conductivity Archives - Page 2 of 3 - The Silicon Underground

Home » conductivity

CFL bulbs burn out quickly? Here’s what to do.

Dave Farquhar DIY, Saving money January 23, 2014March 22, 2019CFL, cfls, conductivity, kitchens, led bulbs, philips

I’ve been hearing a lot of complaints about CFL bulbs lately. I’ve written about how to address premature CFL burnout before, but I guess it bears repeating. It’s a five-minute fix, usually, to get the bulbs to last a while. So here’s what to do if your CFL bulbs burn out quickly.

CFL bulbs do seem to be more sensitive to minor electrical problems than older bulbs. Fixing the tab in your light socket or replacing your light switch is often enough to make the bulbs last as long as the package said they would.

Fight voltage drop with copper anti-seize lubricant

Dave Farquhar model railroading, Toy trains February 17, 2013April 15, 2017conductivity, lockon, oxidation, train layout

If you have issues with your trains slowing down on the far reaches of your layout–and judging from my website hits, many people do–there are a couple of things to do about it. The first thing is to run additional feeder wires. Going by the book, you should go every third track section. Do I push it a little? Sure. Sometimes I can get away with a little less than that, and sometimes every three sections isn’t quite enough.

But over time, the conductivity between track sections can wane a bit, as moisture and oxidation creep in. Coating track pins with copper anti-seize lubricant keeps the moisture out, which keeps oxidation out, which makes the layout more reliable, especially if the layout is outdoors, in the garage, or in the basement. Read more

Tips for connecting traditional tubular track

Dave Farquhar Toy trains March 3, 2012November 29, 2015conductivity, lionel, marx, o27, tubular track

I saw a question earlier this week about working with Lionel tubular track. It doesn’t snap together quite as easily as modern Fastrack does, but it’s a lot cheaper, especially if you already have a bunch of it on hand.

I probably have 100 linear feet of tubular O27 track (Lionel, Marx, and K-Line) on my layout, so I’ll give some tips for working with it.

Fixing track that gets hot at the track joints

Dave Farquhar Toy trains February 15, 2012December 27, 2017conductivity, lionel, Lionel Fastrack, marx, Marx O27, o27, oxidation, Rail Zip, tubular track

I saw a question about a Fastrack layout getting hot at a track joint. That’s a conductivity issue causing voltage drop, which in turn causes the heat. While not likely to be dangerous, it’s a sign of inefficiency and can lead to other problems, such as the train slowing down at some parts of the layout. Poor conductivity also causes motors to run hotter than they should, which can eventually damage the armature.

I can think of two fixes, none of them especially expensive or time-consuming. And although this question was about Lionel Fastrack, it can happen with other makes of track too, and even other scales.
Read more

Fixing Lionel locomotives that run erratically and have flickering lights

Dave Farquhar Toy trains November 19, 2011August 30, 2017american flyer, conductivity, KCS, lionel, lionel train, Rail Zip

If you have a Lionel electric train whose lights flicker and (possibly) runs erratically, I have an easy fix.
Read more

How to clean inside Lionel tubular track

Dave Farquhar Toy trains March 12, 2011April 11, 2017conductivity, lionel, o27, Standard Gauge, tubular track

If the outside of your Lionel track is rusty or dirty, there’s a chance the inside is too. Here’s how to clean inside Lionel track.

The condition of the inside of the track is the standard reason people give for discarding old Lionel track rather than trying to fix it. But if you’re willing to put in some effort, this problem, too, is fixable.

Lionel Fastrack review

Dave Farquhar Toy trains January 10, 2011May 4, 2020christmas, conductivity, India, lionel, Lionel Fastrack, marx, marx trains, MTH, o gauge, o27, tin, troubleshooting, tubular track, WWII

How Lionel Fastrack compares to traditional tubular track and competing O gauge track is a common question. I own both, so I can probably make a comparison. Here is my Lionel Fastrack review.

For the most part, it’s not bad. But it’s not perfect. For some people, the drawbacks are easy enough to overlook. For others, they could be showstoppers. You’ll have to decide for yourself.

Cleaning and storing Lionel track

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 5, 2010January 11, 2020Blade, christmas, conductivity, estate sales, hardware store, lionel, WD

Cleaning and storing Lionel track is another common question when the subject of trains comes up. Now that you’re getting the electric train track out for Christmas duty, there are some things you need to do to get it ready. And when the time comes to put it away until next year, a little preparation then will leave it in better shape for next year.

First, a note: Since writing this piece, I discovered a miracle. I treated my track with a conductivity enhancer, and the difference is unbelievable. I haven’t needed to clean my track in two years.

How to fix old Marx locomotives

Dave Farquhar Toy trains November 16, 2010January 11, 2020conductivity, Lucas Red, marx, marx trains, PTFE, radio shack, tin, WD, wd 40

I’ve been noticing that a post I made several years ago about my experiments fixing a Marx 490 train locomotive has been getting a disconcerting number of hits. Disconcerting, because I repeated some advice on how to fix old Marx locomotives from another web site that I later found, by experience, wasn’t all that good.

Here’s how I go about doing simple repairs on Marx trains today, now that I’ve done a few.

Fix or restore Lionel track

Dave Farquhar Toy trains November 13, 2010January 10, 2019american flyer, cardstock, conductivity, lionel, lionel train, locking pliers, marx, Marx O27, needle nose pliers, o27, Rail Zip, tin, tubular track

It’s that time of year again. Time to get that old Lionel (or Marx or American Flyer) electric train running before the holidays sneak up. More often than not, the track isn’t in the best of shape. Fortunately, it’s not all that hard to fix or restore Lionel track.

Believe it or not, you can effectively remove rust from old Lionel track with a ball of aluminum foil. A small ball of aluminum foil plundered from your kitchen and five minutes of your time is likely to be enough to restore a loop of Lionel track from rusty, unusable junk to reliable operation.