I have a Roundhouse oldtimer 2-8-0 that I have been slowly converting into Tonopah and Tidewater #7. This is a recent version that has DCC and sound in the tender. My problem is that the front headlight seems to come on and off randomly. Everything else including sound and DCC is working fine. I suspect an interuption in the wiring since the headlight will be on and then when I open the throttle and it starts moving, it goes out. The rear headlight works appropriately. I have taken this thing apart 6 times and I cannot find where the interuption in the circuit is. Any thoughts or opinions about what is wrong with this? As aways, when they take a really old model like the MDC old timer 2-8-0 and moderize it, it gets much more complicated to figure out where the problem is and taking it apart isn't much fun. - Nevin
Nevin:
If you have not been able to find any problems with the wiring inside the locomotive have you looked at the tender to loco connections? A problem with the connector could cause the problem you're seeing.
Joe
I have this loco, the 2-6-0 and 4-4-0. They are all the same except for drivers and a few details.
All new tooling now sold by Athearn. Not converted old stock.
They are not complicated if you understand DCC.
The connector is in the tender. LED resistors are there also.
There are two leads in the loco that connect to the LED in the headlight. Two leads for driver pickups and two leads for motor power.
On my locos, all six wires go directly to the connector in the tender at the PC board. No idae if Athearn has changed this. Simply pull the tender shell and take a look at what your setup is like.
The first one I bought with sound had am MRC decoder in it and those are problematic. Is that what yours has? I am assuming this is straight from the store and not what came from someone else with a sound mod.
I have the older DC versions so I know what the differences are.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
This is a photo with the MRC sound decoder these locos use to come with. They are suppose to be Tsunami now so yours might not look like this.
That's what mine looks like. There is a 6 wire female connector under that board that the wires from the engine connect to. I don't see any loose wires and the connector fits pretty firmly into the socket. The two wires for the front headlight go into the locomotive shell and then are held to the top of the boiler casting by a screw with some insulation tape to keep it out of the way of the motor. The wires then proceed forward thru the boiler and connect to the LED at the front of the boiler. There has to be something interupting the circuit but I'll be danged if I can find it.
Might not be any help but you can ID the decoder with your DCC controller. That way you can find out if it is SoundTraxx or MRC. If it is SoundTraxx, you can download the PDF from Athearn or SoundTraxx. If MRC, no idea.
Does the light come back on when you stop the loco?
How to ID the decoder.
http://00200530.pdl.pscdn.net/002/00530/MRH04/DCC%20Shortcuts%20Card.pdf
Headlights and Tender lights are a big deal with me. They can add or detract from a model as they are focal points for the eyes. If they aren't right, then the model doesn't seem right either.
I worry that the flex wires, loco to tender have flexed once too often and the wires feeding the headlight might be broken intermittently and internally within the insulation. This could have resulted from a pinched wire in the past or a lot of flexure in use.
Wires linking the tender and the loco in DCC are a critical component. They should always be stranded with many ultra-fine strands and light insulation that allows full, easy, unstrained flexure. I find in most cases one of the wires has been pinched when the tender shell in scewed down tight in the past and then freed up in a subsequent disassembly and then reassembled properly, now allowing it to return to full flexure. Weakened by the pinch, it works easily to an internal intermittent connection.
I would lay the model out on a table or upside down and clip lead a DCC controller to its wheels or pickups. Turn on the light, but do not run the engine. Using two pair of tweezers, grab the bundle of wires with one pair of tweezers and wiggle one and only one wire in the bundle until you find a culprit causing the light to go on and off.
You may have quite a hunt on your hands.
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
As of Nov 19 2012 (today), all Roundhouse brand locomotives with factory installed DCC & sound had circuit boards made/designed by MRC. None where ever made with Tsunami sound. All Roundhouse brand locomotives manufactured after Athearn announced they would be using Tsunami sound in Genesis models have been DC-only. By the way, the tender frame on the latest production run of the Roundhouse 2-8-0 lacks provision for the speaker hold down clamps and screws.
I suspect your 2-8-0 is not as recent as you think it is.
My 2-8-0 and 2-6-0 are all DCC ready and a spot for the speaker. I bought mine in 2008 and I suspect they are still coming the same way as I just looked at the Athearn site.
No speaker hold down screws needed. A thin layer of bath caulk is all that is needed.
They have the 9 pin JST and what they call Quick Plug, but no way to fit a Tsunami 1000. I have put in the Tsunami 750 and had to move the tender light connector off the PC board for room. I removed the JST connector and mounted the 750 on top of the PC board, soldering the wires to the PC board where the JST was.
I bought the tender frames and trucks with all wheel pickups from Athearn to retrofit my older MDC ones purchased in 1998 that had the tender which was mostly weight.
The 2-6-0 is said to be available with sound but I have not checked any other sites for availability or who makes the sound decoder. They may not even be available like Athearn says.
They must have backed of from SoundTraxx for the Roundhouse products as they are not nearly as popular as diesels
I have pulled my locos apart and the wiring is fairly simple.
.
Again, if the decoder looks like mine, then you have the MRC decoder. I removed mine and installed a 750. Speaker is not an issue. Did that after the photo.