MTH Operating Boxcar

Maybe he went back to the North Pole until next Christmas

Hello John 

Are you running trains by transformer or TMCC/DCS?

In conventional power(transformer) you need to raise power to 14volts or 16 volts .  

Both The MTH & lionel operating track sections need that power.  If you are running TMCC/DCS you should already be a 18 volts .  

Both track sections can add additional ACC power to help in conventional power mode .

Read your directions .    

I hope this helps 

Bill DeBrooke posted:

Maybe he went back to the North Pole until next Christmas

Thank you

Do you have another operating car that "works" with the operating track section?

And if other car(s) work (thereby ruling out the operating track), are you comfortable removing the shell (typically 4 screws on the bottom corners of the chassis) of the boxcar? 

Do you have and know how to use a multimeter?

John Ptak posted:

Bill DeBrooke posted:

Maybe he went back to the North Pole until next Christmas

Thank you

You know it could be worse.  If you get the door open he probably is delivering crayons.

WRGMILW posted:

Hello John 

Are you running trains by transformer or TMCC/DCS?

In conventional power(transformer) you need to raise power to 14volts or 16 volts .  

Both The MTH & lionel operating track sections need that power.  If you are running TMCC/DCS you should already be a 18 volts .  

Both track sections can add additional ACC power to help in conventional power mode .

Read your directions .    

I hope this helps 

 

I am using an MTH Z controller. I’ve read all the directions. Looks fairly simple. Put it on the track and and press unload. 

stan2004 posted:

Do you have another operating car that "works" with the operating track section?

And if other car(s) work (thereby ruling out the operating track), are you comfortable removing the shell (typically 4 screws on the bottom corners of the chassis) of the boxcar? 

Do you have and know how to use a multimeter?

This is my only operating car. I have the shell off. I tried applying power directly to the shoes and heard a buzzing. I applied power to the piece of track directly and got nothing. I do not have a multimeter. 

Bill DeBrooke posted:

John Ptak posted:

Bill DeBrooke posted:

Maybe he went back to the North Pole until next Christmas

Thank you

You know it could be worse.  If you get the door open he probably is delivering crayons.

Thanks very much for the help. It’s greatly appreciated. 

Attention John 

Withe the Z controller , turn the knob so the arrow is at 75% power .  MAKE SURE no ENGINES are on track at this time !  

Check your wires going to track .  make sure you put the wires are tight & in right spots .   I wired mine wrong  the first time .  I was unloading instead of uncoupling.  Yes we make make mistakes .  

I hope this helps 

John, Like others have said, be sure you have 14 volts to the power terminal.  Looks like you have the UCS and be sure you have the controller connected like this sketch.  Sorry for my scribbles.  This shows power coming from the track.  Many people connect directly to the transformer.  If you are testing make sure you have the circuit including power and ground (wheels).

It sure would help if you could borrow another car to see if it is the track or the car

Could be a limit switch adjustment on the door.  G

We have found these cars need a second or so start the cycle of operation before releasing the activation lever (or button). Try it again but do not release the lever until after the door starts opening a quarter inch or so.

John Ptak posted:

stan2004 posted:

Do you have another operating car that "works" with the operating track section?

And if other car(s) work (thereby ruling out the operating track), are you comfortable removing the shell (typically 4 screws on the bottom corners of the chassis) of the boxcar? 

Do you have and know how to use a multimeter?

This is my only operating car. I have the shell off. I tried applying power directly to the shoes and heard a buzzing. I applied power to the piece of track directly and got nothing. I do not have a multimeter. 

I'm not trying to overwhelm you with an electrical schematic but here's the wiring of the Realtrax operating track section (OTS). Same info as what hokie71 posted earlier but I made this color-coded diagram for another thread and may help this discussion.

When you throw the "UNLOAD" lever, you apply outer-rail (blue) power to the left 4th/5th rails (green), and center-rail (red) power to the right 4th/5th rails (brown).  There seems to be some question as to whether the OTS itself is working.  That is, you get a buzzing sound when you apply power to the two sliding shoes...but NO buzzing sound when the sliding shoes are sitting on the OTS with UNLOAD thrown?  Since you don't have a meter, perhaps you could run a pair of wires from the green and brown rails to a spare Realtrax lock-on (if you have one).  Then, the lock-on bulb should turn on when you UNLOAD.

So as not to confuse issues, I'll address the car operation separately in next post.  Again, as suggested by others we need to isolate whether the problem is with the OTS or the operating car or both.

Since you have the shell off, do the electronics look anything like one of following (photos hijacked from this OGR thread):

IF your guts look something like above, then we can proceed.  There may be other styles of MTH Operating Boxcar too.

In any case, for this style there should be a single relay "click" sound if you apply power to the two sliding shoes (with NO power applied to the car's center-rail power roller pickup(s) and outer-rail wheels.  And you should hear another "click" when you remove power to the sliding shoes.  It should not be a buzzing sound. 

Again, this behavior applies to MTH Operating Boxcars that look like the above.  It appears your car is a recent release so all bets are off if the electronics is a different design!

Note: if you do get the relay click-on click-off, then we can move on to why the door sliding mechanism is idle. OTOH, if you just got this item and it's under warranty then the way forward might be different.  That is, if you're just trying to confirm it's broken that's different than attempting a minor adjustment or DIY repair.

Thank you all for your excellent suggestions and help. I was able to test the car itself and can confidently say that it is not functioning properly. I am able to get a new one from my local shop, Crocodile Trains. Mike is a great guy and very accommodating. Again, thank you all for your help!