signal strength or reception problem with PS 3.0 GG-1 MTH loco

I had a problem something like this years back. It seemed to be two of my engines that were most affected. It ended up to be a weak spot in my layout that would show up when conditions were right. An engine parked in a passing siding in the correct area drove engines passing by nuts. Not all engines. Just the right combination.

 I ended up changing the wiring to the block's end instead of the middle and eventually adding another TIU channel to help keep the signal strong on the whole layout. It wasn't the engines acting up. It's just that some engines are more sensitive and show weak areas of the layout better. It happened to be at the end of my siding to the storage tracks. There's a passing siding that can also go into the car storage tracks. Having a waiting train parked there caused issues. I also changed in that I don't keep any engines parked there. I could now but I don't.

 If you test the engine and it runs fine elsewhere like you state, there maybe nothing wrong with the engine. It will just point out bad areas. I use an engine like that to test the layout whenever I make changes. If it behaves, I know that others will be fine. We could agree that it's not right. I've just found that a picky engine will point to bad areas and when they're fixed, all is well.

One more point is that the early PS3 releases had their wires routed over the board in a manner that made problems like this. Routing the wires away from the torrid coil made the engines perform better. MTH changed the way they routed wires in later PS3 releases.

Joe's last comment might fix this.

Thank you so much for the detailed and prompt reply. Where is the torrid coil you reference? On the power supply board?

I completely redid the track power routing several years ago using MTH recommendations which helped signal reliability a lot. But will look at this particular section again.

After sending my message I saw something about the 2/3 rail switches causing problems due to poor contact quality. This loco does not have that switch but does have a pano/track power switch. I will try switching that back and forth to clean it.

I am a bit hesitant to open up the engine due to the warranty  since the loco is new. But it just over the 5yr warranty limit so it might be out of warranty any.

I really appreciate the help.

Walter

@Walter Bell posted:

Thank you so much for the detailed and prompt reply. Where is the torrid coil you reference? On the power supply board?

There's only one board for a diesel PS/3 board.  Route the power wires away from this coil next to the power connector.

HEY Joe ,  was that a black GROUND screw ? 

remove any paint off of the screw's surface that pick up power and ground(return).

Barry, Dalles, Joe, John and David,

You guys are amazing! Rerouted the cable today and the problem pretty much went away; major improvement and the loco is completely useable now. Thank you all!

There is still an occasional missed command so I will do more rerouting away from the coil and remove the coating from the screws attaching the ring connectors to the ground and power pick ups.  But again, the loco is already very usable.

I have been a member of the forum for a while, but this was my first post and my first request for help. I must tell you how much I appreciate the care and attention, and the expertise. Very impressive! Thanks to you all, I was able to avoid the inconvenience and expense of sending the engine back for repair. And I got the satisfaction of fixing it myself with your help.

Best regards,

Walter

We love success stories.

There are several post about this.  That interference is not only around coil, but can be other components too.  The fix is to fold the Cap down horizontal across board, then all wires are routed above those caps.  All later products should have that done, but occasionally I find an engine with Signal strength issue that does not have caps folded over.  Doing that restores full signal strength at engine.  Believe it or not, mth found that having an engine like that on the track, can kill DCS for another engine without the problem. G

HEY  Walter  ,

No problem about having the need for help.    You belong to a large fraternity of needy out here.  😰

.  Great to see the good news from you 🤓