My Dad was just told by Lionel that there is no need to add a 9 volt battery in the new Legacy Milwaukee S3 steamer as we had done I. The past with previous legacy and TMCC locomotives.
When was this change made?
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greg773 posted:My Dad was just told by Lionel that there is no need to add a 9 volt battery in the new Legacy Milwaukee S3 steamer as we had done I. The past with previous legacy and TMCC locomotives.
When was this change made?
When running conventional the battery keeps the sound on when the track voltage goes away. And the track voltage goes away when you stop the engine or reverse the direction. In the case of running Legacy or TMCC, the voltage does not go away, so you do not need the battery.
There is however a rare instance when a particular engine of mine running Legacy is traversing a switch or some part of the track when the engine or tender loses power for an instant. The sound stops running. I have had to restart the engine in that case to bring the sound back. And a battery eliminates losing the sound in that case.
We have a couple of Atlas double slip switches that we get a drop out of sounds if there’s no battery installed. With the battery there is no problem.
The instruction booklet left out the section about adding the battery. He called Lionel and the person on the phone said they had done away with the battery all together.
Unfortunatly, this new loco is dropping out on the switch.
I know the switch is not the issue. Everything runs fine through it with the exception of Legacy and TMCC that the battery was not installed.
Is this the #260 Milwaukee S3. 6-84067? If so, there is no battery. I just took a look at the manual, and the parts breakdown. No battery connections, etc.
EscapeRocks posted:Is this the #260 Milwaukee S3. 6-84067? If so, there is no battery. I just took a look at the manual, and the parts breakdown. No battery connections, etc.
Is there a capacitor to maintain sounds during momentary power interruptions?
It’s 6-84056 #265
I guess they must have made inprovements to eliminate the battery. Just as long as it doesn’t go over a double slip, lol
I don't know that they made improvements, but my VL-BB also doesn't have a battery option. They use the same sound board as other locomotives with a battery, so one presumes that with the correct cable you could add a battery. Fitting it into the VL-BB locomotive would be a challenge. 
FWIW, the board used supports a battery, here's the one in the VL-BB tender and locomotive, note that both still have the battery provision.
My solution will be to use this when I get around to putting batteries in, I know the guy that makes them.
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gunrunnerjohn posted:I don't know that they made improvements, but my VL-BB also doesn't have a battery option. They use the same sound board as other locomotives with a battery, so one presumes that with the correct cable you could add a battery. Fitting it into the VL-BB locomotive would be a challenge.
My solution will be to use this when I get around to putting batteries in, I know the guy that makes them.
And when you do that, please post a how-to and I will follow suit as my VL BB does drop sound in one place sometimes. That and It'd be a good example of how to go about it as I have a couple Legacy locomotives that don't have battery provisions that I want to add to. Maybe a roll your own YLB so it can be split and mounted to fit in odd spaces.
greg773 posted:It’s 6-84056 #265
I guess they must have made inprovements to eliminate the battery. Just as long as it doesn’t go over a double slip, lol
That has been an issue with some Legacy steam locomotives for a while now, unlike the TMCC ones where the sound just begins again when the tender gets power. Too bad they didn't correct this software flaw prior to eliminating the optional battery. Had to purchase the gunrunnerJohn solutions for ours as we didn't want to always be checking on the battery. (Either that or constantly resetting/restarting them
) Might be time for some new beta testers there!!
greg773 posted:It’s 6-84056 #265
I guess they must have made inprovements to eliminate the battery. Just as long as it doesn’t go over a double slip, lol
Is this number correct? I think its 6-84065. Not that it matters. I could have sworn JonZ @SantaFeFan said, while still at Lionel, that they were making it so if the sound dropped out, on the next chuff it would reset and come back. Granted I haven't had this issue in a while so I can't say for sure.
Marty, some of them do come back, others don't. I can't say which as I've put YLB's in a lot of mine, and I'll be installing them in others as the need comes up. 
sinclair posted:And when you do that, please post a how-to and I will follow suit as my VL BB does drop sound in one place sometimes. That and It'd be a good example of how to go about it as I have a couple Legacy locomotives that don't have battery provisions that I want to add to. Maybe a roll your own YLB so it can be split and mounted to fit in odd spaces.
That's not really in the cards, too much work for too little gain. Most tenders will fit the standard YLB, no reason to scatter it around.
Apparently the rollers are lining up exactly with the dead areas on the switch.
If its feasable , you could try turning one or both of the tender pickup rollers 180 degrees and see if that makes a difference.
