Polar Express Legacy RailSounds Tender

Could it have been in a ladhup?  Maybe put it in TR 0. Not 100% sure but worth a try. 

The quick reset should have fixed it. Try blocking the IR between the loco and tender while pushing the direction key. That should keep the backup lamp on (or off) while you get it back in sync. Don't know of this will fix it long-term though...

MartyE posted:

Could it have been in a ladhup?  Maybe put it in TR 0. Not 100% sure but worth a try. 

Good call Marty, I didn't think of that.  I'll give it a try.

grp24 posted:

The quick reset should have fixed it. Try blocking the IR between the loco and tender while pushing the direction key. That should keep the backup lamp on (or off) while you get it back in sync. Don't know of this will fix it long-term though...

I'm looking for a fix that will last through a power cycle.

Marty, no joy on the train, I was hoping that was it.

There was one issue with these, although I don't know that it would have anything to do with the problem your seeing.

The PE tenders, as well as the PM tender offered during the same time, had a problem with the backup light itself.

Initially it worked fine. After some time, it would flash in a strobe like manner, until it eventually went out for good.

Lionel offered a free replacement bulb and tether that had a resistor in it to resolve the problem. I believe they ran out of these long ago.

I own the PE tender, and it has worked fine ever since I changed out the bulb years ago when I bought it.

My 'trick' worked permanently (many, many power cycles) on my 6-38076 Berkshire. Wasn't sure if it would work on the unit you are working on. Just throwing it out there...you never know.

Greg, I'll give it a try, I can't imagine they save anything in the tender, but who knows.

grp24 posted:

My 'trick' worked permanently (many, many power cycles) on my 6-38076 Berkshire. Wasn't sure if it would work on the unit you are working on. Just throwing it out there...you never know.

Apparently, the Legacy locomotives are way smarter than we are.  I did that, all was well until I pulled out the block.  The tender light immediately toggled off when it saw the IR again.

I’m running the PM Berk with the PE tender and I just tested it. It works exactly as it is supposed to

If you need some wiring checked, shoot me an email

Given this is presumably powered from the RS5 board as there is no other source, I am hard pressed to see how the polarity gets reversed, it's an interesting question.

The funny thing is, it happened after the customer sent this to Lionel for repair, it came back not fixed, and the rear light didn't work right either after the "repair"!  I have the locomotive working properly, this is the last item in the list.

Is it possible the motor leads got reversed?

If the motor leads got reversed, then the engine should start up going backwards when running in conventional mode.  That would be an easy test.  I think the same would be true in command mode.  I have an ABA tmcc diesel set.  The rear A unit, when run by itself, starts up in reverse because that's it normal running mode.  When I want to run the rear A on its own, I always have to hit the direction button first to go forward.

The locomotive is fine.  I just fixed the tender, it was a mod that Lionel knew about.  For some reason, the three times he sent it back, they never did the mod.  All fixed, just waiting on the smoke regulator.  That was also an issue that Lionel knew about and never fixed.  There are days that I wonder what they're doing back there???

gunrunnerjohn posted:

The locomotive is fine.  I just fixed the tender, it was a mod that Lionel knew about.  For some reason, the three times he sent it back, they never did the mod.  All fixed, just waiting on the smoke regulator.  That was also an issue that Lionel knew about and never fixed.  There are days that I wonder what they're doing back there???

So what was the "fix"

What are these mods? Since I do own this loco and 2 tenders. I feel like there is a smoke regulator fix in my future

The mod to the tender is simple, put a 220 ohm resistor in series with the LED.  Best to replace the LED as they've been overdriving it with 5V from the R2LC whenever it's on.  For whatever reason, it wouldn't light when it had the full 5V on it, but when the ground was removed, there is a residual voltage apparently, and it would light.

I added the resistor with a new LED, and it works properly.

This is a mod that was widely discussed when these came out and Lionel was supplying a retrofit cable with the resistor.  I'm sure a ton of people didn't get the fix, since I never ran across a repair on one of these before, I didn't know about the fix.  Now I know.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I didn't know about the fix.  Now I know.

"And knowing is half the battle!"

GI Joe

In this case Marty, more like 90%.  The fix was easy, but what was happening was totally confusing!  The really odd part was, I popped a different RS5.5 board in there and the light worked normally!!!  With the resistor fix, now any RS5.5 board works.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

The locomotive is fine.  I just fixed the tender, it was a mod that Lionel knew about.  For some reason, the three times he sent it back, they never did the mod.  All fixed, just waiting on the smoke regulator.  That was also an issue that Lionel knew about and never fixed.  There are days that I wonder what they're doing back there???

What is the deal with the smoke regulator on this engine?  Mine has always been kind of weak...

Well, the regulator in this engine was mounted incorrectly and the chassis mount didn't offer any heatsinking for the triac.  That is obvious from looking at it, yet Lionel had this locomotive THREE times and never corrected that.  Since it came in for smoke issues, and they actually replaced the smoke regulator and mounted it the same incorrect way, I'd have to say they dropped the ball!

If you have weak smoke, the very first thing to check is the screws that hold the smoke resistor in place, they are loose in about half the locomotives I get in for service.  Also, I change the 6 ohm resistor for the 8 ohm as the lower value overheats the regulator and causes premature failure.  This was another Lionel recommended service, but wasn't done on this locomotive.

I don't think you're ever going to get MTH level smoke from this unit, but you can get decent smoke.  Here's the Polar Express after the smoke unit maintenance.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

The locomotive is fine.  I just fixed the tender, it was a mod that Lionel knew about.  For some reason, the three times he sent it back, they never did the mod.  All fixed, just waiting on the smoke regulator.  That was also an issue that Lionel knew about and never fixed.  There are days that I wonder what they're doing back there???

I wonder if things could sometimes get misplaced in the incorrect piles? With a lot of stuff coming in and going out I would think it could easily happen? I often wonder how you guys (as in doing repairs, parts, etc.) keep track of all your stuff too? Sometimes my organizational skills are a bit challenged. 

So you don't feel too bad, I'm still looking for a lot of parts that I knew right were they were before I moved.  I know they're here, but I sure can't find them!

I'm due to clean out the basement and find several thousand dollars worth of stuff I forgot I had. Last time I opened a box and it had ERR upgrades and DCC decoders in it. I darn near crepped ma pants. Not so much found money but a realization of reckless irresponsibility.

For customer stuff, when it comes in, it goes on the white board as to what it is, what work needs to be done and when it got here. Then I update the board with progress and dates. The trains go on the shelf with a label on them as to who they belong to and when they got here. Only once did I miss a repair for a guy as his train got put on the wrong shelf cuz I was out of room. Then I fixed it and forgot who he was. He picks it up Saturday but it took me months to remember his name. That one was out of the realm of usual as I picked it up on the way to the farm and it slipped through the cracks

gunrunnerjohn posted:

So you don't feel too bad, I'm still looking for a lot of parts that I knew right were they were before I moved.  I know they're here, but I sure can't find them!

I can certainly relate. After moving 5 years ago, I am still looking for things I used to know the exact location of at the old place. It's finally getting a bit better, but just isn't quite the same.