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mth running wild

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  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
  • 23,330 posts
Posted by selector on Friday, April 6, 2012 6:14 PM

Excellent news.  I believe the quick turnaround may be due to the fact that MTH is not currently bringing HO probucts to market during a factory restructuring to improve production.   I don't recall if this is across all scales, but I do know it affects their HO scale production.  So, without a backlog of defective products needing correction on their shelves, a week and a half sounds 'bout right.

Crandell

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • 95 posts
Posted by Roadie on Thursday, April 5, 2012 11:23 PM

Got it back from MTH yesterday only 1-1/2 weeks not what I was expection They replaced the circuit boards and the traction wheels I need to take back at least 1/2 of the bad things that I through about MTH and their  products . The engine runs great lets hope for more that a week this time

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Trois-Rivieres Quebec Canada
  • 1,063 posts
Posted by jalajoie on Friday, March 16, 2012 12:42 PM

Michael, I don't know whether MTH has more QC problems than other manufacturers. What I do know is that between a friend we purchased 5 of those MTH SD70ACe, 3 with sound  for my friend and 2 DCC ready for me. Out of these 5 locos 4 were faulty out of the box. 2 locos with sound did not retain programming as soon as power was shut down to the rail. My friend paid $50 mailing fee to return his locos for servicing. It took 16 weeks before they were returned to him repaired.

My own 2 DCC ready had bad motors. They were overheating the decoders to the point they melted the protective tape or simply smoked. MTH did not do anything for me, their customer service is non existent. They never replied to my Email, I received the cold shoulder treatment.

I finally located a MTH repair center 100 miles from home,  ordered 2 motors for a cost of $50 and it took 3months for the repair center to finally received these motors. I will fix these locos myself in due time that is when they will stop disgusting me.

To you MTH is a good manufacturer to me it is the worst there is and the worst there ever will be. If only they had a decent customer serviced department. 

Needless to say MTH is out of the picture for me. 

Jack W.

  • Member since
    January 2010
  • From: Denver, CO
  • 3,576 posts
Posted by Motley on Friday, March 16, 2012 12:03 PM

I agree with Randy and Crandell. MTH has no more problems/issues than any other manufacturer out there.

I now have 5 MTH SD70Aces and they all work beautifully.

Banning MTH locomotives on a club layout? Seriously come on now....

Michael


CEO-
Mile-HI-Railroad
Prototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Friday, March 16, 2012 6:39 AM

 We have a bunch ont he club layout, no one seems to have any issues. I took mine to the last show, and was switching in the coal yard (ok, FA's generally weren't used to switch, buit I didn;t take my train to pull), and also our modern engine hound has been buying MTH locos for a while now, adn generally has the engine terminal well stocked witht hem all idlign away. If they were prone to just take off for no reason, we'd have some serious messes.

            --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
  • 23,330 posts
Posted by selector on Thursday, March 15, 2012 8:19 PM

That's too bad.  Even though I am not a fan of MTH, I don't see why they should be either immune from QA problems or plagued by them any more than our DCC HO locomotive manufacturers seem to be these days.  When we make a choice to buy a locomotive, we'd kinda not like to have to return it, and the brand doesn't seem to matter these days when it comes to that.

Crandell

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • 95 posts
Posted by Roadie on Thursday, March 15, 2012 6:52 PM

Called MTH the gave me some things to try didn't work will be sending it back to them it lasted one week!!

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 3,264 posts
Posted by CAZEPHYR on Thursday, March 15, 2012 4:31 PM

If the locomotive runs at full speed, you need a giant loop or a set of rollers to try the reset.  you might lay it on it side and use jumper wires to allow it to run while you try the reset procedure.   If that does not work, let it head back to MTH for repairs!

CZ

  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Metro East St. Louis
  • 5,743 posts
Posted by simon1966 on Thursday, March 15, 2012 1:31 PM

MTH locos are close to being banned from the club layout due to their inabilit to be programmed on the program track.  There have been too many wierd incedents.  

Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum

  • Member since
    October 2008
  • From: Canada
  • 1,820 posts
Posted by cv_acr on Thursday, March 15, 2012 12:28 PM

Train Modeler

You don't have to have the loco going full speed or even moving to program on the main, btw.

Richard

Of course not, it's going full speed because he can't address it/control it and can't stop it.

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Thursday, March 15, 2012 11:31 AM

Just make sure no other MTH loco is on the rails, and also that no other DCC loco with the address of 55 is on the rails.

        --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: South Carolina
  • 1,719 posts
Posted by Train Modeler on Thursday, March 15, 2012 11:18 AM

You don't have to have the loco going full speed or even moving to program on the main, btw.

Richard

  • Member since
    January 2010
  • From: Denver, CO
  • 3,576 posts
Posted by Motley on Thursday, March 15, 2012 10:57 AM

A little misinformation on resetting back to defaults. You don't need to know what the address is.

On the main of course, program loco number 55, with cv55 and a value of 55.

This process will set back to the default loco number 3 address.

Michael


CEO-
Mile-HI-Railroad
Prototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • 95 posts
Posted by Roadie on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 8:08 PM

tried the cv 55 but nothing  It is very hard to try to program while the loco is going full throttle on the layout  thanks for the help So there is no way to find out the address? 

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • From: The banks of the St. Lawrence
  • 208 posts
Posted by RailfanS on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 8:03 PM

Hi,

to start with all MTH loco's are only programmable on the main (POM mode). You cannot do anything with them on a programming track. This means you can't read the CV values of MTH decoders, which is also why JMRI did not recognize the loco. I would just put it on the layout and try to run it on these 3 addresses: 3 (nmra default), 3333 (it's a MTH thing), or the cab #.

You could also try programming CV 55 to a value of 55, this will reset the decoder to factory defaults. The only problem with this is you need to program this on the main, which means you have to know the address.

MTH loco's are great, but they're not completely DCC friendly yet. Once you get through the programming issues you'll really enjoy it. 

Good luck,

Jamie  

Cape Vincent Southern Railroad

HO scale Horseshoe Curve in 5’x10’

My YouTube

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • 95 posts
mth running wild
Posted by Roadie on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 6:57 PM

Just got a MTH 282 about a week ago I set it on the track with Jmri couldn't find it so I turned it back on and it took off not responding to any dcc commands the address probably got changed I hope but how can you fin out what it changed to?  I have a Zephyr system and a DS402 throttle  Hopping for a quick easy fix I have already had trouble with the traction wheels the ban coming off.

Please tell me it is a easy fix

 

Thanks

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