Engine does not work

You have the 5 volt board.  Have an MTH tech put your board in his test fixture.   Your board may be bad.   A special hard (not published anywhere) reset may bring you back.  A few MTH tech guys were taught the procedure  years ago.

Before taking any step, put a real (not white) battery in the engine and see what you have.   Many of those old pink BCRs have seen better days.

Thanks, Marty. I believe I have some fresh alkaline batteries left from changing out the ones in my smoke detectors. I'll try one (for test purposes only). I know it won't charge.

Chris

LVHR

Most likely a bad fet on the board kept burning out the HL.  As far as not running, as marty stated the board could just have died.  The fix is replacing the board with a PS-2 3V or PS-32 with 5V connectors.  That one may be a tough fit for PS-32. G

I put a 9v alkaline in. Checked with a battery tester before doing so, battery is good. No joy with the engine. Time for a trip to Hennings.

As a side note, how does one test a BCR?

Chris 

LVHR

BTW, does it make sense to have a flexible drawbar installed on this engine? I’m not crazed about the wire tether.

Chris

LVHR

No easy conversion for wireless drawbar.  It is a different construct at tender and engine. G

First step is to test the board.  What are the exact symptoms if you try to run in conventional?  Does the locomotive draw any power at all?

John,

The engine is completely dead. No sounds, no light, no motion. Z4K shows 0.0 amps at 12v. If I put a lighted caboose on, then I get 0.2amps. TIU is completely removed.

Chris

LVHR

Maybe take a look at the wire from the center rail rollers where it plugs into the board....Is every thing connected.

With 0 Amps at 12 VAC you are not getting power from either the center rail pick-up or common (outer rail) to the boards.  If you can - trace the red wire from the center rail roller to where it connects to the board.  Try and find the common wire connector, usually a screw connection to the engine frame.  Trace it also.  Disconnect both wires from the board (if possible) and check for power using a dvm.  That is the first place to look.  The burned out headlight is a defective fet on the board.  That can be fixed.

bruce

Look at your board and you will see a 7 pin plug.  Remove and reinsert the plug.  That is the power and ground to your board.  With your meter, look for power at the plug with the track powered.

I see 5V board read no current when totally dead.  Nothing is drawing power.  Always worth checking that the seven pin is connected fully, and also removing board and testing. G

George, in my request I throw on the Forum looking for inoperative shelf queens I see at least two of that situation each time.  I offer the engines back to the seller.   

If you've checked the pickup wiring and made sure power gets to the 7-pin connector, it's probably time to test the 5V board set in that one Chris.  However, the signs are not looking good.

Guys thanks for all the advice. I pulled the 7 pin connector and reseated it. No joy. Next I pulled the 7 pin connector again and set my DVM to ohms with audio. Probes on both of the red contacts and it beeps, so that is a valid way to test. One at a time, alligator clip to each center roller and a probe to each of the red contacts. Every combination beeps, so I have power going in. Repeated the process with the black pair. Alligator clip on the trailing truck wheel set, and probe to each of the black wire contacts one at a time. Again, everything beeps, so I have good ground. It’s not looking very good for the board set. Anything else I can check?

Chris

LVHR

Since track power is apparently getting to the board-set, do you hear the relay "click" as soon as you apply power.

Since track power is apparently getting to the board-set, do you hear the relay "click" as soon as you apply power.

No.

Chris

LVHR

Board sounds dead, it's a longshot to get that one working again.  Occasionally, they can be brought back, but as a rule that is the death knell for those boards.

If relay does not "click" then in all likelihood the microprocessor is not even running.  Even faulty processor chip will draw some power.  That you're reading 0.0 Amps going into the board is not a good sign.  A long-shot is to confirm the 5V voltage regulator chip is generating 5V DC.  The processor circuit needs 5V to operate and if there's no 5V there's an every-so-slim chance the replace-able and inexpensive ($1) regulator chip failed. 

So if you're still up for some DIY troubleshooting, you can probe the chip to confirm unregulated DC going in, and 5V regulated DC coming out.

I'm not familiar with your specific engine but somewhere there's this regulator chip screwed to a heatsink with red, blk, ylw wires as shown.  You can pull back the white housing to expose the regulator pin (as shown in photo) while still making contact to the long pins of the chip.  Measure the DC voltage going into the chip relative to the GND or metal tab of the chip.  This GND is NOT the same as the chassis.  The IN DC voltage should go up and down as you change track voltage and will be tad more than the AC track voltage in magnitude.  But the 5V out (again measured relative to GND) must be 5V DC.  The hope being this chip failed and there's no 5V OUT.  A long-shot to be sure but this should only take a few minutes to try.

Otherwise I'd say you need to consider your options - upgrade to new board set, send to GGG or whomever for evaluation/repair, whatever.

Of all the 5V boards I have test and repaired(and that is a very, very large number) I have yet to run into a bad 5V regulator.  Not that it can't happen but I have yet to see one.

As we approach 2018 I see more and more of these complete failures were the board just does not power up despite good DC power out of the rectifier.

Unless the board comes up with power and has some other issues, they seem to be expired.  G

I'm with George, I've yet to find a bad regulator on any of the failures I've seen either.  I'm sure he has a much larger experience base, but we're at least consistent.  I'm afraid that board is indeed a goner.

G,

I will check the 5v regulator just to cover the base. But all this discussion sounds ominous to say the least. A couple of questions:

What are my options for this engine? i. e. what is the best way to proceed, presuming the board is dead? Is this something I can do? I have done PS-1 to PS-2 upgrades in the past, although it has been quite sometime. Is there a particular board that fits better in this engine? Is the correct sound file be available for the new board/engine combination? I know 5v and 3v files are not interchangeable. At least they used not to be so.

Next thought: If all these 5v boards are failing, has anyone done a failure mode analysis? I'm thinking there is likely a common denominator here. I'm wondering if MTH's electronics supplier had a bad batch of a particular component. Not blaming MTH, rather their electronics foundry.

Chris

LVHR

A PS-2 3V with 5V connectors is probably the one that will fit.  Requires heat sink mod to fit it in and mount.  Battery/BCr change to 3V version and new 4 ohm speaker.  How simple for you depends.  I do them and have all the other pieces and parts to get it done, plus the warranty.  Not the same as an upgrade especially when putting board back into the engine.

The whole 5V issue has been discussed in length over the years.  You can do a search if you want. G