Is a MTH TIU worth repairing?

We very much live in a disposable society these days.  The TIU has a $200 MSRP, and large dealers typically sell them for $160-$170. 

Perhaps figure $75-$100 in labor costs, then you're left with parts.  Plus shipping if you can't get it fixed locally.  Not sure how readily parts would be available for fixing it.  Maybe the MTH tech guys here on the forum could provide better insight.

If you need to get a TIU up and running quickly, I'd bite the bullet and buy a new one.

David

One other thing to add to Rocky Mopuntaineer's post, if you have an older version TIU, there are some new added benefits to the latest version REV L units. One more thing to consider when thinking about repairs, especially if you were having any problems with the older units that could possibly be eliminated with the new REV L's.

I believe forum member GGG (and possibly others) repairs TIU's, maybe they will see this and comment.

It depends on what's wrong with it.  There are common parts that can be easily replaced.  I also do MTH repairs.

Good to know, I didn't realize you were doing repairs for others from the forum now?

The answer could differ depending on whether these are original issue Rev G's that were not in under warranty for a component upgrade, or recent Rev L's, or where in between.  If one of mine (2 original issue upgraded Rev G and 1 Rev H) had a problem that could be fixed for $45-$50, I'd get it repaired.   If the fix were $135, I'd replace it.

Well its obvious if the repair cost would be well over $100 to repair it's just better to replace, but has anyone actually had one repaired to tell us what the usually cost might be, or what the worst case scenerio would cost? I think that this is going to be a big thing in the future as just in our area I know several different people with problem TIUs who replaced with new, but are interested in repairing the old ones to use as a spare. Also who besides MTH repairs them, our local MTH repair center, just says buy a new one, they don't repair them.

GGG, are you sure you were addressing that comment to me?  My lone post was addressed to the question in the subject. 

If even one of my original Rev G's went bad and could be fixed for $45-50, I'd get it repaired.

RJR, I think GGG was referring to the post by algomafan85.

algomafan85, there are 2 good tech's (also good forum members here) in this thread who stated they both repair TIU's, see above. I think your comment on purchasing a new one and repairing an older one for back-up is a good idea. I have a current Rev L TIU, but might just consider that myself if mine ever needs repair.

Speaking as someone who HAS had a TIU repair, I can attest that, at least in my case, it WAS worth it.  My repair came to $50.  They aren't expensive to ship, and MTH turned it around in around a week.    Unless it's completely trashed (which is doubtful), I suspect around $50-60.  

I also took the opportunity to by a second one (LNIB) because when they do fail, at least in my case, my layout is a static display.  Mine failed around the holidays, when every hobby shop and MTH get jammed up with repairs.

Maybe time to buy a new one, club stuff gets a lot of use.

last night I turned my layout on and nothing no lights on the tiu. under the table I went noticed the MTH wire feeding #1 constant was alittle melted mind you only power feed I have at the moment. tapped the tiu it came on. looks like something heated up and separated inside the tiu. replaced the melted wires. pulled the 2nd and 3rd level off of the feeds for the layout coming from #1 going to run them off of #2 constant separating them out. I might have been pulling too many amps on just one power source.   need to get it fixed now

 312 ft of track

Hard to say what went wrong with it, but melting a wire going to one channel sure sounds like more than 10 amps!  What size was the wire?

here's what I was using only melted the ground side at the connector . in all honesty probably my fault. 4 passenger trains on the layout no LED's and the yard with about 6 engines sitting on but not running. I bet it happened when I tried to run a lashup of 3 engines 2 sd90's and a sd40t2 they kept kicking the breaker on my 135 watt brick.

I was to lazy to separate the layout into different channels all I had to do was move one piece of track and disconnect a few drops and move them to the other channel. I have a 180 watt brick for that channel like I said my fault

Well, there's no way of knowing exactly what the situation is without looking at it.

here's my thoughts buy a new one send this one out to get fixed then I have a way to separate it out to even more channels. I need to figure out how to be able to switch the whole layout to be conventional too. and need to get the yard isolated and the sidings isolated so that the passenger train cars are not on all the time . doing the yard is a matter of pulling out the dremel and cutting the center rail as I have the drops already ran for them .

Remove TIU cover and check to see if the nuts holding the internal wires are loose.  You may have generated a hot spot besides the high current you were running.

Interesting that the 180 did not trip.  G

maybe time for John's LED conversions LOL but $454.00 for the conversion is out of my budget right now to do all 26 cars and that doesn't include the passenger train on the shelves

Cheaper if you do your own wiring and don't buy the complete kits, just the lighting modules.   You could do the 26 cars for less than $300.  If you do more soldering, you can actually wire the LED's for much less, the component parts for one car only cost about $3.