I know other members have done this in the past, possibly even with the first run S3
Another option is to run a hot wire from the loco pickup back to the tender pickup. This is obviously a bit more work/ modification.
I've done the tether mod, usually to share the tender pickups with the locomotive on smaller engines. Stuff like the Legacy Atlantic with only two closely spaced rollers would stall all the time on some switches, adding the tender rollers solves that problem completely. Quite a few of my small steamers, and even a couple of the larger ones, have that mod.
The new Polar Express still accepts a 9V battery in the tender which I added the second I oiled it up.
One other thing about the Polar Express, it's mentioned in the Instruction booklet that it has whistle steam. Mine doesn't work. I'll probably live with it for now. Any thoughts on how to activate it before I open it up, or is it a fan motor issue?
Which polar express do you have? Lionel product number please.
Lionel Legacy #684685 The Polar Express Scale Berkshire #1225
By the way, the smoke unit is working fine, just no whistle smoke.
Lionel Legacy #684685 The Polar Express Scale Berkshire #1225
Interestingly enough, the actual product blurb on the Lionel site doesn't mention whistle smoke. However, that model should have whistle smoke, at least according to the part breakdown.
Polar Express LEGACY 2-8-4 Berkshire #1225, SKU: 6-84685
6804685200 SMOKE UNIT / DSMK / DUAL SMOKE W/ ELBOW #21
I inquired about that on the forum & I asked because it does not mention that it does on the Lionel site as you stated. I believe in the previous post Marty replied simply, yes. It has the hole in the boiler under the whistle.
Can anyone confirm that it does?
I don't have one, but I suspect it does if it has the boiler hole. It would be kinda' silly to have the boiler provisions if they didn't offer that on the locomotive.
Is there a switch for the whistle steam on these?
Doug
I only see 3 switches on the switch harness...ODY, RUN/PRG, and Smoke.
It's curious they don't have a separate switch for the whistle smoke. My VL-BB and my newly acquired Legacy Mallet both have switches for each smoke feature.
You switch the smoke switch to AUX. Marty confirmed.
Makes sense, I wonder why they combined them on one switch?
I ask Dave Olson about eliminating the battery a couple of months ago and he stated the benefits would not be worth the cost of added electronics. Just be better to add the battery if needed or gets gunrunners charging circuit. As for these engines that don’t need a battery, maybe due to size and amount of pickup rollers you won’t have drop out issues
Really though, was it just a space issue on a particular tender, or is the lack of a 9V battery backup a new standard thing? There are a lot of little track issues that can cause a dropping of the tender sounds which the battery prevents. I hope they retain the battery generally, or it's a step backwards imo.
gunrunnerjohn posted:Makes sense, I wonder why they combined them on one switch?
It’s not combined on the Polar. There is still a main on/off and an aux on/off.
gunrunnerjohn posted:Makes sense, I wonder why they combined them on one switch?
Now they have room to add the windshield wiper switch
Doug
MartyE posted:gunrunnerjohn posted:Makes sense, I wonder why they combined them on one switch?
It’s not combined on the Polar. There is still a main on/off and an aux on/off.
I guess the harness drawing with only three switches is incorrect?
gunrunnerjohn posted:MartyE posted:gunrunnerjohn posted:Makes sense, I wonder why they combined them on one switch?
It’s not combined on the Polar. There is still a main on/off and an aux on/off.
I guess the harness drawing with only three switches is incorrect?
Yes it must be. Here is the bottom of the lastest Scale Polar Express. It clearly has both Main and Aux smoke. Incidentally the manual does not show the Aux smoke switch.
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I honestly don't recall seeing an AUX smoke switch on other engines. Possibly with my other 4 engines it was always in the on position. In the future I'll be more aware. Like I said, live and learn.
I have sound dropping out on my Atlas Double Switches too. My Vision Line GG1s both loose sound. I sent my ATSF 4-8-4 back to Lionel when the factory forgot to put battery cables on it. The factory was able to add the battery cable.
If the new engines don't have battery cables, I am done buying engines. My Atlas 90-degree double cross overs also require batteries to make it across two cross-overs.
Sincerely, John Rowlen
It's pretty simple to build a battery cable for any locomotive you have with the RS-Lite board. The connector is a JST PH 2.0mm 2-pin connector. If you can't crimp the pins, the same page has pre-crimped wires available. Of course, if you've installed a lot of ERR RS Commander kits, you probably have a bunch of battery terminals laying around.
FWIW my Legacy NW2 doesn't have a battery connection either.
See previous post. 
I have the new S3 and you do need a battery if operating conventional. Nothing has changed. In Legacy mode the battery is not needed.
