Since many forum comments [or part thereof] dealing with model train issues have a way of showing up on the internet search engines, I thought I would pass this on: First and foremost, the perhaps the biggest "culprit" was my own electronic ignorance! The usual problem with ProtoSounds® 1 --- you put the PS1 equipped loco or diesel train on the track, apply power, then back off power and go to OFF power, then power back up and it's supposed to move. I got nothing except the sound of the running diesel engine. Major notation -- no lights which ==DO== work in the PS1 power-up "reset" mode [although the horn/whistle does not in the temporary "reset" mode and this is normal] and except for the PS1 diesel engine sounds, absolutely nothing happened! The ABA PA had been on the shelf for awhile and this alone should have tipped me off with regard to the state of the health of the on-board 8.4 volt rechargeable battery but then I compounded my error --- I saw that 8.4 volt rechargeable battery and because I could ==hear== the PS1 diesel motor sound [and clearly without distortion], I assumed that the battery was OK but I quite wrongly [hence my electronic ignorance] assumed that the battery function was simply the Proto 'sounds' themselves and not ==an integration== of not "just" the PS sounds but the automatic involvement of the very innards of the engine electronic system and electronic boards themselves so I went bananas checking everything else under the sun, wriggling the wires, checking the components, using Deoxit where there was even a hint of any oxidation issues, etc. etc. . Nothing. The train was dead in the water.
So I hit the internet and I spotted a 2003 recorded interview between the MTH Battery Coalition and one Andrew Edleman, then the VP of MTH marketing and in the interview transcript I read Mr. Edelman commenting on MTH's registered/patented use of ProtoSounds [both PS1 and PS2] and how QSI does the boards and do the hardware/software necessities within those boards but then ... "If the BATTERY [the 8.4 volt rechargeable common to PS systems] is capable of supplying more than zero volts but less than 5 volts [especially under LOAD], the board(s) [especially and notably on the older PS1 systems] could get confused and the chip can get scrambled." After I read that, I did the old trick of using a brand new [but temporary] use of a standard non rechargeable 9 volt battery to test out whether my 8.4 rechargeable just didn't have the stuff to do the job it was intended for and with the 9 volt "test" battery, I repeated the process, at first, nothing ==but== upon powering off to back on power there was a few second delay and voila, the train lights came on and the train returned to normal functioning! The culprit was, in fact, a failing 8.4 rechargeable battery which UNDER LOAD could not deliver and thus not only the lights but the movement function of the train was stalled because the board memory had been scrambled! How? Check this out, "It becomes a cycle issue, the interruption of the track power to the reliance on battery power and then back again to track power but if the battery is failing, the system becomes "confused" and the result can be a scrambled memory [...] don't rely on an older [operative word] rechargeable battery showing a good voltage acceptable to PS systems function because that same battery may have serious LOAD issues and in fact fail ==under load== so the simplest step is to check the system with a known fresh battery, either the 8.4 volt rechargeable that is known to be good =or= for test purposes, a fresh 9 volt battery." Just passing it on and the critical functions of that 8.4 volt rechargeable battery which does much more than simply assist in sound making!
Quick PS -- One source asked whether it would not be beneficial [especially since many folks like to rotate their train usage and therefore some trains tend to, shall we say, "repose" until brought back out for service or a "fresh look" of the lay out] to simply use a 9 volt non rechargeable battery all the time but another source responded that by doing so would result in the train charging unit attempting to charge the NON rechargeable 9 volt battery and quite possibly damage or wreck the on-board charging unit which of course uses track power when the train is running to keep the 8.4 rechargeable battery charged. --- Doc Tony
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