Lionel 6-11399 H-7 Steam Locomotive - no communication with tender

IR can be seen with a camera that omits or removes the IR filter, so check with a tv remote as an example or use the front facing camera. It might be possible your phone cannot see it because of IR filters on both cameras.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ_hGsCcS9E

Thanks.  I checked and the IR does not transmit.

So now I am trying to find out if it is the IR transmitter or the RCMC board.

Top suspect is a bad solder connection under the heatsink to the IR LED.  That's happened to me a number of times, both on the locomotive and tender.

Update -

While testing the IR transmitter wiring (checking for loose/broken connections) I did find a place in the wires where it was pinched.  My guess is when I was reassembling the engine shell to the chassis I pinched the wire and shorted the IR transmitter to shell ground. The wire did not show any obvious physical bear wire.  While the wires and connections all tested good, my thought was either the IR transmitter diode or the main control board RCMC was bad.

I completed an engine reset following the manual (changing or reentering the engine ID resets this engine to factory default). No change in operation.

I received a new IR transmitter from Lionel parts and sure enough, the IR transmitter was bad.  Engine is now fully operational again.

@DaveGG - Thanks for the update.  I wish more people would provide updates after an issue was resolved.  👌