I am helping a friend and do not have much info from him. He is having trouble with his Christmas under the tree layout. The old engine 10+ years old would not run. He bought a new engine and still not running though he got it running intermittently. I told him to try cleaning the track and wheels. I believe both track and engine have been in storage for awhile.
I am not at all familiar with Rail King but he has an apparenly infra red controller. He says the light on the box that connects to the track flashes when he points the controller at it and presses the button.
I will lend him a voltmeter. Not sure if voltage is AC/DC or if its a DCS system. Any tips on what he can check with the voltmeter? Any other tips? Any advice about the type of controller.
Thank you,
Mark
Cleaning the track, wheels AND the pick-up rollers should help a lot with the intermittent running problem. On the other loco, if it's been in storage for 10 years it probably has a dead battery. MTH RailKing locos used a rechargable battery which lead to a lot of issues with them over the years. A local hobby shop with a repair center should be able to get the loco going. Or you could order the parts online from either a hobby shop that sells replacement parts or directly from MTH.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
If it's a dead battery in the 10-year-old a nine volt battery easily available anywhere works just as well as the MTH one, especially if there's no MTH parts dealers in your area. I've tried it.
As far as the infra-red control issues I wouldn't know. It's the reason I prefer to run conventional with a standard transformer, if something's not right it removes a lot of the guesswork.
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