MTH 30-20288-1 Christmas ES44AC Imperial Diesel & Caboose Set With Proto-Sound 3.0

Hi there

I have the same engine !  Maybe SAME situation !   From some sources the rear upper lights work,  the lower ones do not !  I hope that helps !

Question does this have ditch lights on the bottom? Next thing is usually when you change directions to reverse they are suppose to come on.

WRGMILW posted:

Hi there

 

I have the same engine !  Maybe SAME situation !   From some sources the rear upper lights work,  the lower ones do not !  I hope that helps !

 

The upper rear lights do not work.... I don't see any lower lights.

SDIV Tim posted:

Question does this have ditch lights on the bottom? Next thing is usually when you change directions to reverse they are suppose to come on.

My understanding is Ditch lights are on the front, but don't know, I will look when I get home. The upper rear lights on the Loco do not come on when in reverse.

I have the original red and white version which is packed away now, but I seem to remember the ditch lights came on going forward and the rear light came on in reverse. I ran it conventionally and there were sequences of horn and bell pushes that turned the lights on or off! I inadvertently turned them off a few times until I realized what I was doing! Hope this helps!

Do a conventional reset with 1W and 5B.  Do they work now?  Yes, reverse light should be on in reverse.  Not sure if this uses spring contact pad for reverse, but could be that they are not making good contact, or a connector is loose.  May have to inspect if the reset does not work.  G

GGG,  when you say do a conventional reset with 1W and 5B,  what does that mean??? And don't know what you mean by spring pad contact..?     I am only running using the Z-1000 transformer, I do not have any other control mechanism.

Thanks.

In your instructions the tell you bell whistle combinations.  You said these work, like firing coupler.  One is also a conventional reset.  1 WHistle and 5 bell in rapid succession.  G

Hey Thanks,  I am just getting started with MTH and all the new things associated with that.

I will try the 1W 5B, later tonight  when I get home.

You might have to do the reset twice, and it is tricky to do it, if you arenot fast enough, the instructions should help you.

SDIV Tim posted:

You might have to do the reset twice, it is tricky to do.  If you aren't fast enough, the instructions should help you.

Why do things have to be SO complicated these days?   Glad I'm still "conventional!"   

All, the saga continues and ends, (i hope).. I went home and tried the 1w 5B and nothing happened, or so i thought.  I pulled off the rear cover which exposes the Volume and Smoke control and could then see the rear light bracket. I engaged reverse and low and behold the lights came on, when looking at them inside the cover. I then looked around behind the loco and could not see any lights .... Um ? What i found out is after i took a phillips screw driver and took the light bracket off, i noticed the two lights were mostly hanging outside the rubber seal. I then pushed the lights in and looked again, still no noticeable light coming out the two holes in the rear..  Pulled the bracket back off and saw that the rubber part that was butted up against the plexiglass lights was bent in and virtually no light  came through. After pushing the lights further into  the rubber and then carefully placing the rubber up against the plexiglass, Wala !!! alot of backup light. Hope this helps someone else!!

Suggest MTH look at their Quality Assurance checklist and add "check backup lights"

Thanks All.