Help with a reset please

Sam,

First, find out what your friend really did to the engine. A failed (or successful) Feature Reset (that actually is what is a transformer reset) won't do that to an engine.

Sam, is this an older PS-2 5V system (8.4V battery and round charge port)?  If so it may have just died.

It should start up in conventional, with lights and sound.  You could try replacing the battery as a test.  Make sure the board is getting power via the pickups and chassis ground to the 7 pin connector.

IF this is beyond the capability, then the engine needs to go to a tech to test.  G

Barry, he said that he tried with the Z500 to perform a factory reset so that he could use the Remote Commander on his home layout.  He had posted about this a week or so ago.

He brought it to the club layout Tuesday evening where I tried to get it going. Nothing in either DCS or without. We have a Z4000.

I brought it home and will try again looking closer at it later this evening to see if there is anything loose that is obvious. I don't feel comfortable taking his locomotive apart however.

GGG it is the older 5 v system I believe.

If you can hear a faint click upon power up in dcs mode there's hope.

Sam, is this a Premier or a RK? I can test this, but it sounds like the board is dead.  So he needs to be prepared to make a decision on whether to upgrade to a PS-2 3V system or let it go.   G

As Gregg suggests, can you hear the faint click (from the relay contacts) when you initially apply power?   This click occurs in both conventional or DCS for PS2 engines.

You might power up another working engine to hear how "fast" it occurs relative to when power is applied to the track. If you have a transformer with a current readout (such as the Z4000), does the current increase at all when the engine is powered (discounting other loads such as lighted lockons)?  If everything is silent and there is no current flowing, you may be "lucky" and have a loose connection(s) in the engine between the wheels/rollers and the electronics.  In such a case I think it's worth the effort to open up the tender and boiler to inspect.

My apologies for not getting to this the other evening. My wife had cataract surgery yesterday and we've been busy!

I should be able to give this a try this evening and will report back later..

I have a couple of PS2 5v engines and have not experienced any trouble. It will be a shame if this one has gone bad. Josh is our 15 year old member and his only other PS2 locomotive burned up in front of us at the club layout. he didn't do anything either as I was at the controls!

Maybe you're not the one to try to get this running!

Had the tender on the MTH dual charger for about an hour and tried again - Still nothing.

This is my first time using the (new) charger and it has no light to indicate it is working although I will assume its OK.

My test track is abut 4' long and am using a Z-1000 brick with the TIU and a Legacy system hooked in directly to the track.

Will leave the tender on charge all night and try again in the morning. Perhaps with Josh's permission I may open up the tender and see if anything obvious confronts me.

Oh - didn't realize until now that the tender has no pickups - must derive all power from the locomotive thru the tether. This would seem a less than ideal set-up...

Sam,  Risky plugging your good tender into his engine.  If he had a bad smoke motor, or pinched wire/short in the engine you could have damaged your board.

As I said in my earliest post, you need to change the battery.  It most likely is an original and dead.  Charging will not help.

You at least now the engine is picking up AC and has it available at the back of the engine.  Now you need to test continuity through his harness to the 7 pin.  If still no go, change the Voltage regulator mounted to the tender chassis with the 3 wire plug in it.  If still no go, the board is dead.

This does happen with PS-2 5V boards.  Some boards last long, other don't.  G

GGG- If the battery is suspect, can't he swap in a temporary 9v battery to see if everything works well?...then go to a BCR.

Noon Update-

I tried to add the engine with the battery charged overnight to no avail.

Removed his battery and installed my BCR and still "no engine to add" comes up on the remote...

Yes and Yes, but when working through a problem engine I like using a battery.  BCR won't fix this issue.  G

G   Is there anything else I can do at this point?

Have already boxed up his locomotive...

Sam, Nothing more that what I had in the post.  Board should be bench tested now.  G

Thanks G and all of you who chimed in. Guess I'll return the locomotive and see what Josh wants to do from here...

We were planning to double-head them soon!  between us we have a fairly long SOUTHERN heavyweight consist.

That sucks...was hoping it'd be an easy fix. One of these days I need to get my 0-8-0 in to have the board looked at...reset and reset and the chuff is still funky, 30-1123-1, problematic series....it happens.