I have an MTH Premier USRA 0-8-0 engine that has a unreliable connection through the right angle 10 pin tether that connects the tender to the engine.
The engine loses power ( no headlight or motor power) while running through curves and back to straight track. Power can be momentarily restored by jiggling the tether slightly— but does not stay on long.
I suspect a cold solder joint inside the engine.
Any other thoughts on the problem or the solution? Thank you.
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I would install a new tether.
Check to see if the connector in the engine is all the way back almost touching the back of the cab. The further inboard the less likely the tether will make full contact. If thats the case you can elongate the holes in the connector PCB to move it back as far as possible.
Pete
To add to Pete’s comments, if you also suspect a cold solder joint, and you’re comfortable with close quarters combat with a soldering iron, go ahead and dress up all 10 pins on the PCB, ….reflow all of them, rather than trying to track down the one …..very common problem ….and can be addressed on your bench. Then if you’re still experiencing problems, and you know the PCB is soldered good, then suspect a bad tether,…..I’ve seen both on the same engine …
Pat
Gerald Jackson,
Can you tell me the part number for the appropriate 10 pin tether?
The two most common issues are a broken solder joint on the engine connector, which as Pat says, can be soldered fairly simply. The other failure is a broken wire inside the tender tether right at the connector. There are replacement tethers for that issue.
BC0000217 is the part number.
Status,
Tried moving the engine socket further to rear. Not much movement if any do to bumping into inside of cab.
Pulled the tether further out of the tender to reduce strain from a short tether. Reconnected engine and tender off track to get as snug a fit as possible.
Good for now—smoke fan can turn off sporadically and be fixed by jiggling tether.
Have not tried the soldering iron yet.
Thanks for help.
Replaced 10 pin connector in engine.
Problem solved.
Thank you everyone.
Usually, you just have to touch the pins with a soldering iron to fix most ills with the locomotive connector.
Where do you touch the pins?
My soldering skills are not good enough to touch where the wires connect to the connector.
Where the connector mates with the PCB, you move the wires out of the way and resolder those. Usually, there's enough solder to just reheat them, but if they look sparse, I give them a little more solder.
You need to be careful, it is easy to bridge pins with solder. Or burn insulation off wire. Many times I have to desolder wires to get free area to resolder pins. I also like to bridge solder from wire/pad to the pin on the back side. Stronger electrical connection. G
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