Tether Problem

I do not know about substituting other tenders.

My MTH Premier Milwaukee Road F-7 streamlined Hudson had those symptoms. The solder joints attaching the male pins to the small circuit board in the loco must have been cold. re-soldering them solved the problem for a while and then the symptoms cropped up again.

Do NOT substitute tenders, you could cause damage to the boards.  If you can not solve the problem, get it to a reputable MTH service tech.

Do NOT take a chance.

bruce

RoyBoy has the right idea.  There are two common causes for this issue. 

#1 is the tender tether breaks a wire near the connector, universal replacements are available for this issue.

#2 is a solder connection breaks on the locomotive connector, usually you can repair this by simply reflowing the solder on the connection.

upguy posted:

I have an MTH SP Daylight GS-2 4-8-4 (20-3060-1) that stops abruptly while running.  If you touch the tether lightly it will resume.  

I would like to determine if the tether is the problem and should be replaced, or if the pins in the engine socket are the problem.  It has a 5 volt board.

I would like to know if I can safely substitute another MTH tender with a 5 volt board to see if the tether problem occurs with it.

I have the following 5 volt Board engines I could substitute the tender with:

MTH Dreyfus Hudson (20-3045-1),

MTH Mikado (20-3051-1)

MTH FEF (20-3044-1) 

Thank you

Ron

You could always use a piece of foam to hold the tether firmly at the engine and see if it still does it.

We have an early P2 engine that loses sound only while turning left and sadly it is one of the units where MTH soldered the tether directly to the boards rather than use a connector.?? Would like to have a talk with that design genius...

Its rare the female pins on the tender side are bad. A bent or missing pin on the engine side would be obvious. Turn the engine over and check for a gap between the tether connector and the rear cab wall. Sometimes the space will not allow the tether to be fully inserted into the engine connector. Easily fixed by removing the shell, removing the connector and elongating the holes with a file so it can be moved back, just touching the shell.

Pete

What is the MTH part number for the tether for this engine.  (MTH SP Daylight GS-2 4-8-4 (20-3060-1) 5 volt Board)

Where can I purchase it without a long wait?

Thank you,

Ron

BobbyD posted:

upguy posted:

I have an MTH SP Daylight GS-2 4-8-4 (20-3060-1) that stops abruptly while running.  If you touch the tether lightly it will resume.  

I would like to determine if the tether is the problem and should be replaced, or if the pins in the engine socket are the problem.  It has a 5 volt board.

I would like to know if I can safely substitute another MTH tender with a 5 volt board to see if the tether problem occurs with it.

I have the following 5 volt Board engines I could substitute the tender with:

MTH Dreyfus Hudson (20-3045-1),

MTH Mikado (20-3051-1)

MTH FEF (20-3044-1) 

Thank you

Ron

You could always use a piece of foam to hold the tether firmly at the engine and see if it still does it.

We have an early P2 engine that loses sound only while turning left and sadly it is one of the units where MTH soldered the tether directly to the boards rather than use a connector.?? Would like to have a talk with that design genius...

What engine is this?  I have never seen a PS-2 factory engine with wires soldered directly to the board.  Early PS-1 did, but it was only 4 wires and that had nothing to do with sound.  G

upguy posted:

What is the MTH part number for the tether for this engine.  (MTH SP Daylight GS-2 4-8-4 (20-3060-1) 5 volt Board)

Where can I purchase it without a long wait?

Thank you,

Ron

A picture helps, to be sure what your working with, otherwise it is the generic steam harness and you solder 10 wires to the harness with the connectors.  I have those in stock.  Some models used a plug in style external harness so that it is easy plug in internally.  Also have those. G