MTH proto sound

[Anonymous]

I have four older proto-sound 1 steam engines I had not run in over a year. I put new charged MTH batteries in all engines. All worked fine at first, but one by one, three of them have stopped working. All the three will do is light up. No sound or direction control. I run my layout with a MTH Z4000 transformer. Any help? thanks Don Mccuaig[xx(]

[spankybird]

HI Don, Welcome to the CTT forum.

Sounds like your batteries have lost there charge. This could have happened for several reason such as loose wire, not runing the engines long enought to recharge them, charging unit not working, etc.

To test your eninges, try replacing the battery with a std 9 volt dry cell and see if they come to life. Do not leave the 9 volt battery in the engine, just use it for a test.

This will give us a bases to see if something else is wrong or only a battery problem.

tom

[Anonymous]

I changed all four batteries with new charged batteries. The engines still didn't work. Don[xx(]

[Anonymous]

Put the NiCads back in and use the Z to see if the loco's are locked in an oddball state. Put the engine on the track, and power it up.

After they have left the program/reset state hit the program button on the Z and note the feature set readout. If they read out higher than 50 they may be locked. Try to do a factory reset 18. If the engine responds with the appropriate clinks and clanks see if it will work properly. If the engine starts to run properly but there is no sound you may have a blown speaker.

[spankybird]

QUOTE: Originally posted by 2483

I changed all four batteries with new charged batteries. The engines still didn't work. Don[xx(]

Maybe I misunderstood you. Did you say that after replacing the batteries, the engines ran fine, then started to act up.

QUOTE: All worked fine at first, but one by one, three of them have stopped working.

Maybe the new batteries have lost there charge. Thus putting in a 9 volt battery will elminate the battery issue. [;)]

[Anonymous]

Hi, no I replaced all the batteries with new ones. All batteries were fully charged before I replaced them. The engines all ran fine for a short time then one by one they stopped operating. Just the light works. Thanks Don

[Anonymous]

Chuckn, I hit the program button with a little power on and the number 52 came up. I went through the program system (no power on) and tried to reset at number 18. Lights flashed on the engine for a few seconds. Went out of program mode then, NOTHING!!!!!! All I have is the head light.....Do you think I need to send it in for repair. Thanks Don[xx(]

[Anonymous]

52 means the loco is locked in nuetral. Try unlocking it by using the Z's programing functions to get to feature 51. If this works you can then do a reset to 18. If the loco starts operating properly but still has no sounds or distorted sounds you will have to deal with a bad speaker or possibly a damaged board. The CTT book on Modern Toy Train Repair and Maintenance by R.D. Teal covers some of the things you are seeing and offers some additional solutions.

[CSX FAN]

Don

I had some of my engines locked in neutral and bought the MTH proto sound reset chip for a couple of mine that were locked in Neutral. Given your discription I would say that's doesn't seem to the case with you.

The engines worked after your replaced the battery with a new fully charged one. Did they quit working when you went into neutral? I also do the reset 18 on the Z-4000. If they lock in neutral after running I wonder if there getting scrambled and then locking up.

Look on the PS1 board and see if the power jack I think its the hite one is loose. I have seen loose pins on 2 of mine and swapped the boards out out with spare PS1's I had left over from PS2 upgrades.

Jamie

[Anonymous]

Jamie, thanks for your help. Yes at least one of the engines was in neutral when this happed. It's very possible all three were in neutral. You said something about a PS1 and a PS2 upgrade. Is this something I can do at home. Where do you get these upgrades? You can tell I don't know much about the sound systems other than I like them. Thanks Don

[Anonymous]

Jamie, thanks for your help. Yes at least one of the engines was in neutral when this happed. It's very possible all three were in neutral. You said something about a PS1 and a PS2 upgrade. Is this something I can do at home. Where do you get these upgrades? You can tell I don't know much about the sound systems other than I like them. Thanks Don

[Anonymous]

PS-2 upgrade is a replacement kit for older PS-1 locomotives. You basically gut the old locomotives electronics package (CPU/boards, lights/lighting harness, electro-couplers, and speaker) and replace them with PS-2 equivalents. You can order kits from MTH, but these are not cheap and this is not a replacement procedure for the faint of heart. You will also need to size and attach a Tachometer tape to one of the flywheels and have DCS plus a computer hook up to download an appropriate sound set (which you will have to find and download from MTH web site). If you go this route you may want to consider having a shop that does these upgrades handle it for you.

[Anonymous]

Chuckn, i think that's good advice........thanks

[spankybird]

Chuckn and 2483

The one thing that you should be concerned about is why the engines have become locked in neutral. If you unlock them and the reason why the were lock is still there then you can cause very serous damage to the boards.

IT is surprising that 3 our of 4 engines have this problem.

The two main reason the this happens is
1. if you had a derailment and the short scrambled the boards. This I don’t believe this has happen to 3 engines and also the Z4000 would (or should) have trip out.
2. Low battery or dead battery.

Now 2483 has replaced his batteries with new fully charged ones. Then after a time 3 of the 4 engines lock into neutral.

Did 2483 recharge the batteries outside the engines again to see it if charging units are bad? Or try the 9 volt std battery as I suggested ?

Again I find it hard to believe that 3 engines have bad charging units all at the same time. So maybe a loose wire or a pinched wire when replacing the shell.

Or maybe a better thought is bad batteries what won’t hold a charge.

Maybe a VOM test of the batteries to see what voltage is in them now should be done.

An upgrade to PS2 is a good option but will cost you about $250.00 per engine with insulation.