My PS1 Big Boy just stopped running. When I power up my Z-4000 smoke will come out but nothing else happens, no sounds only the sound of the fan for the smoke. I can't even reset the engine as no clanks are heard. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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test the battery?
When was the last time you ran it?
Joe's right -- the battery could be bad, especially if it's very old.
Mike
Test and most likely replace the battery is always a good answer when mentioning PS1.
Smoke in a PS1 is direct through a switch off track power, so that just tells us is the track has power and the engine pickup roller works.
The motor drive and power for the PS1 board stack and thus sounds is provided by the 4 pin tether. Did you ensure the tether was fully seated? Again, we know the engine had power, so we think it's not making it into the tender.
MTH Parts has the breakdown for this engine
PS1 electrical https://www.mthpartsandsales.c...lists/200?type=lists
Big Boy Premier PS1 mechanical https://www.mthpartsandsales.c...lists/274?type=lists
PS1 is pretty simple, it's 4 wires. Red, Black, Yellow, White. Red and Black are power coming from the engine to the PS1 board stack in the tender, and then Yellow and White are the rectified DC coming back from the tender to the engine for the main drive motor.
Right with what @Vernon Barry said. I've seen the solder contacts for the connection on the engine side break and not transfer power. Apply power to the locomotive and wiggle the 4 pin connection to see if it comes to life. The fix might be as simple as re-soldering these connections.
Again, absolutely no sounds and no indication the tender is getting power, possible answers are:
#1 tether just not making connection
#2 Cracked solder joints on the mounting PCB at the back of the engine where the tether socket attaches. Just resolder the pins mot of the time resolves this. The picture shows the connector side of the PCB but the topside is where the solder joints are.
#3 Tether wiring is bad from abuse/wear and tear/flexing.
Again, in the tender on the bottom board of the PS1 stack is the tether connections. Red and Black re power into the board from the frame ground and pickup rollers in the engine. Yellow and White are the motor feed back to the engine to drive the main motor.
Showing tender image from the above linked parts diagrams on MTH parts.
Also, I might have missed it, is this Railking , or Premier Scale? You started a "help me" topic without the product number.
For PS1, the basic troubleshooting is the same and the boards are still in the tender it's still just the 4 pin tether.
This is the Railking diagram and the previous links were the Premier.
Most PS1 engines and tenders share the same electronics. If you have another PS1 steamer, try swapping tenders.
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