Push direction button, train reverses. No light. Not listed in soft keys, but MTH description says working back up tender. Sounds and everything are fine. Pinched wire?
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I bought one two weeks ago and had some unexpected problems running it. It ran sporadically and would only operate in Conventional mode. Could not get the DCS remote/TIU to recognize it. Called tech support and they were mostly baffled as was the tech at TrainWorld were I bought it. Ended up driving up to the factory ( I live an hour south) and they quickly discovered that the factory has run a cable for the DCS/DCC switch the wrong way. This prevented the cable from making solid contact to the switch. They corrected this and now it’s appears in the DCS remote, etc.
Also, have discovered that the drawbar connection at the tender has loosened while running it. When this happens the engine will stop and possible shut down. I did not want to over stress the bar, but found that the plug connector on the bar needs to fully enter the tender Jack connector. It snaps ever so slightly when it is fully engaged.
Hope this helps.
@John E K posted:I bought one two weeks ago and had some unexpected problems running it. It ran sporadically and would only operate in Conventional mode. Could not get the DCS remote/TIU to recognize it. Called tech support and they were mostly baffled as was the tech at TrainWorld were I bought it. Ended up driving up to the factory ( I live an hour south) and they quickly discovered that the factory has run a cable for the DCS/DCC switch the wrong way. This prevented the cable from making solid contact to the switch. They corrected this and now it’s appears in the DCS remote, etc.
Also, have discovered that the drawbar connection at the tender has loosened while running it. When this happens the engine will stop and possible shut down. I did not want to over stress the bar, but found that the plug connector on the bar needs to fully enter the tender Jack connector. It snaps ever so slightly when it is fully engaged.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for your input. The DCS could not find the engine unless I really played with the drawbar connector. Got that to work. I will open the shell to see what is up with the back-up light.
I will say, for the tender the location of the plug behind the pin is the worst for accessability. Only way you can is to tilt both locomaotive and tender together. Other than that, it is a beautiful model with neat PFA announcments for the Spirit of Roanoke
Either harness connector is not plugged in all the way or led is burnt out or FET in ps 3 board has failed, I have seen brand new boards that I had to replace fet for back up light not operating, Asc Tech can replace Fet very cheap!
Alan
Alan, you changed a fet on the PS-3 board? Which fet is that, since FET not used on PS-3?
For a PS-3 steam if the sounds are running, the tender board controls tender features so if you do not get a reverse light it would be in the tender and drawbar not the issue. Same with DCS, operations.
So it may be a faulty dcs/dcc switch, or plug not installed in board. For the LED is it plugged in to connector? You can try Reset.
If it has a switch for aux tender you may want to check that too. G
@GGG posted:Alan, you changed a fet on the PS-3 board? Which fet is that, since FET not used on PS-3?
For a PS-3 steam if the sounds are running, the tender board controls tender features so if you do not get a reverse light it would be in the tender and drawbar not the issue. Same with DCS, operations.
So it may be a faulty dcs/dcc switch, or plug not installed in board. For the LED is it plugged in to connector? You can try Reset.
If it has a switch for aux tender you may want to check that too. G
Thanks. I did the reset thing. No Joy. I'm pretty confident the problem will be obvious after the shell comes off. The box took a pretty good hit on a corner. Would not surprise me to see something unplugged. I do not get the cllick when the connector seats either. I think the click thing has gone away. No mention of the click in the manual. We'll see this weekend. Kitchen remodel is finishing up. Wife is happy!.. That's where trains come from.
your right GGG it was a ps 3/2 board of my engine backup light would not work I stand corrected!
Alan
@Bryant Dunivan 111417 posted:Thanks. I did the reset thing. No Joy. I'm pretty confident the problem will be obvious after the shell comes off. The box took a pretty good hit on a corner. Would not surprise me to see something unplugged. I do not get the cllick when the connector seats either. I think the click thing has gone away. No mention of the click in the manual. We'll see this weekend. Kitchen remodel is finishing up. Wife is happy!.. That's where trains come from.
