ADDED PHOTOS OF SHORT ISSUE 4-30-15REPARING A SHORT IN A LIONEL LEGACY EM-1 FOUND SOMETHING INTERESTING

Do you know the voltage the Lionel smoke fan motor uses? Guessing it is DC also from the + & - on the wires in the lower right corner. I have one that isn't working on a brand new diesel and I really don't want to send it back. The board is almost (if not) identical to the one in your picture above.

 

Also, interesting find with the insulator, thanks for posting. Good, clear pictures.

looks like a piece of Mica is that what was used to insulate the screw from the rest of the metal body?

Alan

Looks like it is insulation protection from the screw that mounts the heater resistor from touching the metal exhaust casting, which would be a chassis ground and fry the heater circuit.

RTR12, it's 5 volts DC

 

Alan, Chuck, right under the insulator is the mounting screw for the resistor

kind of difficult to see in the photo. But you guys are correct, it's there to prevent

a short

 

Thanks

Alex

 

Great Tip!!

I have the pilot (unpainted) version of this engine.  Great to know about this because it's only a matter of time until a tune-up will be required.  Love these informative and interesting posts you've been doing!  Thanks Alex!

Rich

Added photos to original post above, of the short issue.

 

Thanks for looking

Alex

As they say in baseball, "good eye, good eye".  You caught that one ALEX, Good Eye!!!

Great job Alex. After you repaired the short does the engine run? Or did the short take out the boards?

Excellent info to know on this engine. This is one I would like to acquire at some point.

Thanks guys for the comments,

 

Phil the short cooked the RCMC board

 

Alex

Wow, I hope that isn't a very expensive board to replace.

Yes it's very expensive, 120.00 list

 

Alex

Very interesting find, Alex. Thanks for letting us all know about this.

At first I was thinking 5 volts, then I was thinking 9 volt battery, glad I asked. I have checked an MTH unit but couldn't remember what voltage it was? Thank you for the reply.

Alex,

 

Your are a wealth if information. you should create a blog

Looks like a fast fix for a PCB land that is under the metal flume.

Alex the S3 I bought from you has 2 of those insulators as well. They are under the the the funnel piece that connects the tube for the steam chest. Keeps the part from making contact with the screw heads on top of the board. That is the only engine I have with them so far.

Very informative! Good job Alex!

Dan

Hi Guys

 

 Thanks for all the kind words. That's what so great about this forum, we can pass good information and helpful hints to each other and avoid future mishaps

 

Alex