MTH Blinking Light Buildings

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Originally posted by 48jeep:
I recently purchased a MTH N&W station with blinking light. The first light lasted a total of 2 hours before it quit. Got a replacement, installed it, and it worked a whopping 2 and 3/4 hours before it quit. Anybody out there having the same problem with MTH blinking light buildings? By the way, it was hooked to the 14A posts on my Z4000, so I don't think that's the problem. Thanks for any advice.

Exactly the same problem. Broke -fixed -broke -fixed -broke. It almost seems like it works when it feels like it. Sorry, I have no solution yet.

What makes the light blink? What else is in the circuit to the power of the 14 V tap? It is possible you have a problem with voltage spikes generated off other accessories in the circuit. This could damage LEDs or PC boards leading to premature failure..

Dale H

HI Dale,

Actually, on my second unit, the building was the only thing hooked to any of the terminals on the Z4000. Thanks for the reply.

Was it a steady light or one of the animated lights that blinks back and forth? If the latter kind, I have one by MTH that sometimes quits blinking and stays on steady. I almost had it replaced, but kept on trying it with turning the power on and off, and it came back. That's now the pattern. Sometimes it blinks, sometimes not. I think it's a compatibility issue between the light and transformer rather than something wrong with the light as such.

I have the same thing with a Lionel hobo campfire. It does that too. Sometimes the campfire flickers, sometimes not.

i'm having the same issues with my N&W building! i've changed out the blinking sign. now i'm changing out the blinking sign and board. hopefully this will work. i'm using mth z-1000 14 volt accessory tap to run my blinking light buildings...............rogerw.

I have had success with the blinking MTH building lights by only using a maximum of 10 volts. The small circuit board is very sensitive to too much voltage.

quote:

Originally posted by turbgine:
I have had success with the blinking MTH building lights by only using a maximum of 10 volts. The small circuit board is very sensitive to too much voltage.

That's very interesting, as we have 5 MTH buildings with the blinking signs and they occasionally seem to have a mind of their own. I guess you could place a resistor inline to cut the voltage to the building (I know my accessory transformer is running around 12-13 VAC), but could I go with a diode to drop the voltage in half and run it with 6-7 VDC?

Hi Craig, I like the diode idea it sounds like it might work. The only question I have with it is if the plused AC coming off of it may have some negative effect on the control circuits.
Dale H could have more to say about it, but I would go with the droping resistor you spoke of. When it comes to driving any type of flip-flop circuit I always thought a balanced power source was best.

I'm just guessing here of course but that may be the crux of what is obviously a chronic problem with these MTH accessories. I'm wondering if the AC to DC rectifier on those things are failing to deliver a clean DC to the timing circuits for the lamps.

I used a Z750 to power the lights on all my buildings and I used the variable power on it...that way I could set lights in my "city" to be dimmer - 14 volts makes them to bright and doesn't give that older lighting yellow "glow".

I had two or three variable blinking lights along with about 10 or so other lighted buildings and never had an issue. Perhaps the lower voltage and having more buildings on the one circuit had something to do with it....

Dunno.

What do you use for variable power?

I have 12 MTH buildings, six with the blinking signs and so far, only one of them has quit (knock on wood). Just noticed it last weekend. I've got all of the buildings hooked up to a CW transformer with the throttle handle set at about 8-10 volts. I've nothing other than the buildings hooked to this particular transformer.

Insofar as the one that quit, I'm probably just not going to worry about it, for now at least.

Curt

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Insofar as the one that quit, I'm probably just not going to worry about it, for now at least.

Curt

Kind of my attitude too.

Anybody know for sure what circuit they are using to flash the lights.?

Dale H

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What do you use for variable power?

I hook it up to the rail line outputs so I "vary" the power to the lights using the dial on the MTH Z...I had a lot of Z1000s and one Z750. I don't need 14 fixed volts to the lights. As someone else said 8-10 volts works and thats good for me.

I run 10v on all my lights and buildings. I have never had any bulbs burn out or issues with blinking signs in MTH buildings. 10 volts makes the lights give off a nice glow instead of the searchlight effect out of the windows.

My MTH blinking light on the water tower stopped working the first Christmas I had it under the tree.

I have experienced the same issue with the Lionel Flashing Gate and MTH Sound and Flashing Crossing accessory.

I can get the lights to flash raising voltage slowly, but each has its own quirks.

Dale, Not going to be easy determining the circuit. It is a small board, does have diodes, resistors on it, but nothing is easy to identify.

I have seen others that have the "blob" of black that contains part if not most of the circuit on other LED systems.

I would experiment with variable voltage sources. I have seen some that take a minute or 2 before the start up also. G

If over voltage is a problem,a simple solution would be to put a 7809 regulator in front of it.. If anyone can post a pic of the board maybe we can figure it out.

Dale H

I have about 12 of these buildings & only have had problem with two of them when they first came out. MTH sent me new boards & I installed them & fortunatley haven't had any problems since. I believe they told me originally the heat sink wasn't big enough & that was corrected. I run mine on 15 volts.

one of the two fixed taps on the Z4000 is 10 volts. Why not use it for building lights?

Pic of my building lights using the my MTH Z750 track output - about 10 volts...

Time exposure so it looks brighter than normal...

I'm using a Z4000 to power all the lights on my layout. The buildings with the blinking signs are on a variable post set at 11 volts. If I go to 10 volts, one of the signs will flicker in a random pattern. So far though, no problems.

what is the recommended voltage for this accessory/building???.........rogerw.