Vision UP Water Tender 6-82394 E coupler opens with Track Power

Not sure but check the wiring to see if something isn't shorted out or somebody didn't wire the coupler to the center rail pick-up roller.

Lee Fritz

Thanks...I do need to trace out the wiring, but it doesn't happen every time. Just most of the time. But now that I think of it, I think both coil couplers are wired the same way, one lead to a junction and the other to the tmcc board. But I'll trace it out and compare it to one without the issue.

Thanks for the reply...

Looks like the wiring looks ok. One lead to the outside rail pickup and one to the tmcc board...just as the rear coupler. I think it has something to do with a random pulse to the triac driving the front coupler when the board is powered up.

It looks like that has the triacs for the couplers.  If so, consider the 1uf 50V capacitor across the couplers to see if that solves the issue.

I had tried a 1uF non polar across the coupler but no joy. I wondered if maybe the triac was a little sensitive to noise from the chip or some such. Maybe a small cap across the gate...but don't want to wreck anything since the board is mostly a mystery. A small mystery, but just the same. Maybe the best approach would be to call lionel and get one to these boards since my other same tenders are bullet proof. This one came this way earlier when they came out and I just got around to being annoyed with it.

Getting a new board is the right call if the cap didn't work.  I presume disconnecting the coupler proved that it wasn't a mechanical issue.

Right. I can hear the electric/mechanical snap shortly after the track powers up and the coupler opens. Thanks for the thoughts...