I have MTH ETD / truck combo, part number 20-89010. The light doesn't flash or even light up at all, can you replace the LED on these things or am I better just buying a new one?
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Haven't had one fail yet. Have you made sure the are intact and still connected to the pick-up and truck?
I don't have a MTH unit.
But the Lionel one I have on a boxcar looked rather small to me.
The circuitry was inside the boxcar, so replacing the LED shouldn't be a problem if you can get at it and get the little box open.
If I replace one of mine, I am going with a superbright LED. If I can't get a red one, then I want to use a white one and and color it red with a sharpie. The ones I see on the real RR tracks are really bright.
MrHorst, my ETD just quit. How did you resolve your failure? Thank you.
I have two MTH ETDs that never worked brand new right out of the box.
I had a couple fail on me where they either just stay on solid without blinking or they are plain dead. If they are like mine where you play with the wires and almost everything a normal person would do to troubleshoot it. You'll find that MTH will just tell you to buy a new one or tell the dealer to send you a new warranty one and MTH will reimburse the dealer it came from.
PAUL ROMANO posted:I have two MTH ETDs that never worked brand new right out of the box.
My first one was DOA too.
I see this is a 2 year old thread, but what's interesting about the MTH ETD is the brightness light ramps up to a brilliant flash rather than just a simple OFF-ON-OFF-ON. Look on youtube for "MTH ETD" and there are several video showing this effect. I have no idea if this is prototypical but I think it's more visually appealing than basic ON-OFF blinking.
This goes to the OP's question about replacing JUST the red LED to fix a non-functional unit. I am not aware of any off-the-shelf LEDs that will exhibit this ramping brightness. The blinking red LEDs you see are basic ON-OFF. This tells me there is some kind of circuit buried in the ETD that does this ramping. This circuit then drives a generic 5 cent red LED (rather than a 25 cent blinking red LED). So if there are not external broken wires to repair, I'd think it quite a challenge to dis-assemble the unit if molded/sealed.
Attachments
Images (1)
I have several of these on cars, and one in my parts box. I'm with Stan, no way that's just an LED, it's a circuit in that little module. It is a neat effect. The module looks pretty secure, but there is a seam. Since mine works, I'm not prying it apart... 
I have 5 MTH etd's..all work,they are my dirty track indicators I was at the CSX yard in wildwood fla..watched a crew guy beat on an etd..finally got it to blink..mrhorst hope you get yours fixed.
I have two that work flawlessly. The biggest problem was putting it on a RK double stack car. It was just about impossible, but I did get it. The pickup roller makes things very difficult.
When my ETD quit flashing I replaced the ETD circuit and LED instead of tossing the truck which is MTH's solution.
See Repair End of Train Device flashing LED for the process. Repair is possible but more trouble than it's worth.
