NJ international signals

[green_elite_cab]

Hello,

Has anyone had expierience with the NJ international signals? I got one today, and i'm not to happy with it. It came with no instructions, and left all the wires outside the signal. there are no holes to insert them down the masst, but it doesn't matter becaus everything has been soldered together, so now i need to cut the wires and find a way to drill holes in the masts. NJ international is also a pain and doesn't even have a way to contact them.

Can anyone help me?

 

[hooknlad]

CAB, Ive never personally used the NJ signals - Id be happy to check it out for ya - can you post a picture. Pictures speak a thousand words. I have always made my signal towers.
Hope we can help.

 

[green_elite_cab]

Here is a picture. at the ends of the colored wire there is shrink wrap and resistors, and the resistors are to big to get in between the plat forms they snaked the wires through. There is also no hole to get the wires in the mast, only a whole at the bottom. I've already tried drilling a hole and it dose little then slightly marr the surface.

It looks like i'm going to have to cut somehwhere. it looks easier to just cut the resistors off, but i still don't know how i'll get those wires to get in the mast. apperently it can be done, but there are no holes for it.

 

[Knighthawk]

Hey CAB, thanks for the heads up:thumb: , I've got some signals on order with NJ International right now, and if I receive them looking like that, they're getting them right back again.

 

[Raildog]

I just went out to the garage to look at mine and I was glad to see that it was a Tomar signal. First thing that popped out of the package was the instructions. You can barely see the wires and it's finished very nicely. For the price you have to pay for these, I think you need to return that signal. You shouldn't have to go through all that to use the product.

Just my two cents.

Jerry

 

[jflessne]

Wow that looks bad. NJ international apparently is based in my nieghborhood. (Higley PO box) Since we have 4 businesses and one post office in higley I suspect it's a home based business. I would give them a call.

 

[straight-track]

Cab, I'd bet my next pension check that NJ International didn't do that wiring job. I'd bet some one with not much experience did it. There is a wire #32 I believe that is somewhat thicker than carpet thread, that most of us that build, rewire or assemble our own signals normally use. If any manufacturer sent out signals wired like the one you pictured and ask prices like they do, would not stay in business for very long. I have bought through the years allot of their signals and replaced the bulbs with LEDs with excellent results . I'll see if I can post a couple of pix. Joe

 

[green_elite_cab]

I'm not quite sure how I will return it. I bought it from there stand at the National Trainshow in Philladelphia, would i really be able to call them up and have it returned or exchanged? I feel i could probably have spent $32 on something better if there is no way for me to correct the problem.

Perhaps this was a display model, because if you look at their site, alot of the signals have wires sticking out the back, just tucked away behind the mast, although some have the internal wiring. NJ international doesn't mention anywhere to get customer support, only emails and phone numbers to order stuff from, but i'll see what happens. I'll make sure i call them tommorow.

 

[hooknlad]

CAB - thanx for the picture -Yes indeeed it is a butcher job and no reputable company could stay in business with that shoddy workmanship...

I see a few fixes for you if you'd care to entertain them. The quickest : Sleeve each set of wires into a straw - ( the type you'd get from a kids ssips container ) Once the wires are sleeved, secure the straw to the upright on the signal. Once secured, paint silver.

Fix 2: Remove the wiring to the lights carefully, replace the wiring with a super small gauge wire. I use Magnet wire, cloth and laquer covered, it is about 30 ish AWG . Care must be taken when soldering this wire because its insulation is a coat of laquer. Secure these wires to the uprite and paint, keep the wires in the back. It will be our lil secret -SHHHHH !!!!

Hope I helped

 

[HOseeker]

Link to NJ

here is a link to NJ international website.

http://www.njinternational.com/

Ph (480) 219-4135

Fax (480) 219-4185

orders@njinternational.com

Larry

 

[green_elite_cab]

yeah i already called them yesterday. i got referred to someone else to help me with the wire problem, but i'm going to wait until later to call.

 

[kf4jqd]

I have used Sunrise Enterprise signals. They are well built. Here is the link: http://www.sunrisenterprises.com/ He uses LED's. There is no common ground. Take alook. :thumb:

I forgot to mention. He makes them for HO and N scales!

Andy

 

[green_elite_cab]

well i called them up the other day. Looks like they suggested i get the Magnet wire to. Apperently, the people who make the signals for them did a crappy job, and they have a bunch like that, and they didn't know what to do with them. I'm angry that i paid money for it, but i think i'll just get the wire and fix it myself anyway. It can't hurt to get expierience stuffing wires down a signal mast. I can probably use that stuff for other projects to if i have to, like ditch lights and such.

 

[kf4jqd]

Go to Radio Shack. They have the magnet wire you will need. It comes in a bag of 3 spoils with 3 differant colors. That's what I used to ake my signals. After feeding about 4 wires inside the mast, it gets tight. It can be done! I would use the mast as a common ground. You only feed half the light wire down the mast. Alot easier! Good luck!

Andy

 

[eightyeightfan1]

I was just going to say. The ones I saw at the Big E show didn't look like that.

 

[green_elite_cab]

I only need to get about six in there. the mast is already grounded.

just how do you get those wires through the mast? do i tie a string at the ends and try to pull them through?

 

[Raildog]

I can't believe that as a consumer you'd put up with this company's excuse. I'd expect them to repair it for free or exchange the "crappy job". I sure wouldn't continue to be a consumer with that kind of customer service. That's how companies go out of business. If everything they sold looked like that it wouldn't take long.

You can try to repair it, but why should you have to? You purchased a finished product.

 

[green_elite_cab]

you are right, but i don't feel like going through the headache of trying to return it. I lost the receit (If i even had one in the first place, i'm not entirely sure i remember the guy giving me one). I might as well just fix it, i can use the expierience.

Its as much my fault as it is theirs. Usually i have a better eye for quality, and i really should have taken a better look at it, but I was on my way out of the show. I probably should have asked for a reciet to if i didn't get one.

If anything, this is just a cautionary tale to everyone else. make sure you know what you are buying!

 

[ezdays]

Here's my take on things. Having been in the manufacturing business for a good long time, I can assure you that if something gets out there that shouldn't have, any reputable company would want to know it and would want to make it right. We owned a small electronic manufacturing company and although it hurt to think we didn't do something right or that a customer was not satisfied, we wanted to know and we'd bend over backwards to correct things.

Do the company and yourself a favor and contact them, regardless of whether you have a receipt or not. If they are small, and it appears that they are (Higley, I forgot there was a town called Higley here in Arizona ), they really would appreciate knowing that something wasn't right with a product they sold. No company wants this kind of publicity.

 

[green_elite_cab]

thats the thing. When I called them, they apperently already knew they were like that, and only offered to help me fix it.