Customer drop this off at local hobby shop and asked me to take a look at it. Very basic mth soundboard with no battery and has not been used in three years.what should I be looking for?
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Maybe check out the tether? does the headlight come on? Is there a lock out switch?
The tether should be 4 wires. 2 for hot and common AC... And 2 for DC motor. Power goes to board AC & back DC.
You've got to take a voltmeter and check continuities. Post above lacks details, as Gregg notes.
Are you using the lousy control system shown in the photo?
If nothing wrong, will you apply the procedure at the bottom of your post?
A Loco-Sound does not have a reset feature, but it does have a Lock-Out feature. It looks like your engine might be locked in neutral. To unlock, try, 1 whistle then 3 bells. Hope this helps.
Originally Posted by Gregg:
Maybe check out the tether? does the headlight come on? Is there a lock out switch?
The tether should be 4 wires. 2 for hot and common AC... And 2 for DC motor. Power goes to board AC & back DC.
Headlight on yes. I will check tether values next week probably friday. Does tether wiring usually fail in the engine or tender? I will try 1 whistle and 3 bells first.
Originally Posted by RJR:
You've got to take a voltmeter and check continuities. Post above lacks details, as Gregg notes.
Are you using the lousy control system shown in the photo?
If nothing wrong, will you apply the procedure at the bottom of your post?
the problem is in the posting title..sorry. The controller in photo belongs to the customer.Can this engine be tested another way than the supplied unit in the picture?
Run it with a transformer just as you would a regular loco. Forget that*(@(*(#& controller and box in the picture.
Take shell off loco. Place DC voltmeter on motor terminals. Try to run loco. Do you get voltage? If yes, motor shot. If no, apply DC voltmeter to output terminals of board. If you get power, problem in tether or wires between board and motor. If not, check the wires where they connect to board, and if no power after checking the connections there, put AC voltmeter on input to board. If power, which there probably is since horn & bell work, problem in board. If none, problem in tether or wiring all the way to rollers, but since headlight lights, I doubt problem is upstream of where headlight lead connects.
Thanks RJR..i won't get back to the shop till next friday..got your test procedures logged in
Are the boards still available from MTH?
Surest way to find out is to call MTH parts and talk to Midge. 1-410-381-2580, x516 (last time I called)
Yes Loco sound boards available. You order the board and sound file. They load it and send it. Steam versus diesel have different parts numbers. Must be ASC though, they require turn in part. G
Originally Posted by willygee:
Customer drop this off at local hobby shop and asked me to take a look at it. Very basic mth soundboard with no battery and has not been used in three years.what should I be looking for?
If it aint broke, your not tryin hard enough!!
Originally Posted by RJR:
Run it with a transformer just as you would a regular loco. Forget that*(@(*(#& controller and box in the picture.
Take shell off loco. Place DC voltmeter on motor terminals. Try to run loco. Do you get voltage? If yes, motor shot. If no, apply DC voltmeter to output terminals of board. If you get power, problem in tether or wires between board and motor. If not, check the wires where they connect to board, and if no power after checking the connections there, put AC voltmeter on input to board. If power, which there probably is since horn & bell work, problem in board. If none, problem in tether or wiring all the way to rollers, but since headlight lights, I doubt problem is upstream of where headlight lead connects.
that's good advice, Ive had that happen, teyed to run a loco, switched transformers
and the loco took off, it was a bad transformer.
