LionChief Plus Sounds Stopped Working

Hi Arnold   

Check all connections inside & outside !  

both the engine & tender .

I wish you luck !

Bill G 

WRGMILW posted:

Hi Arnold   

Check all connections inside & outside !  

both the engine & tender .

I wish you luck !

Bill G 

 

Thanks, Bill. Since I bought it in February of this year and it is still under warranty, I'm reluctant to open it up. Unless there is some way I can press the buttons on the remote or other simple way to restore the sounds without taking it apart,  I will send it back to Lionel to get it fixed under the warranty.

Any other suggestions?

Has anyone else lost the sounds for a Lionchief + engine that derailed?

Maybe try the Bluetooth app and see if that works. Is the engine Bluetooth capable?  You check the sound menu to see if it restores them. Just a thought. 

MartyE posted:

Maybe try the Bluetooth app and see if that works. Is the engine Bluetooth capable?  You check the sound menu to see if it restores them. Just a thought. 

I greatly appreciate your suggestion, Marty. My engine was manufactured in 2016 or 2017, and is not Bluetooth capable.

Its wonderful to be on this Forum for the sharing of technical expertise, especially for someone like me who is not handy with tools and struggles with technology.

From my experience the Lionchief boards do not take much abuse to become toststed so send it in and run something else in the meantime.

Captaincog posted:

From my experience the Lionchief boards do not take much abuse to become toststed so send it in and run something else in the meantime.

Thanks, Jeff, I suspected as such. One of the best things about our Postwar trains is their ruggedness and repairability.

This will be the 2nd time in less than a year that this LionChief + had a sounds problem as a result of it derailing, necessitating that I send it back to Lionel to be repaired.

The positive is that Lionel is responsive and fixes it while under warranty. Also, the engine is otherwise marvelous: not too expensive, great appearance and features, wonderful for young children to run using the simple to operate remote.

On the negative side, what do I  do when the engine has problems after the 1 year warranty expires? 

I am still glad that I bought this engine, but will be hesitant to buy another.

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Captaincog posted:

From my experience the Lionchief boards do not take much abuse to become toststed so send it in and run something else in the meantime.

Thanks, Jeff, I suspected as such. One of the best things about our Postwar trains is their ruggedness and repairability.

This will be the 2nd time in less than a year that this LionChief + had a sounds problem as a result of it derailing, necessitating that I send it back to Lionel to be repaired.

The positive is that Lionel is responsive and fixes it while under warranty. Also, the engine is otherwise marvelous: not too expensive, great appearance and features, wonderful for young children to run using the simple to operate remote.

On the negative side, what do I  do when the engine has problems after the 1 year warranty expires? 

I am still glad that I bought this engine, but will be hesitant to buy another.

This certainly sounds like an excellent candidate for the addition of a TVS diode or two. IMO, it should absolutely be added on the engine, not the track or the transformer, although having them there does offer some additional protection.

In fact two of these diodes may protect you against the case where a TVS bites the dust just because of a derailment, but the other one survived. They are so cheap, that would be very inexpensive insurance! 

There are many other discussions on this forum regarding the various TVS devices, which ones will do the job, links to where to buy them, etc. Just search TVS and I imagine you'll get a gazillion hits from discussions on this board. If you're not down for the task, I'm quite certain others could lend a hand.

GeoPeg posted:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Captaincog posted:

From my experience the Lionchief boards do not take much abuse to become toststed so send it in and run something else in the meantime.

Thanks, Jeff, I suspected as such. One of the best things about our Postwar trains is their ruggedness and repairability.

This will be the 2nd time in less than a year that this LionChief + had a sounds problem as a result of it derailing, necessitating that I send it back to Lionel to be repaired.

The positive is that Lionel is responsive and fixes it while under warranty. Also, the engine is otherwise marvelous: not too expensive, great appearance and features, wonderful for young children to run using the simple to operate remote.

On the negative side, what do I  do when the engine has problems after the 1 year warranty expires? 

I am still glad that I bought this engine, but will be hesitant to buy another.

This certainly sounds like an excellent candidate for the addition of a TVS diode or two. IMO, it should absolutely be added on the engine, not the track or the transformer, although having them there does offer some additional protection.

In fact two of these diodes may protect you against the case where a TVS bites the dust just because of a derailment, but the other one survived. They are so cheap, that would be very inexpensive insurance! 

There are many other discussions on this forum regarding the various TVS devices, which ones will do the job, links to where to buy them, etc. Just search TVS and I imagine you'll get a gazillion hits from discussions on this board. If you're not down for the task, I'm quite certain others could lend a hand.

