JLC Challenger Tender Short!

Sounds like something is not grounded. You should have tried the tender when you had the boards removed to see if it was the tender and not the boards. Make sure the boards are insulated from the tender body. 

Remove back up battery now using an ohm meter is there continuity between the center pick up roller and the wheels?Is draw bar touching center rail??Are wires connected to center rollers?Man I know this is tough you must be bummed big time.Nick

Remove all the boards. If the short still occurs, it is in the main wiring harness from the rollers. Insert the boards, and plug in just the main wiring harness from the rollers and check for the short. Continue plugging in one wire at a time, then another board until the short occurs. The coil couplers should be on a separate wire, so it is easy to isolate them.

Larry

Thanks guys.  I will start to isolate as you have recommended and see what I can find. I really appreciate the help.

I will let you know how it goes.

Well, I found the short.  Apparently when the screws  that attach the rear truck assembly are tightened, it caused the heads of the pick-up roller screws to touch the tender floor plate.  I put a piece of electrical tape across each pick-up roller screw and no more short.  :-)

But wait, now I can't get the Rail Sounds to work.  All functions operate normally (bell, whistle, forward, reverse, electro-coupler), but no chuff.  I checked the Rail Sounds switch to make sure it is in Rail Sounds and not Signal Sounds.  I turned up the volume to full (bell and whistle are loud), but no chuff or crew talk.

Thoughts?