without the light board, set the loco on a block (fuel tank only on the block. Mickie-Mouse some wire to a 9V battery or your power pack. Strip just enough of the 'tester' end. Touch to the 2 motor terminals. Motor should run When you get the new board, make sure the tabs area near 70-80 degrees down. They do NOT have to be 90 degrees! Hold the board and test fit each corner into one of the notches (as prior post). If definitive friction, place board into chassis. After insertion, board should not 'freely' slip in the notches (per prior step to pre-test for this). Place 9v battery on frame and LED and motor should run. If not, use volt meter to check 1) frame [across both halves] and then 2) both board contacts near the frame posts. When testing the board-frame contacts, try not to put pressure on the board as that will skew the results we are looking for (loss of contact, somewhere). If the board has power on both contacts, then it is the board to motor tabs. If not on board contacts, find out which one is the problem: From 1 frame half to board contact on other frame half. Proves that frame-board contact is good. Move meter to other frame half and test other board contact. In general, if you want a simple test, you can wedge a piece of Solder-Wik or aluminum foil between each motor tab and adjacent frame half.
Thanks, I'll try this out when the new board comes. In the meantime, when you say "motor terminals," do you mean the wheels?
So I finally found time to try some of these things and give you all an update. My replacement light board is still en route, but I did manager to discover a few things: The AC adapter loses voltage when I clip it to the track sans locomotive. There must be a pinch somewhere restricting power, but I for the life of me cannot determine where it is. I even disconnected various points in the loop, but still there was a power drop. I have also determined there is a problem with the loco itself. I connected some wires to my alligator clips connected to the AC adapter. The motor rain well for about 30 second. When I tried to reverse the polarity, all I got was the clicking sound of stuck wheels. When attempting the first polarity tested, I got the same result, but also mostly nothing. As the son of a welding engineer, I grew up not giving up on a problem such as this. But I really have no clue what's going on. All I want to do is run some trains!
Josh, I'm hoping that what you wrote is not what you mean. I assume when you say AC adapter, you mean something you plug into the wall that outputs 12V DC or less that you are applying for your tests. 1. Are you losing voltage or seeing a power drop. It sounds like you apply a voltage to the track and the voltage at the adapter drops to a lower voltage or goes to zero. This suggests that you have a short: two wires (or even just a couple of whiskers from the wire) touching, or some other conductive material bridging the tracks. 2. Let's start with solving #1. Mark 1.
Yes, that is what I mean. Voltage drops significantly. Not sure what the short could be around the track. Everything is connected accordingly.
A couple of things to look at. First as I recall, you had to do some sanding on a turnout or 2 to get them to work. Is it possible that some metal filings could have gotten into the mechanism? Try disconnecting those turnouts. Also, some of the MTL feeder tracks can with a noise suppression device between the terminals. If you have one of those track pieces, the component may be defective. Check if you have the voltage drop using just that track. Let me know how things go, Mark
