MTH locomotive problem

Battery only supplies power to operate the PS@/3 board, not the loco.  Are you sure there is power on the track? (Check with an AC voltmeter or a train bulb).  If there is power, check if it is getting through the rollers--you'll hve to put voltmeter on lamp on the wries from the rollers and on the frame with loco on tracks.

There is no battery in a PS3 locomotive.

The N&W J has not been made with PS3 yet in O-gauge, so it has to be PS2 unless you are talking about an MTH HO N&W J.

oh ok so it must be ps2 or 1 then. this train is only like 7 or 8 years old without the tender the engine will not move it has the cord that connects to the locomotive from the tender. the track has power because all the other trains run and start up with no problem but this engine isnt getting any power at all. no noise no lights no nothing. i tried to recharge the battery but that didnt work.

James,

It would sure help to have the product number of your engine.

the engine number is 612 but the product number ill have to wait to get. its at my job because i work at a model rail road museum and they have ll the proper tools to fix it. ill have the number first thing tomorrow for sure.

James.

without the tender the engine will not move it has the cord that connects to the locomotive from the tender. the track has power because all the other trains run and start up with no problem but this engine isnt getting any power at all. no noise no lights no nothing.

You must connect the tender to the engine in order to run the engine. All of the "smarts" that tell the engine what to do are in the tender. The speaker is also in the tender so the engine by itself cannot make any sounds at all.

When you connect the engine to the tender, does it run? If so, the engine's fine. If you're running under DCS, you need to add the engine to the remote and then press Startup to get it to do anything. If running conventionally, you still need to run the engine connected to the tender.

Is this your only PS2 engine, or perhaps your only PS2 steamer?

the product numer is 30-4058-1

 the sticker on the bottom of the engine say PS2 freight

mr barry,

      the product number is 30-4058-1 and its a ps2 steamer class j. this isnt the only steamer that we have at the train museum,yet it is one of our high end ones. when i connect the engine to the tender is doesnt have any responce at all, no lights no sounds. we had it running off the dcs but then we went to running it conventionally. then one day it just called quits. i have tried to charger the battery and  cleaned up the rollers. i dont usully  deal with modern engines im more or a pre and post war guy. if theres anything you can do to help me get this thing rolling again that would be great! 

James,

when i connect the engine to the tender is doesnt have any responce at all, no lights no sounds. we had it running off the dcs but then we went to running it conventionally. then one day it just called quits

Make absolutely certain that the tether is tightly connected to the tender and that it isn't plugged in upside-down.

mr barry,

        ok i have tryed but there is still no responce. i will have to hook it back up to dcs to see if maybe that will get it to move. i hope a board isnt fried in the tender

This is an older engine 2001 with a PS-2 5V system.  So it is possible the electronic board has died.  If you have good conductivity from the pick up rollers and chassis ground to the 7 pin connector in the engine (where the boards are) then the board is dead.  G

I don't have one of these engines to test, but know that some RTR Railking steam engines have the PS2 board in the engine. Being that the PS2 board is in the engine instead of the tender, is it possible for the engine to move without the tender in DCS?

I know it shouldn't run in conventional, as the battery is in the tender and so is the speaker.

Here's the parts break down:

http://www.mthtrains.com/sites...oded/30rtr19963e.pdf

thank you for all your help. i found out that it was a board in the tender that went bad.

    james

How did you figure that out?  There is no board in the tender.  Your model has a harness with patch panel in the tender for speaker, battery, coupler.

Even with a bad battery, unless the battery is totally dead, the engine should have started even if it won't move.

Is it fixed now?  G

wait so if that wasnt a board then maybe it was just the battery that needed to be replaced? when we hooked up another tender to the engine the light came on and stuff so right then we thought oh maybe the board is bad in the tender...i didnt know that the panel wasnt a board and that it was maybe just the battery thaat needed to be replaced. yet us not being knowing to much about the ps systems we just thought oh a board went bad and theres nothing we can do so we gutted it and we to foward only

i wish the engines were still as siimple as the post war ones. it would have saved me the headache

They are simple to troubleshoot with some experience.  Did you look at the instructions?  If your not comfortable take it to a hobbyshop with a tech.

Or, remove the tender shell and replace the battery;  an akaline will work just to test it.  If the engine now runs, remove the akaline and replace with an 8.4V rechargable battery. 

By the way, it is not good to swap tenders.  The configuration is not always the same.   G