I have a 5-volt loco with board in loco. Speaker in tender. Sound cuts in & out. I traced it to the tether plug-socket area, with intermittent contact when the plug is jiggled. Is this usually a failure in the plug, in the socket, or both?
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I had a similar problem and found there was a significant space between the cab and frame. The connector on the engine was flush with the frame then there was about a 1/8" air gap plus the thickness of the cab body. My fix was to remove the connector on the engine and elongate the holes so it could be mounted past the end of the frame. No problems since.
Pete
I had the same issue that you are experiencing.
I actually thought the tether (wire harness) on my MTH Mikado L-1 was failing so I ordered two replacement harnesses from MTH (it took 5 weeks to get them - shameful!).
In the meantime, after examining the situation with the sound cutting in and out, I noticed that there was a bit of "play" or "wiggle room" at the connection point on the plug socket on back of the Mikado engine.
The simplest quick fix that I found (though not perfect) was to insert the tip of a pointy wood toothpick along one side of the tether plug into the tight gap between the socket and the plug (I did this with the tether plug already inserted in the socket).
That simple action fixed the problem. No more "wiggle room" at the connection point. The small piece of the toothpick is not even visible. Now the plug from the tether is tightly seated in the socket and the sound no longer cuts in and out.
I intend to pursue all of the above suggestions for possible causes, and I do appreciate the answers. Thank you all.
Yep, any of the potential issues mentioned could be what is biting you, checking them all is the prudent course of action.
The BC-1000002 is a retrofit for exactly that purpose, it's the part you want to splice in to fix this. In the off chance that there's a plug inside and they use the two-ended jumper, it's a simpler repair. I don't think yours does, have you looked inside the tender?
Inside the tender is just leads that exit the cable and then run to various points--speaker, bettery, coupler, etc.
BC-1000002 appears to be the one you need, it's the generic replacement.
Thanks. I'll wait to see if any techs respond.\ with one to sell.
I have some of the diesel straight ones, but I just used my last steamer one.
Robert,
I just added a BC-1000002 for you to my current parts order.
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