ES44AC 6-82216 Kaboom

I can tell you this same thing happened to a former forum member. No idea why. I doubt it can be repaired at the component level. He had to replace the board and AFAIK its still working buts its a mystery.

Pete

probably a capacitor popped, or the audio amp blew, can only be fixed if parts are available but there is also a possibly the board traces are burnt beyond repair!

Alan

This where my friends board blew up. You can see it started burning up the pad behind it. The housing is plastic so couldn’t have shorted the board.

Pete

@Norton posted:

This where my friends board blew up. You can see it started burning up the pad behind it.

Pete

Thank you Norton. The failure in your photo appears to be in a familiar spot on the board to what I observe. However, that failure also appears to be much more energetic than the one that occurred in my unit.

Alan, with today's chip shortage in conjunction with older style chips no longer available the components may not be available. I have not removed the board from its housing so am not sure if the traces have also been burnt.

hi, I agree about the chip availability, but you won't know if there available unless you check all places that sell ic's !

Alan

I'm all for wishful thinking that sure, when lucky, a person can repair a board at a the component level. But a huge portion of that is board design, limitations or flaws, and what specifically failed.

I just examined a good matching Railsounds lite card to identify the components in that area that failed. It is a Texas Instruments voltage regulator MC33063A 1.5-A boost, buck, inverting switching regulator https://www.ti.com/product/MC33063A

Appears to be the main regulator for much of the electronics.

The point being, if the regulator failed, typically there are violent over voltage situations that occur on the output (regulated) side of the circuit that damages every other chip in the circuit. Just because it did not burn the board to a crisp is no indication that that board is repairable.  Again, what happens typically is the voltage swings out of control, this causes the other chips (microprocessor, flash memory, audio amp) to fail and begin drawing even more current since they have now failed.

I think you just need to replace the entire board and determine why you may have had a failure. My guesses would be bad speaker (yes, I have seen some "fatboy" failures where the rubber suspension of the cone failed) , possibly a voltage spike or worse a condition where transformers out of phase provided high voltage to a section of track. Or maybe it just failed.

@Norton posted:

This where my friends board blew up. You can see it started burning up the pad behind it. The housing is plastic so couldn’t have shorted the board.

Pete

Pete,

I reviewed the components on the backside of the board in that area. I am in no way claiming I reverse engineered the board, but the one component in that area on the backside is a J4GEH MOSFET most likely related to the 9V battery from what I can tell. Again, my impression on the failure was that primarily the voltage regulator by far could make the most heat and is what failed, vs, the tiny MOSFET which just happens to be under that area.

Just curious did they have a 9V battery installed during the failure? Did the battery connector if not connected to a battery potentially short to frame by accident? I'm not saying that caused it, just sharing ideas an thoughts based on the analysis of what appears to have failed and is interconnected.

I replaced a sound card a couple of months ago where the IC chip , exactly the same one, failed on the sound card. Never was able to trace the cause of the failure.

@Vernon Barry posted:

Pete,

I reviewed the components on the backside of the board in that area. I am in no way claiming I reverse engineered the board, but the one component in that area on the backside is a J4GEH MOSFET most likely related to the 9V battery from what I can tell. Again, my impression on the failure was that primarily the voltage regulator by far could make the most heat and is what failed, vs, the tiny MOSFET which just happens to be under that area.

Just curious did they have a 9V battery installed during the failure? Did the battery connector if not connected to a battery potentially short to frame by accident? I'm not saying that caused it, just sharing ideas an thoughts based on the analysis of what appears to have failed and is interconnected.

No 9v battery Vern. The object with the wires attached is the volume pot.

I actually didn’t lay eyes on this engine so not sure what item failed. The photo was sent so I could order the correct part number. The individual who has this engine has been banned from forum, otherwise I am sure he could have provided the details.

Pete

No battery in my locomotive either. Too risky.  I will forget that it is there and then it will leak.

Thanks for the investigations. The locomotive operates fine, just no sound. I usually do not use the smoke unit. Last night I tested it. It seemed to operate fine. The fan motor is a bit loud, but it has not been used since I bought the locomotive. In fact, the fan motor sounds a bit like a prime mover.

I believe that I paid $500 on pre order including shipping for this locomotive. A new pcb is $99 and new Fat Boy speakers are $6.20 (I bet those can be found elsewhere for less). Overall, that is $112 not including tax and shipping.  That is over 20% of what I paid for the locomotive new.

It is operating fine for now. I can live without sound until the next 50% off sale. ES44AC's are a frequently produced item so the sound cards will most likely be available when the next sale happens.

@WBC posted:

No battery in my locomotive either. Too risky.  I will forget that it is there and then it will leak.

Thanks for the investigations. The locomotive operates fine, just no sound. I usually do not use the smoke unit. Last night I tested it. It seemed to operate fine. The fan motor is a bit loud, but it has not been used since I bought the locomotive. In fact, the fan motor sounds a bit like a prime mover.

I believe that I paid $500 on pre order including shipping for this locomotive. A new pcb is $99 and new Fat Boy speakers are $6.20 (I bet those can be found elsewhere for less). Overall, that is $112 not including tax and shipping.  That is over 20% of what I paid for the locomotive new.

It is operating fine for now. I can live without sound until the next 50% off sale. ES44AC's are a frequently produced item so the sound cards will most likely be available when the next sale happens.

A drop of lubricating oil on the shaft may help.