No Power/Movement after DCS Startup

What does it do in conventional operation?

When placed on a conventional track, the tender starts up, but there is no movement, motor operation in response to increased voltage.

Kevin,

quote:

When placed on a conventional track, the tender starts up, but there is no movement, motor operation in response to increased voltage.

Check to see if the 4-pin plug with the two motor wires has become disconnected, or if there's a break in one of the two wires.

quote:

. Before I take it apart, I wondered if there are an specific things to look for. I have carefully checked the wheels, driving rods and don't see anything binding there.

Menu/Advanced/ reset engine/ Feature reset..... select engine (worth a shot)

If the sounds restart in conventional when you hit the DIR, then you probably have a dead battery.
Do the power off check, the sounds should stay on for several seconds.

Chuck,

quote:

If the sounds restart in conventional when you hit the DIR, then you probably have a dead battery.

That would not affect DCS operation, only conventional.

I tried moving, hooking up and jiggling the tether. No effect, but the engine is connected to the tender via tether, because when it is unhooked, the light on the engine goes out.

I checked the connectors, the four wire appears to connect to the smoke unit. All seem OK. Also, the motor/flywheel move freely, and when turned, move the driving wheels, so I don't think there is any binding going on.

Tried attaching a link to pictures.
Kevin

https://picasaweb.google.com/1...ked=true&feat=email#

There are two wires going into the motor that I can see....


https://picasaweb.google.com/1...oqaHMlgE&feat=email#

Kevin,

quote:

There are two wires going into the motor that I can see....

Trace them back to a plug and makes sure that it's firmly plugged in.

In your photos there are 2-wires (white and yellow) coming from the motor. These 2 wires should go to the last 2 positions of a 10-position tether connector (green connection plate) near the back of the boiler. Then a tether cable goes to the tender. The 2 motor wires re-appear in the tender and go to the 5-position motor connector on the PS2 electronics board. Only 2 of the 5 positions will be occupied. The voltage which drives the motor comes from this connector. My suggestion is to see if this motor drive voltage is present back in the tender - obviously you'll have to open up the tender but I believe it's generally easier to disassemble a tender than a boiler.

Thanks!! I'm going to check the voltage on the engine and in the tender.

Last night, I had an engine that would not move, but DCS would indicate that the speed is increasing. Rail King 5V SW-9 diesel. (I do not use speed mode).

I had just disassembled it for cleaning, so I popped the shell off, and dropped the bare frame on the track and it worked. Reassembled, and it worked. Best guess is something was blocking the tach reader? There were no pinched wires or anything like that. I never got to the point of doing engine factory resets or anything. All I did was power down the track a few times.

Anyhow, is your DCS reading increased speed even though there is no movement?

Mike

Hi...been out of town.
Yes...I did the same thing, took the shell off and put the bare engine on the track. It responds to bell/whistle, and when speed is increased on the remote it shows increased speed in response to the thumbwheel, but the engine does not move and the motor does not turn. I will check the tach reader, but I don't think its rubbing on the motor.

Thanks
Kevin

If you have a DC transformer, you can disconnect the motor leads from the PS-2 board. Apply the dc power to the motor terminals and see if the motor turns? If it does, the motor is most likely fine. If you have a VM with a current setting, I put that in series with one of the wires to the motor and read the amperage on the motor during the test. G

I used the light bulb circuit to check whether power was going to the motor. It appears that power is going to the two leads that connect to the sides of the motor, but it does not move. There is no physical binding that I can find and the tachometer is not impinging on the flywheel.
K

I bought a voltmeter. Started up the engine with DCS, horn, sounds, smoke all worked fine. Voltmeter registered minimal/no voltage when measured at the two wires connected to the motor with speed set to 0. When speed was increased, volts to motor increased up to 18. Tried the same after reversing direction, same measurements. Does this mean the motor is bad? Is this something that can be ordered from MTH?

Thanks

Sounds like a failed internal electrical connection in the motor. You should be able to get a replacement motor from MTH - apparently one does better by calling rather than emailing.

I don't have any steamers with your exact motor configuration but it should be as simple as removing the 3 black screws on the horizontal plate at the bottom of the motor in your photo. The plate and motor lift out together and expose the gearbox. Then two screws under the plate hold the motor to the round black frame.

The motor lifts out. The only tricky thing is the harness that holds the tachometer to the motor housing...not sure how that comes off. I'm going to give MTH a call tomorrow. Thanks!