Misfire Lionel Electrocoupler Anyone find a solution?

I am not sure what you mean by mis-firing.  I assume you mean it is not opening on command.  If so, hold the coupler between your fingers and give it the command to open.  If you feel it buzz, the electronics are fine.  If you are running the train at less then 18VAC, bump up the power and see if it will open.

 

Good Luck...

Earl

What kind of misfire? Does it not uncouple or is it randomly firing? If so there was a way on the older TMCC locomotives to wire in a capacitor, I think, to prevent a voltage spike from firing the coupler. However, gunrunnerjohn would know for sure and I am under the belief that this issue was corrected with the Legacy engines. If it is not firing it is likely and R4LC or Legacy board issue.

I definitely used the wrong word. What I meant by misfiring is it fires open on its own when running around the layout. I never hear it happen. I just notice it. I'm pretty certain it's electrical. The coupler, mechanically, seems to be in good working condition. Wasn't sure if this had a known fix.

First, do not use a cap on Legacy.  Open up your engine and swap the 2 pin plug from the rear coupler to the front and the front to the rear to confirm a board issue or just a bad coupler.  My money is on a bad coupler.  I have seen this oftem.

 

By doing this, you will know where you are at.

Okay, now that makes sense. Now assuming you are not hearing coupler sounds as if it is firing then the following should help. If this is a mechanical issue try some powdered graphite into the coupler since the pin could be sticking allowing the coupler to randomly open also.

 

 

I hope this helps.

Jeff, his engine does not use the R4LC it has the current RCMC board system.  I get to see these often.  I work for a dealer who sells a few trains each week.

 

One last thing Marc, pull the coupler plug from the board, reinstall it and then reprogram your engine.

Thanks Marty. I could not remember to if that one had the newer RMCM board system and I went blank on the name.

I recently got a Canadian Pacific Trainmaster that was released last month. When trying to operate the front coupler I get the sound from the speaker but no buzzing or operation from the knuckle of the coupler. The rear coupler works fine. I phone the Lionel service department and spoke to Pattie. After I told her about the coupler not working she spoke to the service manager and they sent me a coupler assembly from their sample Trainmaster and told me to just keep the nonworking one. It looks easy to make the swap. Just remove the truck with a twist, unplug the socket with the two wires from the connection in the truck and replace the truck into the motor housing. No more having to unscrew the truck from the motor housing and then having to lineup the truck's worm wheel with the worm gear from the armature.

Great customer service from the Lionel parts department.

Thank you Marty for your helpful information, especially that you know from experience by working on this problematic condition.

Ralph

To isolate an electrical from a mechanical problem, unplug the coupler and leave it unplugged. Run the loco and see if the problem occurs. If it still happens, the problem is mechanical in nature. If it does not happen, then the electronics are at fault.

 

Larry

Marty's reference to a capacitor in his first post was the correction used some time ago for most TMCC boards that had coupler opening problems. 50 microfarad non-polarized capacitor across the coupler leads.  Apparently not done with Legacy units.

That is because older TMCC and Early Legacy used AC outer rail as ground reference.

 

Newer Lionel electronics do NOT.  It is a DC based system like MTH.  Touching chassis AC ground, or adding components can damaged the electronics.  G

Larry has the right first step IMO.  Unplug the coupler and isolate it to mechanical or electrical.  My bet is with Marty, it's probably mechanical.  I have had several that seem fine when you test them, but when running, they work their way open.

 

I've had good luck taking them apart and smoothing the mating surfaces.  Not only does this fix the random opening, but it also makes them close much easier so you don't have to bash the car you're coupling with to close the coupler.

I had a similar problem. it was caused bu a bad roller spring, the roller would bounce up and cause an arc against the frame. this arc mimics the uncouple command and opened my coupler. something to check. I would think an arc caused by anything might fire the coupler. going over a turnout or even dirty wheels or track.

It's amazing how much we put up with in our hobby.  If we bought cars with the variety of defects listed on the forum we wouldn't be fixing them ourselves.  We'd expect the dealer to do it under warranty. At least there are lemon laws for cars.

 

The spontaneous uncoupling with Legacy engines is not uncommon.  It happened to my PWC NP GP.  My dealer called Lionel and was told to install a capacitor at the coupler. This really didn't help.  It worked out because I like to run the long hood forward as it is depicted in the catalog.  That puts the bad coupler in front now.  But, it should be the rear coupler as it is designed to run short hood forward.

Alan

Remember guys, the cap fix is for TMCC only and not Legacy.

Also check to see if one of the wires has a rubbed spot in it.  If the ground side is rubbed it can cause the coupler to fire.  I have seen this happen on both Lionel and MTH, though it has been a while.

Good point Ron.  I forgot to throw that out.  That is a real issue also.

I have a Legacy NKP ES44 that came with the coupler buzzing by itself continuously. I started to check it out and it quit doing that when I rearranged the wires somewhat. I had no idea at first what was making the noise...the smoke fan was also an issue at the same time but that cured itself also after some restarts.

I have had a few lionel engine with weak couplers in them they will pull 8 to 10 cars but when you pull 20 they just open up . I had a daylight and a ac6000 and one es44 do this .

This is the kind of issue that polishing the interior latching surfaces frequently will correct.