Thanks so much, Geopeg, what is TVS?  What is s TVS diode?

All I know is that it is probably some small thing one installs to protect against an electrical surge from a derailment while the track power is 18 volts.

Arnold

TVS = Transient Voltage Suppression. Fancy words to say, but it's also about killing those quick (transient) spikes that can be produced by shorts. TVS diodes come in varying voltages - say you had one rated for 50 volts - you would wire it directly between the engine frame and the power wire leading up to your sensitive electronics - basically sticking it across the power leads. When a derailment occurs, things get messy electrically speaking. As the wheels short across the tracks, then un-short, then re-short several times, spikes can occur which can be in the neighborhood of hundreds of volts or more - they don't last long as a rule, but they can cause damage to electronics in the blink of an eye. With a 50 volt TVS on the power leads, it acts as a dead short against anything over 50 volts thus limiting the effect of the spike. Instead of hundreds of volts, your sound board sees only 50 volts, something it can (maybe) survive. Choosing the correct value of TVS is something I will leave to those better versed in these matters. 

Arnold, is there any way you can prevent the derails such as changing the track plan etc. The board should be able to handle derails but unfortunately that’s not the case. I don’t know anything about TVS but it sounds like a solution. Good luck.

If the engine still moves, the lights and smoke still work, check the pins, or really hoops in the tender tether , they should be visible, I have  had a hudson dive, not once, but twice, and the sound ended because the loops in the tether had become jammed. a baby pin or something similar should be able to be used to carefully pull them lose with out harm.

Since it's under warranty, copy receipt, call Lionel, they'll email fedex prepay sticker, with in a couple weeks it'll be back better than brand new.

My Hogwarts engine went bad, the whole process took 2 weeks, they had to replace a couple of boards, now it's new again.

Good morning Forum friends.

I just looked at the tether on the tender and noticed 4 thin wires which go from the tether to inside the tender: 2 black wires and 2 red wires. One of the red wires is now loose and is no longer connected to the tender.

Incidentally, I only lost the chuffing sounds, and when running in reverse the tail lights. The smoke and head light still work fine and the engine otherwise runs fine.

On Tuesday I will call Lionel, get a Fedex prepay sticker and return the locomotive to Lionel since it's still under warranty. 

Thanks again for all your help.

Arnold

I hope you get your engine fixed soon , so we can see running on your layout again .  

WRGMILW posted:

I hope you get your engine fixed soon , so we can see running on your layout again .  

You can see it under Labor Day Trains and Songs in my post a few minutes ago called Labor Day Milk Train.

Arnold, did you get this fixed?  What was the issue?

Have you looked more into adding the TVS diodes?  I would also suggest instant circuit breakers.  Take a look at the last few posts of this thread for TVS product numbers and fast acting breakers recommended by gunrunnerjohn:  https://ogrforum.com/...57#81537088369275957  

GeoPeg posted:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Captaincog posted:

From my experience the Lionchief boards do not take much abuse to become toststed so send it in and run something else in the meantime.

Thanks, Jeff, I suspected as such. One of the best things about our Postwar trains is their ruggedness and repairability.

This will be the 2nd time in less than a year that this LionChief + had a sounds problem as a result of it derailing, necessitating that I send it back to Lionel to be repaired.

The positive is that Lionel is responsive and fixes it while under warranty. Also, the engine is otherwise marvelous: not too expensive, great appearance and features, wonderful for young children to run using the simple to operate remote.

On the negative side, what do I  do when the engine has problems after the 1 year warranty expires? 

I am still glad that I bought this engine, but will be hesitant to buy another.

This certainly sounds like an excellent candidate for the addition of a TVS diode or two. IMO, it should absolutely be added on the engine, not the track or the transformer, although having them there does offer some additional protection.

In fact two of these diodes may protect you against the case where a TVS bites the dust just because of a derailment, but the other one survived. They are so cheap, that would be very inexpensive insurance! 

There are many other discussions on this forum regarding the various TVS devices, which ones will do the job, links to where to buy them, etc. Just search TVS and I imagine you'll get a gazillion hits from discussions on this board. If you're not down for the task, I'm quite certain others could lend a hand.

I've always wondered why Lionel, MTH, etc don't install these directly into each engine.  The amount of warranty claims they must go through for issues like this, must be high.  Likely drives up the cost of all engines.  You would think it would be worth the pennies it would cost to install in every engine.  Perhaps the real issue is slow circuit breakers?