blid

Thank you for your quick response! I have been able to open it. Just the 6 screws Ray said and no need to remove the tank. Now I will try to do what Ray suggested in an email; get some epoxy and get the little board back. I hoped it was some kind of snap in, but the board was screwed in place. One of the “recess pipes†was loose too. Makes me wonder what has happened to this engine. I have not dropped it or anything like that. Bjorn

I have finally got my layout up and placed all MTH PS2 engines on powered tracks to get the onboard batteries charged. When I was going to connect the 70-2013-1 F3 slave (C-unit?) to the B-unit, it turns out that the connector isn’t there. Just an empty hole in the door of the slave unit. My remaining eye isn’t 100% so I don’t want to mess around with tiny bits and pieces, but I hope that I will be able, with your help, to open the body and then get the connector back in place. There are no MTH Service Centers in this part of the world. So, which screws to unscrew and which can be left, etc. Any help will be appreciated. I include the picture especially for Jens. Bjorn

Joe, I didn’t mean to hijack your thread but the title is about speed problems. I may sound as I know what I am talking about but I don’t. I don’t even open my engines to have a look inside. I am not into electronics and I think like the computer guy I once was. What I see is three interdependent components. If one is changed, one of the others will have to be changed as well – if you want the same end result. I find it alarming that your new PS3 engine seems to go about twice as fast as it is supposed to. How can you have anything to do with that? I suspect that the decoder has the wrong "factor" as I called it in my previous post. My guess is that the value is supposed to be for one SMPH but is in fact for about two SMPH. It is probably for an engine in another scale. I have revised my assumptions about the value from the tacho board. I now think that it measures the time from the start of a white field until the start of the next. Same principle and the same components involved. Bjorn

Dear Ray and others: I’m just curios if I have got this right about the MTH speed control. I think the tacho board just gives a number to the decoder. This number is a count of the number of black and white stripes passing the light sensitive sensor of the tacho board during a specific time frame. The stripes are on a tape on the edge of a wheel that is part of the drivetrain. The number of stripes correspond to a rotation of the drive wheels as well. This relates to a certain distance along the tracks. Thus the number corresponds to a speed. The decoder needs to know a factor to translate this to SMPH. Since you are talking about the sound file, my guess is that there is where the factor is stored. Correct? For the SMPH on the handheld to be equal to the actual SMPH the engine is moving all three components must be matching; the stripes on the tacho wheel (I refer to it as the tacho tape), the diameter of the drive wheel and the factor (in the sound file?). For a given speed command, the decoder adjusts the power to the motor until the tacho board gives the corresponding number. With the problem I had, the value from the tacho board was zero all the time, and therefore the power was increased to top speed. Please correct me where I’m wrong. Bjorn

I was referring to the problem described by grr7315, but I am happy it was of help to you too. Joe: it seems like your taco tape is for smaller wheels. I’m sure others can tell how to change the tape to correspond to you wheels. I don’t have the skills to open the engines, but I think I understand the technology. Bjorn

I had a similar problem with a MTH H0 PS3+ engine. It was a bad connection to the tacho board. When the tacho board was properly connected, the problem disappeared. I don’t know it rhe OneGauge PS2 have a tacho board, but if so… Bjorn

What a coincidence. I have two issues of Garden Railways and one of them, June 2007, contains an article “Converting MTH Coaches to Full-length cars: Part 1†by Jack Verducci on page 91. I hope this helps. Blid

There are lots of online sites for all sorts of conversions. I use this one: http://www.onlineconversion.com/ By clicking Length and then Common length you will end up here: http://www.onlineconversion.com/length_common.htm Bjorn

Please forgive me for entering a subject where I have no experience what so ever. But, when you wait for spares, would it be possible to try to move the problem to another engine rather than trying to fix this one? Almost the same approach but maybe that would reveal the problem. Bjorn

I googled: lgb 20850 bedienungsanleitung and found this link: http://www.modell-land.de/images/bedienung/b22852.pdf It starts in German but English from page 8 It is a link from this page: http://www.modell-land.de/mallet-sound-20850-c-187_189.html Bjorn

I’m sorry Jens! I didn’t notice your request until yesterday. This is what I have for now. Bjorn

Welcome to this forum Henrik. I am currently using a LGB 50110 transformer and now in passive mode (recommended). I have used several different over the years and might have used a Marklin as well. Note. The DCS has a setting for 60 or 50 Hz. I have set it to 50 Hz more or less once. I don't know if the setting is remembered but I think so. Bjorn

This is a diesel but probably not what you expected. Marklin 1:32 and "Preiserlings" inside. Bjon

More Marklin and MTH 1:32 but no diesels. Bjorn

Some more. Marklin and MTH 1:32. Bjorn

Tack Trygve! Good to know. Bjorn

The picture is from 2007 and the switches in the picture are med by Hubner. They were not mine and I think something had to be done with them to get the plus and minus right when switching. No match for the owner as I understood. Maybe that was just for the crossing. No problems with the trains we were using at the time. However, I have had problems with the R5 LGB turnouts (#18050, 18150) and MTH power pickup shoes. Some of them sink down and might get caught in the fairly long and wide hole where the rails cross. Bjorn

I agree. The Marklin tracks look nice. I don’t know what code the MTH wheels require but MTH or someone in this forum will know. I include a picture of MTH on LGB and Marklin on Marklin/Hubner. Bjorn

I think you are right about code 200 (5 mm = code 197). If you have MTH wheels, they can't run on them. The Marklin tracks I had were solid. Many of the turnouts and crossings came from Hubner when Marklin aquired them. So did the wide radii curves. Bjorn

That was the idea but Piko is 1:22,5. Bjorn

I'm sorry. I assumed the Piko was in 1:32 scale like the Marklin, but it isn't. Forget my previous post. Bjorn

Hi, I thought I had pictures of my Marklin BR64 together with some other engines. Turns out I don't have any pictures of it at all. This T9.3 is about 2" shorter but gives you an idea of the size compared to a MTH Santa Fe "Hudson". Bjorn

I had the same problem with a MTH 3-rail H0 F7 a couple of month back. The cable from the tacho board looked like it was connected, but the connector was not all the way in. After connecting it properly the engine works just fine. Bjorn

I’m grasping at straws here. The Swedish version will not be made unless there are at least 10 orders. I’m hoping that one more interested sees this and orders it – I have. All you others, enjoy the pictures of the German versions. I found it in this Swedish forum with nice pictures: http://www.svensktmjforum.se/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=s33d855kr8vt798cr8gnr87td6&topic=13064.0 Home page: http://spur1-werkstatt.de.fc-host52.de/Spur-1/Fahrzeuge/Baureihe-5525-G81/ The prize is about two from MTH but less than one from Marklin and very reasonable for what you get . Sweden is a small country, but here are quite a lot of railroad modelers, mostly in H0 and N. To get a Swedish G-scale, you will have to build it yourself. I can’t, so I need to spread the info as best I can. Bjorn

If you still have a SP Daylight or a 70-3015-1 Challenger I'm very interested. Bjorn