've also figured out how these all work now so if any of my other auction wins prove to be troublesome I have a good idea how to disassemble and repair them. The only component that worries me a bit at the moment is the surface mount on/off micro switch. I can find several similar ones, but they are all just momentary contact rather than on/off. But I'm sure I'll find a supplier eventually
Have fun...
Happily collecting things all my life...
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