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hey everyone, tried searching to see if anyone else has had the issues with the Lionel trackmobile as I have. Bought the unit new, programmed and had it running with the DCS app pulling a box car and all of a sudden in made a buzzing noise and literally went up in smoke! From what I can see and the breakdown parts pictures it looks like the large capacitor that’s next to the operator figure has blown (melted the plastic). I’ll be contacting Lionel to see about sending it back but was curious if I’ve been the only one? 

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JBayBay posted:

hey everyone, tried searching to see if anyone else has had the issues with the Lionel trackmobile as I have. Bought the unit new, programmed and had it running with the DCS app pulling a box car and all of a sudden in made a buzzing noise and literally went up in smoke! From what I can see and the breakdown parts pictures it looks like the large capacitor that’s next to the operator figure has blown (melted the plastic). I’ll be contacting Lionel to see about sending it back but was curious if I’ve been the only one? 

If you had the track voltage set higher than 18 volts, you fried it!

Yikes, 26VAC probably really ****ed it off, no wonder it went up in smoke!

Both of the tethered cap RCDR boards I have in stock have 1,000uf 16V caps, but they're not connected to those points, they're connected to the right to a 10V rated cap.  The cap on your board is in parallel with a 100uf 35V cap right on the inputs after the rectifiers.  Since that one is only rated at 25 volts, small wonder it went up, that's probably marginal for 18VAC track power!!!  I wonder why they weren't using a 35V cap there?  You certainly abused it, but that looks also like a factory screw-up, that cap should be rated that low.

On the good side, you may well be able to simply replace that cap and restore function, give it a try.

Last edited by gunrunnerjohn

Before you spend money, I'd remove the cap and see if it still runs.

Here's the Lionel search on any RCM2 boards: https://www.lionelsupport.com/...;submitButton=Search

I'd probably use the Trackmobile one and install my own cap.  Pick a 35V one, the largest that will fit in that cavity.  I'm sure the 2200uf isn't super critical, so I'd just use the dimensions and find what will fit with a suitable rating.

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