Need some help getting a ps 1 loco out of nuetral

More replys probable on PS2, PS3 board.

Rod

Hello cagacazzo I have a PS1 that was stuck in neutral and the manual
for my engine said it was in reset. It said to take the voltage up to
under 9 volts then slowly move the voltage down than slowly back up.
My engine stared to run fine. ( make shure the battery you have inside
is good)

First off PS-1 engines start up in "initial reset" not actually neutral. Since you are not getting the three clanks of death you may have the voltage to high. PS-1 engines will not "shift" out of "initial reset" to forward if voltage is over 8/10 volts. Also the voltage must drop to zero between "shifts."

Ron

Assuming you haven't heard the dreaded "3 clanks of death," apply power to about 70% till you hear the ding, throttle back to zero, then repeat 17 times (seriously). After the 18th cycle, you should get two dings and it should kick into forward when you apply power again. I have to do this with an PS1 Crusader just about every time it goes on the track...

Hope that helps!

Redrockbill

Gentleman, he has stated he can not get anymore Clinks and Clanks. If the Engine will only advance to the first reset state, it sounds like it may be deselected. What is the model number of this engine. Some of the FP40s had a software error on the chip. If shutdown with a weak battery the engine would become deselected. A feature QSI had, but MTH did not want. Do a search in the DCS forum and you will see a method to possibly reselect your engine, but the permanent fix is a new chip with correct software.

Must have a good, fully charged battery. G

I would try a fresh battery known to be good, or a 9v alakaline to try this. Also is the track clean where the engine is sitting? If it will not start up or come out of reset with a good battery, the onboard processor is in a deselect state and needs a reset chip, most MTH dealers have the kit. Your F40 is on the list of known engines that will enter deselect, when started up with a weak or dead battery.

Mort

Here is a link to my skydrive folder with more files and info on this problem
Click

Mort, The kit does not normally work for this. The Kit proves the board is good, and a new chip from MTH with proper software allows the board to work. But those chips will not remove an engine address that has been set into the EEPROM.

I have found a method to reset the EEPROM with a good chip and remove the engine address. This has proven successful and allowed the old chip to work, but the original chip is still subject to allow another deselect because of the software error. G

What the **** is the "3 clanks of death" HELP

New battery,tried all that was written and nothing someone had tell about the 3 clanks ,thanks anyway boys, what do I do next

What is the MTH model number?

hi,thanks yuri1 and PRRronBH i needed that ps1 start up primer again, i have 3 ps 1 that are more "cranky" than the others,i ran down to the train room did what u guys suggested,,,,,,,BINGO ps1 perfection,,,thanks ,thanks terry hudon
p.s i didnt mean to hijack the thread !!!

If the loco is really locked in neutral, doing a reset 18 will not unlock it. You need to use the feature code to get out of neutral which is something like 51? You really should find someone with a Z-4000. It is much easier to diagnose and reset a PS_1 loco with one of these. You can do it with any conventional transformer but your arm may get tired from moving the throttle back and forth. A Z-4000 will tell you the state of the processor with one push of a button and will unlock it fairly easily. If you hit the program button on the 4000 and it reads out 18 the engine is not locked in neutral. It usually means there is problem with the bottom PS-1 board and that it will probably need to be replaced.

Three clanks of death is a scrambled processor and it means the engine will need to be reprogrammed with a special chip set.

Thanks for all the input, will give everything a shot, let you all know, thanks bobby

Bobby,

quote:

it's lites up the engine noise is heard, dings once and thats it

When the engine only dings once right after powering up, the engine is deselected or has a scrambled chip. It should of had 2 dings to be in the reset state.

GGG found a solution with the deselection problem and it should get your engine running again. If you don't replace the chip or can't find one, just don't ever run the engine with a low battery again.

Once you get it running properly again, I recommend replacing the battery with a BCR. I know everyone claims you can scramble an engine with a BCR that's not charged for a minute, but I haven't experience it, but I guess it's possible. A dead battery doesn't seem to scramble an engine but a low or half charged one will (somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 volts). This doesn't seem to apply to every PS1 engine though.

A new battery will work for a while, but sooner or later your going to have it die.

I had a very similar problem with a ps-1 0-8-0 switcher.

Advice that I got from a poster here did the trick for me.

First place a lighted car behind the engine (caboose, passenger car,
etc). Raise the out put on your transformer to 16 volts let it sit for a few minutes, then drop the out put to 10 (or so), and then bring back up to 16.

Once running let it run for a bit of time.

It worked for me, and that particular engine has run fine since.

Unrelated to this topic, but the same poster who helped me get my consolidation running, commented on how much more they like the whistle sound on ps-1 engines, and I agree.

Ken

Ken, that is interesting advice. That is the specific method for moving thru reset states. So that would move you from the first reset state (at start up) to the second reset state. Normally, the voltage has to be less than 10 volts when the direction button is used to take the engine out of reset and into fwd.

Listening to the engine at start up, and the specific sounds that it makes is a very important part of diagnosing what is wrong. Engines that don't move are not similiar unless the sounds they make are the same also.

Having a charged battery is also important, so raising voltage to 16 volts to charge the battery is good advice. Afterwards going to less than 10Volts and then down towards zero and back up is the method to leave reset and enter forward. G