constant whistle blowing by itself on mth proto1 steam engines on atlas track, z4000- what gives? Wire voltage problems?

Do not change a thing with your connections. Add a lighted car or caboose to the consist. Must be a regular light bulb not an LED.

Clean the wheels and clean the rollers, not just wipe them get some CRC Contact cleaner and spray the axle on the roller.  Spin it and spray it again.  Have you cleaned the Atlas track to get rid of the black top of the center rail?  Since the engines are old and you didn't run them, have you serviced them?  Does it happen at one place or random places?  Have you tried re-seating the tender harness?  The whistle blowing is because the tender sees a DC voltage or little spike that makes it think you pressed the whistle button.  It could be the track is not solid, or track joints are loose causing the voltage to have little spikes.

Gene Anstine

PS1 evolved. I have a PS1 loco (it runs so mysteriously well that I have yet to put ERR/TMCC in it) that. when run on a Lionel Powermaster throttle, has a constantly blowing whistle and chuffing that comes/goes/and keeps chuffing briefly even after the loco is stopped. When I run the same loco using a Lionel TPC400 throttle, the loco sounds just as it is supposed to. Lionel 135 bricks in both cases. Waveform differences due to different throttles, and PS1 reacts accordingly. (It actually runs just fine with either throttle; only the sound varies.) 

Some early QSI/PS1 equipment does not like modern transformer/throttles, even if the same brand as the loco. The loco was made before the transformer. It's kind of a case-by-case issue, in my experience.

thanks for your suggestions- I will try them all- adding acar with a light bulb, clean the rollars & wheels. I noticed no one addressed the pecular situation where only my proto1 steam engines have this constant whistle vs none of my proto1 diesels, not one, have this problem. and yes, a removed the black coating on my middle rail, the proto1 engines have the whistle proble everywhere on the layout also on my test tract wired directly to the z4000 transformer with 2 feet of wire. my track was clean with isop alcohol or sandpapered then cleaned. There is no rust , oil or grime to see, although tracks can never be too clean. 

I did not lube the steam engines nor have the engines serviced. I will, of course, seek more outside help if you guys & me can't isolate my problem. With so many proto1 engines, I hope to become more knowledge in maintaining & fixing the fleet. 

It also bothers me that mth continues to not answer their customer service phones, not even once, during their indicated customer services hours. 

your efforts to help me are very much appreciated

Are you running the PS1 locomotives using a TIU, i.e. using the variable function to run the PS1 locomotives with the remote/app? If so that could be your problem. The TIU outputs a chopped wave on the variable channels to vary the power. Depending on when the PS1 locomotive was produced the chopped wave form can cause it to behave badly (i.e. not running or constant whistles). 

It's DC leaking onto the track voltage. We had it happen at the club with some Proto-1 engines when we were running conventional using Z4000's running through TIU's (variables set to fixed). Lighted (bulb) cars seemed to reduce the DC spikes, but we never investigated it further as we went to command-only operation some time ago.

Lou1985 posted:

Are you running the PS1 locomotives using a TIU, i.e. using the variable function to run the PS1 locomotives with the remote/app? If so that could be your problem. The TIU outputs a chopped wave on the variable channels to vary the power. Depending on when the PS1 locomotive was produced the chopped wave form can cause it to behave badly (i.e. not running or constant whistles). 

So far, seems none of my proto1 steam engines can be run with a tiu. My tiu, z4000, & all prot1 steam engines, 15, were in boxes for 10 years,  never run. Partially, it may be related to the 20 atlas switches bought about same 2006 ish, only 2 of 20 dont give me major problem with shorts, broken main rails, and loss of power. Shortly before finishing construction, I knew I had bad atlas switches. Almost all were bad but I missed warranty by 2 mths due to health problems.  Bought 2 more atlas switches just recently, disgusted. It is immediately obvious atlas added & changed wiring & solder points between rails. Had o gauge trains since 1958, hope I can do enough to run the trains without such problems. Otherwise, I will soon have a major collection for sale, perhaps 30 to 50 proto1 premier engines with less than 10 hrs run time each , & straight & 072 cuves, probably 2000 track pieces. I would never sell these atlas switches, they are garbage fot the dumpster  help. I'm about to pull all 15 switches from the main line, redo all the star wiring. Will wire to the z4000 or my zw from 1956. I will try to get some proto1 steam engines to run, only on the 2 of  27 ft by 17 ft oval. Then decide if its yard sale time. Please help.

Bucca,

 You see my name above, send me your e-mail because it's not in your profile. I'm an MTH tech! My e mail is in my profile. I'm in Hillsborough N.J.

    John

Does the whistle blow when powered by both throttles or only one side? The  8 buttons on the Z4000 have a capacitor across each one and if one shorts or has leakage, (the horn button in particular), it will act like it is being pressed.  Measure the voltage with AC power applied to the track with a D.C. voltmeter.  There should be no D.C. voltage present until the horn or bell buttons are pressed.