Lionel AT&SF 3000 buzzing tender

I have this engine and have not experienced the problems you describe. I also had TAS convert ten of my MTH engines to TMCC and have never experienced these issues with any of them.

 

Not much of a help to you other than what you describe is not normal. This is a beautiful engine and I hope you get these issues resolved soon.

Hmm... I have this engine too. The sound quality is fantastic. I have not experience this. Sounds like you are getting some feedback. I would do a factory reset, if nothing then re-seat the chip. If no go then I would send it back to Lionel, usually a bum capacitor will cause a bad hum.

 

Some lionel engines buzz and actually is normal . After you do a shut down some engines number boards stay lit 

Thanx to all for your responses.  I will give Lionel a call tomorrow and see what they say.

 

On either a TAS conversion done about 12 years ago ( had about 6 engines comverted to TMCC at that time) and on early 3rd rail engines, I experienced a low frequency hum when the engines started to move.

 

I thought that this was a known issue and was reported on this forum; no big deal.

 

 

When I see Mike Reagan at York this week, I will ask him about the hum you are experiencing on your TAS conversions. I had mine done at about the same time, but they don't hum and have performed flawlessly.

Thank you, I appreciate that!  If you can remember, please tell him that Bart Zuccala from Murrysville, PA said hello.

 

 Many a Friday afternoon, when I was working, I would take a half days vacation and drive to Boardman, OH  ( about a hour drive) and drop off my engines for conversion.  Mike and Phil always treated me well.  On one occasion Mike even took me over to his home to show me his around the wall layout he had in his basement.

 

A little know fact about Mike is that he is a big "narrow gauge" fan in HO and G scales.

On the topic of capacitors, would an MTH battery replacement cap provide a cure? I don't want to tell you to do it and find out its a bad idea but the hum is indicative of a cap issue and/or feedback and that might solve some problems for you. Do some homework. If you are using Legacy and MTH DCS be sure the Legacy output wire is well connected on the #2 clip on the CTC lock on all tracks that share with DCS. Also, if you live in a house with antique wiring with no ground, that can be a source of no feedback drain and could cause that. The hot and neutral can be reversed sometimes too and today's electronics won't tolerate that very long where older electronics can handle that mis-arrangement. A cheater ground plug can be made by jumping ground and neutral together on the back side of a 3 prong plug but make sure you are connecting neutral and ground together and you didn't hear any of this from me. Lean on a good electrician if you are not sure how to validate neutral and hot on a 2 lead receptacle.

 

If anyone knows of another SF 2-10-10-2 for sale I would really like to talk to you about that.

 

Good Luck.

       
       

Never Buzzed on my Fastrack Layout, and the same goes for Lionel’s test track…when they were in Ohio!
I drove the 2-10-10-2 over to Lionel and had it serviced. After I watched Brian repair the Engine Mike handed me the Remote and I was able to run the Engine on Lionel’s Test/Layout..What a Day!!!  Anyhow, no Buzz was heard……ever.
I sure hope it’s something as Simple as a dimmer switch in your Train Room….or perhaps some other type of electrical interference?

I’m sorry about the Running Board Issue. I never used a Battery, and was unaware it had that problem?

K.C Jones

I'm pretty sure that the light staying lit on the battery is a fault in the sound board(s), I've heard of that before.  Could be that's the reason for the buzzing as well.

I agree with J Daddy of a capacitor having stored up energy and not grounding out properly, due to either being defective, or not properly seated to create a good ground connection.

I remember my father telling me before working on, now older, T.V. sets, to  unplug the power cord and wait a good two hours, before touching the guts of an unplugged, de-energized T.V., due to the capacitor still having stored up electrical energy in it.

Ralph

A capacitor would not be capable of keeping the lights one for any period of time, certainly not any of them that are used in the sound boards.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13kmUA2k_qY

 

Some just hum this is the same engine and its humming my es44ac up hums really loud...Its not the boards seated correctly ...  Tired that..

One other comment on this engine for those that have one; the features in the catalog mention variable ash pan glow.

 

I don't see it???

 

  Was this a misprint which has happened before to various manufactures (not a complaint).

 

I really love this engine!

Look at the video posted and tell me if you see a glow? It shows the buzz your talking about .