Today i did visit train store and did found that customer do really have problem by use ESU locomotive on the three rail tracks.
The problem are stud contact and contact inside of the locomotive do sometimes hurry up while driving.
ESU should produce locomotive separately dc and ac instead.
The train store told to me that service is bad from ESU.
What do you think about this mess??

Edited by user 26 July 2018 08:19:49(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I never have any ESU Locos, Thanks for letting me know Goofy.

Oh yes, one customer was heard complaining.

Per.

I recently purchased the ESU 31033. BR 151 in chromedioxide green.
I've been very happy with it and would say the cost is absolutely worth it for what you get.

1) It is a loco that can easily be switched from 3-rail to 2-rail. I recently saw a video on a youtube channel where a marklin guy took his ESU loco over to someone that runs 2 rail DCC and just pulled the slider (which switches the loco's pickup connections to 2 rail) and ran it on the 2 rail DCC system. No issues.

2) I've had no issues running mine - but I've not run it on a layout yet, just tested it, so if there are contact issues internally with the mechanical switching contacts of the slider, I don't know. I also don't plan to remove the slider (which comes preinstalled) so maybe some of the internal switchcing from 2 contact to 3 contact only happen when one uses that feature several times in removing the slider, running in 2 rail mode, then plugging it back in to run in 3 rail mode, etc.

3) The loco is very solid built and heavy - so its got serious materials in it -not plastic all around, and that costs money to make. The detail on it is also very good (by my standards at least).

4) The added features such as the internal machine room sparking LED, or the brake spark LED features, or the wheel squeel in turns sensor and sounds, or the going over turnouts sensor and sounds, these are very cool features I'm glad it has, so I can do freight operations and get more of the realistic type effects.


The video I put on my channel is just the sample of the features I tested when I first got the loco this past year.




As far as I can tell, though I've not researched it deeply, is there is no mess, and suggesting it is hyperbole.
I would say that searching Stummi for "ESU 31033" results in only 7 posts, and no thread on serious problems with the contacts. If there was a mess, as suggested, then I'd expect there to be a thread or two complaining about the quality of ESU locomotive functionality, and there isn't any. So I've got no support for this notion that there is an issue, much less a mess, other than some person(s) in a store may have complained, which is anecdotal evidence being such a small sample size, and meaningless to draw conclusions from.

Hi all,

I fully concur with Minok. Up until my last purchase of an ESU 31275 Cl66/77 I have an exclusively Marklin fleet which I rate very highly. I liked this locomotive and thought I'd give it a try and would put it up with my favorites. It is very well built, motor is virtually silent unlike Marklin, exceptional sound, has great features (which some may think gimmicky), comes pre-installed with a very good and life like smoke generator and great detail. I have no regrets buying it and wouldn't hesitate buying another if it was a model I liked.

Paul

I am a member of the ESU forum and over the years there have been some people on the forum reporting contact issues with their locos on C track, particularly on curves and turnouts. I was surprised at the number of people reporting dropouts in the sound and lights, considering that they have capacitors in many models, as I have in my one ESU loco. It is always hard to get a good overall picture from those kind of reports though since happy customers are less likely to post about their models than customers with problems, so most of them might be just fine.

My ESU V 200 is lovely to look at with fine detailing and the features are fun, but it had a total motor failure after just a few hours of use. I had to buy it from Europe since at least a few years ago there were no North American dealers selling their products and the shipping back to MSL to get warranty work was extremely expensive. A friend with a commutator lathe turned the commutator, which was badly burned and it now runs fine again. We speculated that it might be a hung brush which had caused the problem but it is hard to know for sure. The motor has replaceable brushes and appears to of very high quality. The upper headlight on cab 2 never did work, which would require a PCB replacement and I have never found that part.

I contacted the American ESU representative but he told me that he could not help me because all that was sold here were the electronics and that even he could not order parts for the locos. I emailed ESU service to see if they could help in any way and they never even bothered to respond, because all warranty work has to go through your dealer. So mine sits in the yard looking pretty but I seldom run it, while my more primitive Märklin V 200 does all of the hard work on my layout.

IMO the price was reasonable and the features such as the lighted instrument panel, engine room lights and the sparking brakes are cool. I did not see any evidence of problems with the power pickup but I have never tried running mine on 2-rail. I also love the heavy weight and fine detailing which certainly made it seem to be worth the cost at first. When it ran, it ran extremely well and the sound was excellent, as you would expect with ESU electronics. I probably would be willing to try another ESU loco but I probably will not because they obviously are not perfect (no one's products are) and for me factory service is not really available.

I never heard of anybody else doing this. I think this is exclusive to ESU. Somebody might have made something similar in the past, clearly, not on a scale big enough to matter.


Statistics? I don't think anybody makes something like that. LOL. I am just reporting what my friends, and myself, are experiencing. We are all 3-railers, so that may have something to do with it. I am not sure.


