Issue with a Lionel H10

Need to ask him if he has other TMCC engines and do they run well.  However, it sounds like he may not have a good earth ground connection.  Here is some advise from previous posts:

Is the wire from the U terminal of the base securely connected to the track's outside rail?

Is the Legacy base plugged directly into a grounded outlet?  He should check the outlet with a tester to make sure.

Is the ground wires connected to a good earth ground? 

Make sure the outside rail is not connected to earth ground.  This messes up the TMCC signal.

 If Rons ideas don't solve it, It sounds like an antenna problem with the loco itself . Maybe something got jarred  loose during shipping?

 Even though its loaded with "goodies", its not a bad loco to open up and peek around.  Probably not much help as this may not be something your buyer is willing to do.

I don't think any type of reset will help, if thats what your asking.  Shippers can be hard on these things and I think its worse now that they have been short handed with covid.

If the person needs to hold his hand above the engine to get better command control, it is more than likely an earth ground issue. Could be he has on a track with another metal object or track near it and/or above it. In that instance, you need to install an earth ground wire to the com port on your TPC , wrap a wire around a metal pipe that goes into the ground or attach a wire to the center screw on your wall outlet plate.

What transformer he is using? Is he using powermasters, TPC's, or is he using DCS with a command base? MANY factors to consider before he claims it is the engine which was checked out by one of the premier repair persons that we had in the hobby.

Your buyer needs to read these comments and respond as there are folks here who know about TMCC and have responded so far to this thread.

Another possible culprit... is his TMCC / Legacy base plugged into an outlet with surge protection?

Is it also possible that the handrail(s) were shorted against the cab, or a plastic stanchion broke off when the loco was packed into the box for shipping?  That would certainly cause reception issues.

If a handrail was touching the metal shell, you would not get any command control response. The engine would just sit there. 

He got back to me and has decided to keep the engine.  He said he has a lot of engines and this is the only one he has an issue with.  Something may have come loose during shipping.

 I did ship via the USPS and it took a long time to get to him even though it was a rather short distance and was mailed Priority Two day service.

One curious thing is he said operating using Bluetooth was flawless.  I wonder why that worked so well.

PS: He is going to check to see if the boards came loose or the antenna connection  was loose. He is also going to make sure the antenna is not touching the shell.

Good. I think it’s an easy fix once he figures out where he’s losing the signal. 

@WaynePa posted:

One curious thing is he said operating using Bluetooth was flawless.  I wonder why that worked so well.

Meh, not really curious, as Bluetooth works differently than TMCC/Legacy. This reinforces that it's a TMCC/Legacy issue and not something wrong with the engine's mechanics.

 I was going to suggest checking the pins where the receiver board plugs into the RCMC. I removed a shell to install new cab figures and renumber it. It was dead in the water when I put the shellback on. Engine was an eBay purchase and a very brief test it ran fine. I found three pins cleanly broken off.  These pins seem on the delicate side.

 After re reading the post and seeing a hand over the Loco stopped the flickering headlight I figured it might be more layout related. The pins may be worth checking if your going inside.