MTH PS 3 SANTE FE F-3 INTERMITENT SIGNAL ISSUES

"Crazy", I just happened to see this, and had to respond. I LOVE your CANDOR here,  and tho I myself, haven't been here in a good long while,  I'm still LMAO at your "Service" remark ... "gese they'll never get it" !!  - "even after all these years". That said, watch the "angel-hair" wiring (I agree / good label), and see / be sure that the two boards are nicely "sandwiched" together (amid all 4 corners). Tho I own only one P-3 engine, It should go / and run MUCH longer,  then you have the time you have on it .

So good luck, and if all attempts fail: contact "Raymonds Trains", a GREAT man, and his knowledge / willingness to help is mind-boggling !.

Hope this helps:

GREAT "write-up" (and still LOL).

What do your signal level checks reveal in your remote?

willygee posted:

What do your signal level checks reveal in your remote?

Not sure. The track voltage is 17.9 with my PS2 Berk.  Now the engine won't even respond. Says check track which is fine. All other 4 engines run great.

From your handheld DCS remote: menu>eng>system>scroll to track signal and press thumb wheel. Very useful tool in troubleshooting.

Is the wiring under the white capacitors or are the capacitors standing straight up?  If so move wiring out of way and fold capacitors so they are horizontal along the board.  Route wires up over the capacitors and away from the PCB.  There are post around hear with pictures.  That should clear up the DCS signal strength.  G

Thank you very much.  I will give that a try.    

https://ogrforum.com/...ce-needed-with-photo

It seems to be much better, thank you that was such a frustration.  Now it seems a bit sluggsh though jerky instead of smooth.  Maybe a contact or something. Maybe it needs grease?   Atleast now it' listening to me again thanks to your knowledge. Thank you again.

The signal is great now. I did delete and refind the engine if that helped too.  Now it's like moves a little then jerks not very much but very noticeable.  Much worse at lower speeds.  Once over like 30mph it smooths out. At 30mph I can hear it Rev up then down and repeats?

Clean wheels and pickups?  Track Clean?  Traction tires ok?  G

The angel hair wire is a natural result of circuits having less current, but it is still a bear to work with.

The issues you describe could be electrical, or could be mechanical.  Does loco run smoothly in conventional?  Have you checked rollers for cleanliness and for tension on the roller springs?  Have you carefully checked all traction tires?  Under the motor trucks, there is a single screw that hold the motor to the truck.  Check to make sure it's tight.  Check that the wires to the motors are properly soldered.  When loco hesitates, do lights in the passenger car get dimmer?--This could indicate an intermittent short, which can be very hard to find if in the loco's inner wiring.  A slight rub-through of insulation is virtually invisible.

The fact that a tech does many repairs is not necessarily a measure of competence.  If I come across an issue I can't fix myself, such as the innards of a board, there are only a couple of techs in the US to whom I would entrust repair; one of these has posted above.

I've had a similar issue with at least 2 Railking engines I've purchased.  I found that the pickup rollers were too tight.

Turn the engine over, press the pickup all the way down and release.  It should "snap" back to its original position.  If it doesn't, it may just need lube or like in my case, I had to open the gap where the pin goes through at the pivot point.

Tony

Ok I checked the tires. Pickups, wiring, solder points,pinch points, wire nuts for ground and hot good connection. Lubricated well. Oiled pickup rollers with ez lube contact oil. Track clean voltage good.  The lights are not dimming when it' acting all weird.  I tried running in conventional and it worked once or twice in fwd. And no reverse. It did power up with increased power but only idled with the head light on. Track voltage tested  ok.  I may be running my little PS2 2-8-0 PRR Starter see engine again with my Sante Fe cars. I don' think my CN ES44. Will look right pulling my SF cars.  I decided to name this problem engine Midge because it won' work with me and it' very frustrating.  You can see exactly what I'm talking about in these too short videos.    Thank all of you for your excellent advice.  I can' afford to get it fixed, not working right now so it' another year without it unless these videos can explain the issue in more detail and maybe there is a fix. I don' think it' the board. I had signal problems before and moved the wires and gently layed the capacitors down as far,as I could about 45deg and that took care of that issue and now this one showed up, but I think this was doing it before just not as noticeable. I took the smoke unit last year. I did over fill it a few times but cleaned it well with electrical spray cleaner and a duster and it never seemed right again.  

You in deep trouble now, man.  Midge is the name of MTH's parts manager, the best employee they have.  You better rename that loco really quickly.

Whe running under command, what is actual voltage on the track?

RJR posted:

You in deep trouble now, man.  Midge is the name of MTH's parts manager, the best employee they have.  You better rename that loco really quickly.

Whe running under command, what is actual voltage on the track?

Your right about that.

No body is going anywhere now.

Ok I'm going to name it Big Dummy...   like the following BA units behind it.  voltage 18

Wondering if anyone has a used nice Santefe F3 engine  PS2 OR PS3 That they would sell me at a discount.   I can't afford a new set of engines and even just a single A unit MTH would work. Or can I replace the board and is that expensive.   I can't sell this ABA set because it's broke but I'm trying to figure out atleast a cheap A unit I can use just to pull all the cars I have.  I have a brand new Lazy Boy chair Rocker recliner I payed $450 on sale for my father who 2 weeks later was put in a nursing home because his dementia was to much to handle being on his own and there was no room for the chair there. I also have a brand new 48 in Samsung flat screen TV I bought at Best Buy for $430.  He could not have that either.  I live in Lake County IL and could deliver them if it's under 100 miles.  I would trade them for a nice mth F3 Santefe AA or ABA set.  I like the older ones with the mars lights if they are atleast PS2. But not a must.  I'm not working now and have been off for over a year now and I can't afford to just replace mine.  That engine never was right from when I first got it and now I have done everything except replace the  board and give up.  My grandson keeps asking me why I'm pulling all the santefe passenger cars with a CN diesel engine.  Lol.  This is a long shot and most likely will become more of a laugh for many thinking what's up with that. No one's going to trade this guy trains for A chair and a tv. You never know unless you ask.  The Chair retail was $700 and the TV $500.   I have photos of the receipts and both were purchased in Feb of this year and only used for a few weeks the put away and covered up so basically new.  If this is against the forum rules please disregard this post or I will delete it if it is.  Thank you

 I'm not reading everything above. I just watched the second video. I would say it has nothing to do with DCS signal. As far as I could guess, I would say it's either a binding issue that would be easy to check for by spinning each flywheel.

 More likely, it's a power issue that can be anything from a wire rubbing right against the frame, a tach wire issue, or even the tach spacing. Why you have toy figures hiding the tach gap when asking for help? is funny to me right now.

 You have to show the exact tach spacing to someone.

How exactly did you check the wiring? Did you rotate the trucks while testing? Inspect for rubbing?

I would send this one to G myself. I don't think you need a new engine for this.