Issues involving Capacitors on Motors

All motors create an electrical noise that interferes with radio signals. This could cause poor performance of the On-Board Train Engineer.  Aristo-Craft puts capacitors on all of our motors for you in our newer locomotives.  Some of our older locomotives may not have capacitors. If you use our On-Board Train Engineer with other brands you may need to install a capacitor across the motor(s) of the locomotive.  Read the locomotive's manual before doing any modifications.

Capacitor should be the disk type, with a value about .01 microfarad and 50 volts. Place the capacitor across the brushes of the motor (power tabs) like in the drawing above.  This will have to be done for each motor in the locomotive.  

Ceramic disk capacitors are inexpensive and regularly available at electronic specialty stores like Radio Shack and mail order companies like Digi-Key.

CRE-55491(55490) Antenna  Instructions

Beginning in 2002, a new version of the Mini On-Board Train Engineer was introduced. The system is designed to provide a minimum 50 feet of useful radio frequency reception range. In practice, 75 to 100 feet useful range is common.    In some cases, the receiver's radio frequency reception range could be extremely limited.  You should get at least 50 feet of useful radio frequency range from your On-Board Train Engineer.

There are a multitude of potential causes for not attaining at least 50 feet of useful radio frequency reception range.  Most of the causes are unrelated to the On-Board Train Engineer itself.  In most cases, the issue can be resolved by following the instructions below.

This issue can frequently be resolved by simply attaching the end of the receiver's antenna to a wire leading to the power pickup side of the motor block of the locomotive.  The track's rails can act as an extension to the antenna.  This could greatly extend the radio frequency reception range of the receiver.

Drawings not to Scale

There are two other potential causes for radio signal reception range issues in CRE-55492 On-Board Train Engineers shipped before October 2002.  

One cause is easily resolved by extending the length of the antenna on the CRE50003 Transmitter.  For a replacement antenna, e-mail us a aristo@mindspring.com and request a replacement antenna.  Include your mailing address in the e-mail.

In some cases, the Transmitter may require modification.  If the previous fixes for radio signal reception range issues do not work, send us your transmitter and we will perform the modification.

Send the Transmitter to:

Crest Electronics/Aristo-Craft Trains
Repairs Department
698 South 21st Street
Irvington, NJ 07111

Include a note explaining the problem you are having with the Transmitter.  Please include your return address and contact phone number on the note.