Vision line Hudson 6-11209

Good Question JOJO. I hope Gunrunner John or Marty E, or even A Lionel Specialist read your request....The Electrical Components in today's High End Products are very touchy....Thanks for Posting this Question....

You have obviously isolated this to the tender, so we start there. 

My top suspect is the tether sensor, I've had several of these that came unsoldered under the heatshrink.  Another thing to check is simply the seating of the boards and connectors in the tender, as well as the condition of the wiring and connector pins.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

You have obviously isolated this to the tender, so we start there. 

My top suspect is the tether sensor, I've had several of these that came unsoldered under the heatshrink.  Another thing to check is simply the seating of the boards and connectors in the tender, as well as the condition of the wiring and connector pins.

Thanks that's what I went after . I switch the mother board out with the one that didn't work to see and it worked perfect so it's not the sencor .. It's not the sound board or railsounds board ..

Look for a burned trace on the mother board, or trace the sensor wires to the correct plug and look for a cold solder joint.  G

Pretty sure this is a programming connector, so this MB may have an embedded uP on it, is there anything on the underside?  It's a 1.25mm spaced 6-pin connector.

You see the same one on the RS6 board, that's for loading the code and sounds.

Here's the picture of the board 

Odd they have that connector there.  I'd think it was for the RS6 board, but they also have the same connector on that board.  The regulator at U2 looks a little smoked, or is that just the photo?

I think it look smoked to me. I ordered one as I am not into repairing the boards like you can ..  As I used the other board from my other vision line Hudson it worked great.  

It looks like it got a tad warm...

I believe that may be a 5V regulator.  SO that may very well be the issue.  G

Thanks guys I just was wondering if there anything else I could of done ..Last  night I came up with the same conclusion .. Just wanted to check. 

I'd wonder why that part overheated, but since the swap of the MB fixes it, getting the new one should bring you back.

Pete

Correct Pete, I should have been more clear in my statement.

What's even more wierd is  this engine was like ran 0 mins ..

If you swapped all your components from the bad engine onto the new mother board from the doner engine and it worked fine it could have just been a defective regulator.   But I would look for any potential short on the IR harness of the tender.   G

Well the volume wires where pinched when the shell was put on.  I did check the IR wires .

There you go!  Having any short to the chassis could certainly be a problem!

Yep, that also uses the 5V regulator for power.  That would have been good to know up front.  Clears it all up.  G

GGG posted:

Yep, that also uses the 5V regulator for power.  That would have been good to know up front.  Clears it all up.  G

True but to be honest i know you guys work on alot of stuff but a pinched a wire on a lionel  doesnt always mean your gonna blow up something ..On a mth board its over you will for sure or it seems...I made that 180 buck mistake one time... Regardless i noticed it as soon as i took the shell of my bad for not saying that..

Not reset, reseat the board.  Guys, on Legacy (Vision) tenders, the Railsounds Audio board receives the information from the IR in the locomotive.  This is unlike TMCC with the AD20A decoder board.  The Railsounds Audio board controls, coupler, IR receiver, and lighting as well as sound.  The power for the IR transmitter in the locomotive  comes from pins 19 and 20 on the R4LC board.  Some are two wires and some are three.  On the three, one wire to pins 19 and 20, one wire to pin 24 (serial) and one to ground pins 3 and 4.  On the two wire the ground is not in the mix.  The two and three wire can be interchanged.

Trace the coupler wires to the 2 pin plug on the tender motherboard and check for continuity on pins 1&2 and pin 8 on the Railsounds audio board.  When you pull the two pin connector from the motherboard, hit the coupler plug with 10-12 VAC to see if the coupler  is good.  

John, you are correct on the connector on the side of the board.

Marty, what's the six-pin 1.25mm pin connector on the MB for?  Since there's one on the audio board, I wonder why they have one on the MB?

John, I would have to have it in front of me with the meter.  Tender boards cover many applications.  I may have that board.  Let me look and if I do I will get right back to you with the application.

John. reading left to right, here are the pinouts.  Lionel uses that MB on several engines.  This was from a Lionmaster PRR  Legacy T-1.

Marty Fitzhenry posted:

John. reading left to right, here are the pinouts.  Lionel uses that MB on several engines.  This was from a Lionmaster PRR  Legacy T-1.

Wow Marty I love to buy you dinner and pick your brain . I want to go to Lionel school . 

Thanks Marty, obviously it's not for programming like the one on the RS6 board is.  Interesting, I wonder what it's used for, or perhaps it's just for factory test?

Always something to learn here.

When it comes to sound programming, Lionel keeps that in house.  I wish a way existed to get the LSU to enable us to do sounds.

Marty Fitzhenry posted:

When it comes to sound programming, Lionel keeps that in house.  I wish a way existed to get the LSU to enable us to do sounds.

Wouldn't that be fun?   The sounds are programmed using a Microchip PIC development system.  I have the capability, but not the sound files.

The up side is Lionel can get parts needed out and at your door in as little as two days.

They are quick, I've been waiting for some MTH parts for over a month, still sitting in the order queue on the website.

Marty Fitzhenry posted:

The up side is Lionel can get parts needed out and at your door in as little as two days.

Yup and i ordered duel smoke stack gaskets and they sent the wrong ones .They let me keep the others and sent the others out and i still got them in 1 week ..