I have a Lionel Loco that I can't figure out the problem with. I could sure use some help. It is equipped with an IR tether. I have checked the IR transmitter with the cell phone trick and it seems fine. The tender sounds come on as soon as power is applied to the track. I thought maybe the IR receiver was bad, but then I think the sounds wouldn't come on at all. Maybe I am not thinking this through correctly. Any Ideas?
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Could be a bad IR receiver. It starts up like in conventional then. Similar to no signal or bad radio card in the engine.
Does the engine respond to TMCC or Legacy? If the signal and radio card, etc in the engine are good, then the engine will run alone under CAB control. If it does, then back to the tender IR receiver.
Yes, the loco runs fine without the tender. The tender starts up at idle sound and nothing else sounds in the railsounds. wheen you pull the tender, it only idles. no horn, chuff, etc.
Maybe broken wire to the IR receiver on the drawbar?
Make sure the draw bar on the engine is connected and seated correctly to the tender drawbar. This happens to me sometimes and it is usually that the transmitter and receiver are not in direct alignment.
Good luck and happy railroading,
Don
First off, you might want to give us some information on what the engine is and the item number. If your IR was bad, the tender sounds will come on. Your tender has rollers. You may have an antenna issue or your radio board is not putting out signal. Not knowing anything about your engine, it may have an R2LC, R4LC, or RCMC. To check your antenna, touch the antenna (handrails) to the locomotive frame with your continuity meter. If you see continuity, open the engine up and fix the issue. I see many Lionel locomotives that have handrails extending to the pilot deck. Sometimes the handrail pulls out of the insulating bushing on the deck and causes the handrail (antenna) to find ground and cause what you may have.
Take another like tender and put it behind your engine and see what you have. TMCC to TMCC tender, Legacy to Legacy tender.
CJACK, if everything on the engine is OK, the IR receiver will have no effect on how the engine runs. All the receiver does is encode data to run the sound system, coupler, or tender lighting. The easy test on that is to put a known good tender behind the engine to confirm the status of your tender and receiver. If you get the tender sounds working correct with another tender, you need to go back to the engine and see why signal is not being transmitted.
If the engine runs and responds to TMCC/Legacy signal and the IR transmitter is working, it never hurts to remove and plug back in the tender boards. In most TMCC the date is encoded by the AD20A board. In early Legacy, that is handled by the RS Audio Board.
I would really like to know what the engine is.
Thank you guys. I replaced the IR receiver and now everything works as it should. I appreciate all of the input. Have a good day guys.
Any chance you could tell us what locomotive it is?
Andrew....Just a friendly suggestion....in the future, if you have a problem with a locomotive, it would be helpful to include the item number or at least what locomotive it is. There are a number of reasons for this not the least of which it may help not only get a solution for your problem more quickly but other folks that may have the same locomotive problem could benefit directly from knowing what locomotive you are talking about....
Thanks,
Alan
Sorry guys, IT is a Lionel 6-28704. It is a PA E6 Atlantic. TMCC /W Oddysey.
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