electronic glitch!

One thing that I'd try before totally abandoning the car is to reseat the RailSounds chips.  I've had a bunch of the PLCC chips that develop oxidation on the contacts and fail either intermittently or totally.  Simply using a PLCC chip puller (available at Radio Shack) and pulling them out and reseating them has fixed them.

Do NOT try to pull them out without the chip puller, you will almost surely break the PLCC socket, then you have a real problem!

thank you i will try that today. the popping noise upon turning track power on and off and the hetrodyne type noise makes me wonder if there is a problem with the conversion from ac to dc also i can't figure why it works for them but only once when it comes back from repair. 

If John's suggestions don't help, try another RS power board.

Bill

i went to radio shack and got the plcc puller---cleaned and inspected contacts---same problem---no sound. i can't understand why it works for the repair facility and not me. has anyone ever driven to canfield ohio lionel repair facility with a problem part?

If you can wait until the open house in August it may save you a trip.

Perhaps you can find a local guy that can test it for you, maybe a chance of scenery is what it requires to function.

I just powered my track up after about 90 days of down time.  I have 2 of the Lionel TMCC crane and boom cars.  They worked fine 90 days ago, today neither boom car will make a sound except for the white noise.  I cleaned the track, jiggled connections, all to no avail.  I run mostly DCS, and have the TMCC just for these 2 cars.  It is very frustrating to say the least.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Thanks...Larry

dear marty---what open house and where? i live in the detroit area.

when you turn on track power do you get a pop noise followed hy hetrodyning? does the same happens when you turn track power off. does a green led flash in the boom car? my light doesn't flash.

there are two detachable boards plus circuits at both ends of main or horizontal board i would have thought lionel would have replaced the boards but sence they can find nothing wrong it just gets sent back to me. at this point i am willing to buy all the electronics, thats why i want to drive to canfield ohio with cash and buy all new electronics. lionel only sells on exchange---i want to exchange all electronic components not just the removial boards. do i sound frustrated and nuts? well i am!!!

I hear a pop and some white noise when I turn it on, I think it always did that.  When I turn it off, it just stops making noise.  I dont see a green led at all, so no flash when I shut it down.

well brother we have the same problem. is yours under warranty? if you send them to canfiels please let me know what happens. thank you.

You would think that some one on the forum would have been thru this???

Well, buying all the boards seems extreme, I think there has to be some logic as to why you're seeing a failure and Lionel isn't.

i hope that is the case and not neglect to check things out. all my lionel equipment has been purchased new within the last 6 months. i have (one)  dedicated 115 volt ac power line where only the legacy and power transformers are pluged into. it was installed by a certified electrical contractor. a few months ago i and problems with the legacy 990, tpc 400 and the avc they were all sent to canfield and came back working ok no problems. this problem has really got me but i see someone else is having the same problem with both of his cranes. i hope he has better luck then me.

Where are you located?  I'd find someone local and test there.  Clearly, there has to be an explanation, the trick is finding out what it is.

well john i am located in saint clair shores michigan. i plan on testing it at another location on wednesday i will post results. there is this ss409cid guy that has two boom cars that are kuput. i wonder if any more will be popping up?

I hope no more pop up, like mine for instance!

do you have a simular problem with a boom car?

No, I was saying I hope that doesn't happen!

as promised i will post results of the boom car saga. today i drove to lionels repair facility in canfield ohio. technician scott tested the boom car; the car had no response, not even a green flashing led. he determined it had a bad motherboard and replaced it. he put it on a loop to turn track power on and off for an hour with no failure. when i got back home tonight the boom car was dead. i called scott and he said to send it back in. he thinks it is a broken or loose wire. i think its the power converter just under the 9 volt battery holder. hopefully we can find the answer.

the trip wasn't a total loss waiting the boom car was being tested i drove about 5 miles down the road to poland ohio. i went to 0 gauge railroading met a gentleman, mr. george seil. i told george about my trials and tribulations with the boom car, i also enlisted for a couple of years worth of 0gr magazines.

the saga to be continued........ 

It's great to know that they actually saw the failure and now know you aren't taking through some body orifice.   Now, you just need to get them to fix it!

after talking to scott about the failure he seems determined to find the problem.

Her is one for you.  Both of my boom cars worked today, after sitting idle for several days.  One of them does have some intermittent dead spots in the sound.  I will clean the track and try it again later.  Both of these boom cars were completely silent several days ago.  ?????? Go figure,  arent electonic are wonderful????

This is probably the time I get out the refrigerant spray and start looking for temperature sensitive components.

nitemare!!!

A long shot, but what the hay,  I have a Kline engine with TMCC that was a nightmare.

engine would run perfectly after a couple of days of rest. Next run, ran fine until power turned off for more than a few minutes. Suddenly, no sound no movement, only headlight.  Skipping all the trial and error diagnosis,  got instruction from Brasseur to

power up track, address engine as engine # aux1 3, wait for sounds start up, go.

TO SHUT DOWN stop engine, wait for sounds to drop to idle, press aux1 5.  Get short announcement and sound system shuts down.  Needs shutdown procedure to allow

engine to respond next start up.  Wondering if your Boom car has a similar shut down, start up procedure?

I can't imagine there should be a special shutdown-startup sequence, and my boom car certainly doesn't require one.

As taylorra mentioned,I believe the crane/boom car has the same "shutdown and startup" features that TMCC/legacy locomotives have. If you do the "shutdown" and operate it it will operate without sound until you do the "startup",just as a locomotive would.

True, but they come up from a power off with sounds on.

when used the first time and each time it came back from repair the boom car worked once when addressing the crane car. when track power was turned off then on again a loud pop sound would be heard from the boom car followed by a whine- hetrodyne sound, when addressing the crane car no sound from the boom car. also a loud pop sound fron the boom car when turning off track power.

That odd sound sure doesn't sound right.

If it works o.k. for Lionel maybe there is something wrong, or being done wrong on your end.How are you powering up the track? Are you full on i.e. Addressing the TPC and pressing boost or are your raising the voltage from zero.I'm using two bricks through a TPC400, I'm not sure how loud the pop is, but every tmcc/ legacy locomotive I've ever owned makes a pop( I wouldn't say its that loud) when the track is powered up or down this is normal for me. Have you tried turning the volume knob on the boom car up or down to see if that changes anything?

I think the whine- hetrodyne sound is not something I'd expect or have ever heard.

thats what i thought. i kept asking them if i was doing something wrong even though i was programming just like the video instructed. when i went to canfield ohio last week the technician scott realized there was a problem he replaced the motherboard. it worked fine till i got home---same problem. i sent it in to them. hopefully we can ger to the bottom of all this. my s3 northern never makes a noise until addressed and i use a tpc 400 with 2 180 watt transformers.

True, my mistake, the very latest legacy locos can be powered down independently of track power and don't make the pop. At any rate ,keep us posted rj, I've owned one of these for a few years, never had a problem but it doesn't get used as much as other stuff,  and ya never know. Hope a solution is found.

just got a call from brian at lionel canfield oh. he ran the boom car for a week no failure. also lionel won't sell me new parts if they cannot find a failure. so if i get the car back and it doesn't work ( it hasn't yet) i am sol. i will let you know what happens when i get the car back. any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

I think at this point, I'd find someone local and test it on their layout.

if it fails i am going to do that. but it still does help me fix it.