Has anyone had a MTH Z-1000 brick go bad?

Some of the bricks came through with circuit breakers that fail prematurely.   Open it up and check continuity of the breaker.  If open, replace it.   6A breaker available on Amazon (MTH is out if them).

Circuit Breakers are a failure type item. They will fail eventually. Every time they have to be reset is an operation. Most of them will fail so far out in the future that failure is mostly irrelevant. But they do fail.

@Jon G posted:

Some of the bricks came through with circuit breakers that fail prematurely.   Open it up and check continuity of the breaker.  If open, replace it.   6A breaker available on Amazon (MTH is out if them).

Jon - is the Amazon breaker a plug in replacement?

Yes, but it must be soldered in place.

Of the 5 I have had functioning at one time on the layout, YES. I have had one go bad in the last 7 years. Seemed to be the breaker. I did not feel comfortable replacing it, and Z1000's were cheap and available. Now I don't know what's out there. I guess at some point another will fail and I'll find out.

Mike

No, but my club recently had 2 Lionel 180 Watt bricks go bad. These were our two original ones and were around 20 years old. They were only putting out about 10-12 watts under load. One finally completely failed and shut the whole layout down at our last show. We bought new bricks to replace these 6 months ago and all them were bad as well. Their replacements are good and we should have them in our power cart this month.

I've replaced breakers on Z1000 and smaller bricks, as well as several on the Z-4000.  I've replaced one relay in a Lionel 180W brick as well.  Electronics does fail, but they're pretty darned reliable as a rule.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the tips.  I got a brand new 6V circuit breaker today and soldered it in (kind of wished I had 3 hands at times for that!) and I'm sorry to say that the brick is just as dead as it was before.  I've got the case off it right now and I simply don't see any dry solder joints or loose connections anywhere.  It's basically a doorstop right now.

Does anybody have any other ideas what could be wrong with it?  My next step is to replace the plug end that goes into the wall socket, but the original plug is such a durable type of construction I'm doubtful that is the issue.  Has anyone else had a plug end go bad?

Aside from the breaker (which I just replaced), the brick has no moving parts.  I'm not an electronics whiz so I don't understand how it could go bad.

Thanks,

Matt

Some of those transformers have an internal fuse in the primary windings.  Try measuring the continuity across the primary of the transformer, if it's open, it's truly dead.

Hello again,

Well, SURPRISE!  It was the plug that goes into the wall socket that was broken.  I cut off the original plug and replaced it with one I bought at my local hardware store for $1.99 and voila!  The brick works just fine now.

I would never have guessed it was the original plug since it and the wire that goes into it are encased in a durable big rubber housing.  But something must have broken inside it.  The brick now also has a brand new circuit breaker, too, so we're good to go!

Thanks again everyone,

Matt

@LT1Poncho posted:

Of the 5 I have had functioning at one time on the layout, YES. I have had one go bad in the last 7 years. Seemed to be the breaker. I did not feel comfortable replacing it, and Z1000's were cheap and available. Now I don't know what's out there. I guess at some point another will fail and I'll find out.

Mike

Mike, I just wanted to encourage you to have a go at fixing a brick if another one of yours goes bad in the future.  I mean, if something's broke already, you can't make it any worse trying to fix it.  I'd never opened up a brick until today (and you'll need a small triangular head screwdriver to unscrew the screws holding the brick case together ($10 at Amazon) - I had one of those already from a different project) and the 6V circuit breaker I ordered from Amazon was a drop in replacement - I just had to solder it in.  Replacing a plug is even easier.  I personally have to watch my pennies (I know I've got the wrong hobby for that!) so to be able repair something for a few bucks instead of shelling out a lot more $$ for a replacement is something I always have to try first.  In this instance it worked out - and yeah, I admit I always feel good when I fix something that broke, too.

Matt

@M. Tyler posted:

Mike, I just wanted to encourage you to have a go at fixing a brick if another one of yours goes bad in the future.  I mean, if something's broke already, you can't make it any worse trying to fix it.  I'd never opened up a brick until today (and you'll need a small triangular head screwdriver to unscrew the screws holding the brick case together ($10 at Amazon) - I had one of those already from a different project) and the 6V circuit breaker I ordered from Amazon was a drop in replacement - I just had to solder it in.  Replacing a plug is even easier.  I personally have to watch my pennies (I know I've got the wrong hobby for that!) so to be able repair something for a few bucks instead of shelling out a lot more $$ for a replacement is something I always have to try first.  In this instance it worked out - and yeah, I admit I always feel good when I fix something that broke, too.

Matt

Matt, I appreciate that. I think I am much more confident now than I was 5-7 years ago starting in the hobby. I have been able to fix a bunch of engines etc that died on me. I guess it’s just the higher voltages and such that worry me with the transformers. But you’re correct, it’s already broke. I’d give it a whirl. And it would save me money to buy other train stuff with LOL. Nothing is getting cheaper, and I’m getting older!

Mike