"IMHO", yes, _your_ opionion. I have mine. Can we agree to disagree? It is not worth debating who have the most correct personal opinion.

My point is: A faulty locomotive is not worth much if it cannot run properly. I expect a manufacturer to actually get the basics right before adding gimmicks. I like PIKO locos, they have gimmicky features as well, their price is reasonable, but the best part: PIKO locos just works.

I did sold mine yesterday.
I did decides to sell my V 200.
Of course did i lose some money but not worth to keep on since i did read reports about problems with the ESU locomotives in ESU;s forum.
I decides too to stop my project on the layout.
I choice to keep on with the era 1 train models like Brawa,Trix and Fleischmann by use only dc locomotives with the sounds.

I would like to see ESU do start produce separately locomotives for dc and ac.
In this case i believe customer don´t need to get trouble by hurry up with driving.

And i´m honestly by present defaults.
This is good for train members in here forum to avoid problems?

I bought an ESU 31018 BR 215 about 19 months ago. It was working great until a month ago. The smoke unit just stopped working. The sounds and lights are working fine, and the lok is running fine. I'm using a Marklin MS2 and usually put 0.3 ml of smoke fluid in each of the rectangular roof holes. I tried blowing into the smoke unit to clear it. It is still not working. I use ESU Smoke fluid. I emailed ESU Support but received no reply. I tried the dealer and got no reply. I called ESU USA Support and was told they don't support loks. I'm tempted to just send the lok back to ESU in Germany but am afraid that it might be gone forever. Any suggestion to what I can do? The 24 month warranty window is closing fast.

Thanks,
T

If you have still warranty you can contact the dealer where you did bought locomotive and tell to them to fix the problem.

Goofy,

is this your own loco ? and do you have the capacitor charged ?

John

Marklin might be slow but at least they support their product with repairs. If ESU in the USA don't support their sales why sell the locos. I understand the high cost from the USA to Germany will cause problems no matter who the manufacturer is.

I've got a different opinion, when it comes to warranty none of the manufacturers can solve your postage problem and this is why any warranty is not practical.

buying locos from any manufacturer is a risk if anything goes wrong with it., Märklin's warranty in the past you had to send in the whole loco for a decoder to be repaired and this becomes a nightmare and I assume the same goes for ESU locos., I like the look of these locos and their added gadgets but having more mechanisms in the loco, more can go wrong with them. so I stay clear of them, you can't touch the panto graphs and trying to move them, the mechanism gets ruined. producing 2 BR 260's something couldn't have been right with the first one, apparently the weight, the contact to the rail and most probably they've added a more powerful power pack.

John

Don't you come to Germany in September? Write ESU a letter, claiming the guarantee on this loco and attach a copy of your invoice. Tell them due to shipping costs and no support for their locos in the USA you bring this loco to their company in ULM by yourself in September, while you are on your way from Goeppingen to Munich passing ULM anyway. But while the guarantee time is running out you claim the guarantee already now. If they do not agree with you, then you send your loco on their expense already this month to ULM. They shall send you a certification for this guarantee handling.

BTW I think ESU itself is also at the IMA days in Goeppingen. Have to check it out. Then you must not go to ULM, you just bring it to the IMA desk of ESU.

I did this 2 years ago with two Märklin locos and it was a perfect service by Märklin.

I have the esu EMD 66. It runs very well. Personally I bought it because I wanted a EMD 66?. And I saw one running on a Marklin K track layout. I will only buy a Non Marklin, if I see it running on K track!! I wouldn’t however by anther as I don’t want anther and Märklins new programmable decoders with adding your own sounds. Means that you don’t need to spend more than a Marklin loco. To get what I want??
It’s the luck of the draw on models that are not Marklin. You may buy a sideing filler or a good model. I personally think, you can’t go wrong with Marklin. As it’s designed for 3 rail!! You can very definitely have a howling failure with a non Marklin, as I have done, before I bought my ESU👍

I was just thinking wouldn't that be nice if I can drop off the lok to ESU at the IMA. Then I saw your post this morning. The problem is we are heading North by train to Hamburg to MiWuLa right after IMA. But I have two days in Stuttgart before that so driving to Ulm can be a possibility. If I know for sure either ESU will take the lok at IMA or at Ulm, I can plan accordingly.

I recently had submitted a warranty question to ESU and it just takes them forever to respond; I think it took 2 months to get an answer, which was then "send it to your dealer for him to handle". You have to resolve ESU claims via the dealer you purchased the item from, and most critically, ship the items back in the full ESU packaging to ensure its not damaged in transit... so always keep your ESU shipping box, its foam inserts, the loco box, and an intact plastic frame that one screws the loco to.

If you get to Germany, drop it off or ship it there to your dealer (if they are German or in Europe), and then ask that ESU, after fixing it, ship it back to you in Seattle.