The PH135 should have tripped before wires melted, it has a 7 amp breaker.  It's not a super-fast breaker, but on a massive overload it should go.

tonight I will finish breaking off the main level to a second channel and finally cut the center rail for a few of the yard lines some are done but not all . John when I ran the lash up of the 3 diesels it did trip I checked for it being off the track wasn't so I reset and it just seemed like a signal issue. the engines would stop and start like it was having a signal issue so I ignored it maybe I shouldn't have

If a wire external to the TIU melted, you've got more problems than a TIU.  Even an 18-gauge should not have melted under the load described.  More info is needed.  Unless the cause is pinpointed, getting a new TIU could be money down the drain.

If a ground melted, the question I have is: are there accessories tied into a common ground that feeds through a black. 

If you were using these MTH Banana plug wires, was the plug tight fitting in the socket? Did the wire melt or the black TIU socket?

You may have melted it due to arcing of an ill fitting connector. We only use these for temporary test track hook up now because of them being loose on occasion and small wire diameter.

no accessories yet hooked up I did yesterday hook up my passenger station but it has a cw 80 powering it.

Follow up on GGG's suggestion above.  That could do it.

it was the banana plug that melted going into the tiu So last night when I noticed it I cut off the ends and replaced them with prong connectors powered everything up and nothing tapped on the tiu and it came on my thoughts are something inside is now loose melted or something. won't know until I open it up tonight . I wonder why it could melt the wire but not kick the internal fuse. or trip the breaker in the ph135.

A85,

    I would purchase a new full DCS unit, send the complete old damaged unit to either Guns or GGG, have them check it out and give you a cost for repairs & updating the unit.  If the cost is reasonable have it repaired & updated.  If the unit is in perfect shape after the repair and upgraded, I would then have the Hand held remote control upgraded to fully rechargeable on both the new and the old DCS units.  Having 2 DCS units really expands the layout options, especially with 2 Hand Held Remote Controls, and if you own a couple Z4K Transformers with the side receivers, having 2 TIU's really opens up a lot of running options for a large layout.

PCRR/Dave

what I have power wise. Is I have 2 bricks a ph180 and a ph135 I run both tmcc and DCS. for accessories I use a cw80 for 18 volt accesories or wall warts to power the 5v stuff I have, (signals)   and I need to figure out how to switch the layout from tmcc and dcs to conventional via track 1 and track 2 channels like I said I dislike wiring

Jhainer,

    If you already own the DCS, you can run conventional thru the TIU TR mode via your DCS hand held remote control, Barry gives clear instructions on how to set it up, in his DCS O Gauge Companion book.  All done from the DCS Hand held remote control, you can even run both conventional and TMCC engines at the same time, even on the same track.  If you do not own Barry's DCS O Gauge Companion book pick up a copy it's the Bible on building DCS layouts, and if you are a visual learning type guy, the OGR Video Guide to DCS is a great way to begin the DCS learning process.

PCRR/Dave

I hav4e the companion 2nd edition

what I want to do is flip a switch and have dcs/Tmcc then flip switch again and have everything on conventional.

J,

   Why when you have the ability to due the same thing with the DCS TR TIU mode with the HHRC?  However you could do what you want by using different sidings to park your engines on, with a toggle switch in front of each siding, to completely shut off/on all the power to the individual sidings.  Thus powering only the conventional or TMCC/P2/P3 engines by themselves at different times, which to me is a waste of time when you have the TR TIU mode available via the DCS.

PCRR/Dave

this is why I want to have it the other way for instance my grand daughters Thomas. my chessie steam special my daughters starter set prr and the few conventional I still have. all the sidings are already switched in the yard a few more I need to do.

well an update took it apart and sure enough loose nut like someone said tightened it up and all is fine separated out the levels on the layout hooked up both the ph135 and the ph180 on different channels. all works fine then I ran a ground plane near a troublesome area and now all is good again ran 2 trains tonight at the same time jumping levels. worked good . moved the ph135 to the top level and the 180 to the lower.

I am not a some one, I am GGG! 

TIU can handle higher current, you had to have a resistive issue allowing the amps to generate a lot of heat.  Loose nut is a common one for that kind of heat with a TIU.   G

Jh,

   Glad you were able to due the repair work yourself, I had to mess with one of mine a long time ago also.  You might want to thank George (GGG) for his help, he is a definitely one of the guys who helps a lot of people here on the OGR and deserves credit for advising a lot of OGR members, when they need professional technical help.  Between George and John a lot of members save lots of money when it comes to their O gauge trains and electrical equipment.  They definitely help make the OGR forum the best forum on the Net today.

PCRR/Dave

you are correct Pine creek there is a lot of talent on this board and john/ggg thank you both for the suggestions and getting this fixed up . it was nice last night running multiple trains and not having issues again everything ran smoothly. except not flippin a switch in time and I came close to this.

J,

   Just watchen the video makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up!

PCRR/Dave