Pulled shell. All in order. No light. Can I measure for voltage with my meter. If yes, DC low volts?
Not easy. You can move the Led light to a socket on the engine head light and see if the LED is good? Or move another LEd to the tender. You can make sure you have continuity on the wires to the led. Could be a bad solder joint under the heat shrink, cut wire? At this point it is easter egging. A tech can put your board in the tester and see if it lights the test light to proof board good. G
@Bryant Dunivan 111417 posted:Push direction button, train reverses. No light. Not listed in soft keys, but MTH description says working back up tender. Sounds and everything are fine. Pinched wire?
We have a wrinke to add. I pulled tender shell to check tender led wiring, all was in order. What I am also experiencing is that the train will stop and the remote cannot find the engine. No fun when the train dies on the back of the layout. Disconnect tender or fiddle with the plug on the tender and some wiggle/jiggle seems to fix it until.... Having said that, should I look ast the locomotive side of the drawbar connection to see if sonething is amiss? It is a 6 pin. I am trying to avoid going back to MTH because I am sure it is a madhouse with the inventory for closing and other things. My next step will be to send it to Jeff at Mr. Muffin to see if they can fix it inhouse. Last resort, RMA from MTH.
you can't send it back to mth if you wanted too there only doing warranty work asc tech's do the other repair's! but I'll be glad to repair it for you, it should not be to serious of a problem for now but if you keep running it if the harness shorts somewhere to the frame it could blow the ps2 board!
Alan
@Alan Mancus posted:you can't send it back to mth if you wanted too there only doing warranty work asc tech's do the other repair's! but I'll be glad to repair it for you, it should not be to serious of a problem for now but if you keep running it if the harness shorts somewhere to the frame it could blow the ps2 board!
Alan
I must not have been clear in the original post. Thius engine is only 2 weeks old. It is still under warranty. I spoke with Steve at Mr. M. He can fix it and turn it much faster than MTH. I am going to check the draw bar connection at the engine, he will send a replacement bar, and if no-go. , send it to Mr. Muffin. If they can't handle it, then off to MTH. This engine also runs PS-3. It is the newly released "Spirit of Roanoke". Thanks though. I will post conclusion at the end of the mystery.
99% of the time the locomotive stalling you're experiencing is a result of the wireless drawbar connection. Sometimes the connector on the tender side of the drawbar comes loose. You can heat the pins with the tip of a soldering iron to reflow the solder and tighten the connector back up. If that doesn't work you'll need a new drawbar.
@Lou1985 posted:99% of the time the locomotive stalling you're experiencing is a result of the wireless drawbar connection. Sometimes the connector on the tender side of the drawbar comes loose. You can heat the pins with the tip of a soldering iron to reflow the solder and tighten the connector back up. If that doesn't work you'll need a new drawbar.
Installed new drawbar. No go. I put my Hiawatha tender to the 611. Flawless operation. Ran 3 hours all over the layout. 611 tender, stops dead and requires power off and on to get track to find engine. When power back on columns and smoke start high until shutdown. Then power up and adjust smoke and volume down sound. Start again, run a few feet or loops, “Dead”!
Checked plugs on 611 tender board. Did seethed soldered and shrink wrapped the green wire from plug to board. Did not take wrap off but felt fine. Ran without shell and back- up led installed. 611 runs fine until it goes through switches or anything that may have voltage interruption ( small gaps in Ross 4 way). My MTH Hiawatha and Dreyfuss tenders on 611are fine. Build seems to be very similar to each other. So swapping as troubleshooting made sense.
I think it is the board, and needs to go back to MM for board replacement. I want to avoid the busy MTH service department. Fitting as probably my last new MTH steamer.
When you power it up and then turn track power off does it play shutdown sounds or cut off immediately? G
