MTH Big Boy, lighted number boards won't light

Try turning the ditch lights on, sometimes they're used for the number boards.

Are you sure they are lighted number board?  Fire box, interior, marker and Cab light.  Not so sure it had lighted number boards.  If it does, I would suspect a bad solder joint on the harness plug or broken wire.  G

All premier BigBoys have lit number boards. If you are not the original owner, it is possible that a railking file was installed which does not have illuminated number boards.

Are you sure?  I seem to recall the PS/1 Premier Big Boy did not have lighted number boards, don't have the parts list for later models.

Well you are right, the very first Proto 1 version did not. But the stock number the OP listed does, and all PS2 and 3 do.

Yep, I did think that the PS/2 stuff had them, I just remembered several large PS/1 steam upgrades I did, including a Big Boy, and I was pretty sure I didn't see lighted number boards.

It's pretty easy to see if you have lighted number boards by examining them closely.

So it is PS-2 3V which means board in tender and mux set up.  So two light controls and marker in engine.  HL, Interior, Fire box, Markers.  So LNB would have to be on HL circuit, at 3 bulbs with 2 or 3 bulbs already on IL (Cab and Fire box).   I guess they could have done it but I don't remember for sure.  PS-3 is certainly different since it has far more LED capability with the Boiler board.  Frankly PS-1 would have a better shot at having them since they had the large CV board for internal lights.  A lot of Premier steam do not have LNB. They are just on the boiler front with classification markers.  G

In following youtube, they look lit to me.  You might send an inquiry via the video to ask if he uses DCS command, and if so which control (LIN, LMK, whatever) turns it on/off...or if by some happenstance his remote actually shows LNB!

They sure are lit in that video!   I think that puts to bed the issue if they're supposed to light.  Given the lighting controls available for the PS/2 versions, I'd say there's something amiss inside the boiler in the wiring...

Thanks for all the input.

Number boards should definitely light on #20-3127. No soft key for lighted number boards in DCS remote or app. Tried turning ditch lights soft key on and nothing changed.

I'm guessing that popping the boiler shell will be required to sort this out...

I would try reloading the file before tearing into the engine.

True, but I must say that I give that a low probability of solving the issue.  The number boards are almost surely in parallel with some other lighting that's probably working.

Since LNB is not showing on his remote, it my be possible that the Railking file was installed by error?

True, but does that show up on the Premier version?  Do you have a separate control for them on a PS/2 locomotive, even with a mux board?

Common guys. Where is the circuit board in a PS-2 3V Engine? If it is in the tender there is no LNB.  There is only 1 Light wire going to the engine and it is muxed to control 2 features.  HL and IL.  Markers by default off the lights.  Typically IL and Fire Box on the IL circuit.  So HL would probably have the LNB, though they could have put 4 bulbs on IL FET.  Since his HL and IL work, the only reason for LNB to be out is a broken wire or both bulbs burned out.    Sound file is not the problem.  G

@GGG posted:

Sound file is not the problem.  G

Yes, I know.  That's why I figured the shell has to come of to see what happened to the lights.

Does this engine use the spring contacts under the shell?

I recently lost headlights after I flipped the engine upside down to oil things, all other lights were working fine. Turns out some of wires going up to the lights were holding the housing for those contacts up just enough to keep the headlights from getting power. An easy fix once I figured out what was happening.

It looks like I eat some crow. I can confirm with my own 4014 the numberboards are tied in with the headlight.

:-)   No springs on steam other than some small switcher types.  Diesels yes. 

For what it is work some model years seems like the wires got hard in the engine, and have seen plenty of bad solder joints at the plug under the heatshrink.  A light tug on the wire while holding plug can usually reveal a broken wire under the heat shrink.  G