Fixing new electronic stuff

Years, than surplus has them for decades. In MTH's case they have to date, made the newer board backward compatible to repair/upgrade the old board.  Worst case you gut it and run conventional with a basic electronic reverse unit.   G

IMO, the electronics will be around for a LONG time, I am not worried about those at all. When the current models are obsolete there will be upgraded items to replace them. Just like the PS2 boards are now being replaced with PS3 boards or upgrade kits. They will be constantly evolving like all other electronic devices.

Personally, I am more worried about getting a new snow plow for a Lionel engine I have that is less than a year old. Last time I checked they were still not available. It's been a few weeks, maybe time to check again.

IMO I also agree with RTR12 and GGG, MTH makes a good product and will always come out with new boards to replace the  old ones when the chip ic's are no longer able to be purchase just as have happened with PS 2 5 volt boards and now the PS 2 3 volt boards where some chips are also no longer available!

I'm glad they will  make backward compatible  boards to replace older ones as they become unable TO GET THE PARTS ANYMORE!

mth IS A GREAT company and makes an excellent product

Alan

I'm running engines that are 15 years old.  If the electronics ever crap out I'll just upgrade with ERR or MTH after market upgrade kits.  I'm betting there will always be someone selling upgrades for our engines

I just wish that ERR or somebody would make an Equalizer board like the now out of business Digital Dynamics did in the late 90's. Giving protosounds one tmcc command capability while keeping the original sounds. Ill bet there is still a market for those, albeit a small one.....

I think you said the key phrase "small market".   I don't think there is enough of a market to support the development of a new product to fill this niche.  The fact that two companies had products that didn't achieve significant market penetration is a telling sign.

I can see both sides of this one.  For some of the equipment I own it is a simple decision to replace dead electronics with a full wave rectifier and a cheap sound system.  However, some other stuff like the UP turbines have unique sound systems which I have had to pay to fix.  I vociferously object to the designs which led to this situation.  I have a friend who worked in the electronics business for his adult career and he states unequivocally that these components could have been designed to be more robust.

Rolland

RLaHaie posted:

I can see both sides of this one.  For some of the equipment I own it is a simple decision to replace dead electronics with a full wave rectifier and a cheap sound system.  However, some other stuff like the UP turbines have unique sound systems which I have had to pay to fix.  I vociferously object to the designs which led to this situation.  I have a friend who worked in the electronics business for his adult career and he states unequivocally that these components could have been designed to be more robust.

Rolland

A lot of ham radio gear these days are built to MilStd 810.  Most ham gear in the HF/"Shortwave" bands are running 100 watts.  That is a little north of a 1033/1044 transformer.  And it takes a lot of abuse fore one of these to fail.  Plus a medium level ham radio for HF is within the price range of some of the VL locomotives.

After you accumulate several dead engines you can't get parts for, you will be able to cannibalize to fix other engines. You may not be able to get the exact replacements but you will be able to get them running satisfactorily. Just not all of your engines, you will have to choose which ones stay in your "junkyard." The shells alone are worth $100+. Some of the PCBs are over $100 also. Take a look on the Lionel site and look at some parts breakouts. Making dummy engines is an option.  Engines will be sold for parts on ebay and other places.

After you accumulate several dead engines you can't get parts for, you will be able to cannibalize to fix other engines.

Certainly parting out one train to fix several others is the way to go. Unfortunately, the donor engine is only going to have one engine's worth of the desired part, with some parts being in high demand. So there is only going to be one "XYZ" board to use on another engine. And a dead "XYZ" board may be the reason the engine is being parted out to begin with.
Hopefully there will continue to be folks who figure out how to fix bad boards economically, and perhaps some enterprising people will figure out how to make generic boards that can be substituted for several originals.

I am aware of several people who made businesses out of parting out Postwar Lionel trains. They'd go around train shows and buy up trains in varying condition to use as their source. (The ones I knew of are no longer in business).

I have  parted out my share of trains.

Parting out post war Lionels is much different than the newer stuff.  Thousands of the old Lionels were made each year and there are still tons of them stashed away. The newer trains were made in far fewer numbers. Best hope is for  someone to come up with an easy repair or replace.

I am more concerned about exterior, cosmetic parts than about electronics. As a matter of policy MTH does not stock any kind of small body parts such as hand grabs, foot stirrups, brake stands, reefer hatches, latches, and hinges, etc. And these are fragile, especially on the Euro models. So, one slip of the hand and your boxcar or reefer is unrepairable because you can't get a small part. Lionel is better but there's still a lot of stuff you can't get at all. I've pretty much stopped buying new rolling stock because of the lack of parts and escalating prices. Electronics can be replaced and there are a couple of guys out there who can even diagnose and fix a blown component on a board (which Lionel/MTH won't do), but if it's visible and you can't replace it, your model is visibly broken. 

RLaHaie posted:

I have a friend who worked in the electronics business for his adult career and he states unequivocally that these components could have been designed to be more robust.

Of course they could be designed to be more robust!  They could also be a whole lot more expensive! 

I worked for many years in aerospace, and we built stuff that was flight critical, very robust, and had incredibly long MTBF ratings. You wouldn't want to pay for it, but it can be done.  My point is simply that you really do get what you pay for.  When you're developing something with a lot of complexity, be it an expensive toy or a precision flight instrument, there are commensurate costs involved.  If you want it close to bulletproof, you have to pay for it.

For example, this instrument demonstrated an MTBF of close to 20,000 hours after a few years in service.  I'd hate to have to pay for a model train that was designed to that level of performance!  This unit is probably about the complexity of a modern command locomotive.  I was the project engineer on this development, so I have a pretty good idea of what went into it, and also the costs involved in the design and development.  Stick that figure into your model train budget and see if you can afford the hobby with the new and vastly improved products.

• Description: Servoed Mach Airspeed Indicator
• Manufacturer: Smiths Industries - ADI
• Aircraft Type: B727
• List Price (2005): $43,230.00