MTH Y6B stuck in neutral - Help!

Mike the Y6b you got is from 2000 and is a 5V system. The 5V systems will not move if the battery isn't charged or there is a problem with the charging circuit. I assume that you are using the correct MTH battery and it was charged before installation. Another thing I saw a lot when doing repairs is that the 9V battery connection goes bad where it attaches to the battery. They can be tight and folks have a tendency to pull it off the battery by pulling up on the wire end, resulting in a break inside the plastic cover. Ohm out the battery connection from the battery to the board and see if that's your problem. Be aware that the charging circuit may have been bad for awhile and the seller may not have been aware of it if he ran it under DCS.

By the way did the tether get the Northern back up and running?

Hi Paul,

I was kind of hoping you would chime in to my post! The Northern is running superbly thanks to your very kind assistance - still my favourite engine by miles!!

Turning to the Y6B - thanks for the imput - that helps alot. Upon further investigation I have discovered a broken wire and hope you can tell me where it goes please?

From the battery connector there are black and red wires. These enter into a connector where the red wire appears to connect with an orange wire which then goes into the main tether. The black wire connects at the connector with another black wire. It is this second wire that is broken - there is no corresponding wire in the tether so where does it go?

As always I would welcome your thoughts. thank you.

CHEERS MIKE

Paul and GGG - thanks for the replies. Battery is good - brand new and charged. Its not an MTH but is the same as ones I have used before.

GGG - I am not very bright when it comes to electrics and don't have a meter to hand (lent it to son!) The volume pot has 3 wires from it - centre one is red which I assume is live, either side there are grey and blue wires.

As you look at the tender with the volume control closest to you the nearest wire is grey, then red, then blue.Do you know which one it is please?

The other thing I forgot to mention is that I have no shut down sounds which I guess would be the case if the battery curcuit was not functioning.

Any more thoughts thanks?

CHEERS MIKE

Mike anyway you can take a picture of the wire and the area it resides in? Would help to get a better idea as I can't picture exactly what wire(s) you mean and don't want to have you connect it wrong and take that 5V board out, they are touchy enough as they age as it is.

If, after you get everything back together with a good battery, and you find it is still locked in neutral, try unlocking from a directional state by hitting one whistle and three bells, sometimes 5volt boards won't come out of neutral even with a reset of one whistle and five bells, it needs the one whistle and three bells, then hit the direction button and see if it moves. 

Hello again everyone.

Thank you to everyone who replied I am pleased to say the Y6B IS FIXED !!!!

It was a combination of a number of things - dead battery, broken wire (GGG you were right about the blue wire!) and finally a poor connection where the battery leads join up with the rest of the wiring . With the latter I simply chopped it out and resoldered.

The loco runs superbly and produces a ton of smoke. I was also contacted by the vendor who offered advice and even got a pal of his who is an MTH repair guy to e/mail me directly which was great service.

You were right Paul - he had only ever run the ngine in DCS so the battery was never an issue. The chap I bought the engine from is a forum member  - I am not going to name him - but the transaction, his concern for my problem and indeed the help you all provided just tells me what a great bunch of people get on here!

Merry Christmas to you all.

CHEERS MIKE

Glad to hear that you got the problem fixed Mike. You have a Merry Christmas and a have a Happy New Year in merry ol' England!

; and tell your son you would like a Fluke for Christmas:-)  G