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Anyone heard of this happening to a MTH Steamer with PS2?  I just purchased this engine online in like new condition and put it on the layout with my ZW at part throttle for several minute to put a charge in the battery. When I powered it up to operate it there was a loud bang and a cloud of white smoke poured out from under the boiler as if the smoke unit had blown up. Now the engine is totally dead, no lights, no sound, no anything. Any thoughts on the matter?

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Correct me if I am wrong.  With all the talk on the OGR Forum about dumping the white battery in any MTH engine and replacing it with a new green battery or BCR,  I bet you did not see any of it.  That battery is 14 years old.  Was this a fleabay queen?   I am with the guys on the cap taking a hit.    I hate to see any electronics ruined by human error.   Part throttle on a ZW is not a lot of voltage.  I know guys worship them.  I am not a fan of using any transformer that was made in the middle of the last century.  You charged it for several minutes?????    In those several minutes you could have opened the tender and installed a new green battery or BCR and this post would not exist.  I actually have that exact engine and I pulled the 5V board and installed a 3V board.    I am sorry for your loss.  This is a good post for people to read.  I still have my 5V board in the shop.  

Last edited by Marty Fitzhenry

SXE60, sometimes only the cap blows and nothing else. I've seen them blow even with a good battery. If your up for a challenge, purchase a new cap of the same value and use it to perform a simple test. You can usually try this leaving the board hooked up in the train. First, remove the battery and properly dispose of it, if it's white one. If it's green, charge it up. Second, locate the blown cap and take note of which lead was marked negative and the position it was soldered  into the board. Then cut away the tin housing of the cap with mini wire cutters and remove it along with the guts of the cap. You'll be left with two stems sticking up from the board. Third, using mini "insulated" alligator clip test leads, clip on the new cap to the stems on the board. Make sure you clip the negative cap lead to the negative stem on the board. Last, install the battery, put the train on the tracks and see if it will start up. If it does, your in luck and you could have someone install the new cap for you. If you see more smoke, the board had additional damage from the cap blowing. Good Luck.    PS: The PRR switcher pictured was only the cap and is still running strong.

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Marty Fitzhenry posted:

Correct me if I am wrong.  With all the talk on the OGR Forum about dumping the white battery in any MTH engine and replacing it with a new green battery or BCR,  I bet you did not see any of it.  That battery is 14 years old.  Was this a fleabay queen?   I am with the guys on the cap taking a hit.    I hate to see any electronics ruined by human error.   Part throttle on a ZW is not a lot of voltage.  I know guys worship them.  I am not a fan of using any transformer that was made in the middle of the last century.  You charged it for several minutes?????    In those several minutes you could have opened the tender and installed a new green battery or BCR and this post would not exist.  I actually have that exact engine and I pulled the 5V board and installed a 3V board.    I am sorry for your loss.  This is a good post for people to read.  I still have my 5V board in the shop.  

You right I obviously missed the white/green discussion. I'm well aware of PS1 Battery problems, but so far never had a PS2/3 problem until now. My ZW happens to be a  current model with 180 watt power supplies. I am old school and have shied away from digital control.  I've never had a problem with 14 year old brand "L" engines. Oh, and yes it was an Fleabay Queen. I'm retired and will be 84 in October, unfortunately I can't pay a grand + for a new engine that I'd like to have. By the way my first train was a Green Marx UP streamliner for Christmas 1936.  I can still recall the ozone smell it created.

Well, as suggested , I pulled the Hudson shell and found the biggest capacitor with #4 marked on what was left of the top had blown it's insulation onto the gear box. So now I need to find a circuit board repair guy as I don't feel qualified to install a replacement and installing an PS3 upgrade seems like overkill as i don't operate in DCS mode.

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