# Need help with an MTH unit



## 93firebird (Dec 25, 2011)

Just purchased this unit from a seller on Craig'slist. I am not able to get it to run. The manual says when placed on the track throttle up, wait for bell to sound twice then engine sound. Then throttle back down, then when throttled back up unit should move. The unit is not moving, the sounds are present though. It has a battery, was wondering if it needs replaced or charged. The seller said it was las run last November and worked fine. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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## 93firebird (Dec 25, 2011)

93firebird said:


> Just purchased this unit from a seller on Craig'slist. I am not able to get it to run. The manual says when placed on the track throttle up, wait for bell to sound twice then engine sound. Then throttle back down, then when throttled back up unit should move. The unit is not moving, the sounds are present though. It has a battery, was wondering if it needs replaced or charged. The seller said it was last run last November and worked fine. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk




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## Dano (Aug 26, 2012)

I just bought (have not received it yet) a CN unit that does the same thing. I just assume it is the circuit board, plan on ripping the guts out and running it off my DC transformer


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## carinofranco (Aug 1, 2012)

93firebird said:


> Just purchased this unit from a seller on Craig'slist. I am not able to get it to run. The manual says when placed on the track throttle up, wait for bell to sound twice then engine sound. Then throttle back down, then when throttled back up unit should move. The unit is not moving, the sounds are present though. It has a battery, was wondering if it needs replaced or charged. The seller said it was las run last November and worked fine. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


The battery may be old and beyond its useful life. I suggest that you install a new rechargeable battery that has been fully charged. Then see what happens. you may have to reset to factory default settings. maybe the unit was locked into neutral.


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## 93firebird (Dec 25, 2011)

I did try setting to factory settings. But I will try and replace the battery. It looks to be the original which would make it about ten years old. Not familiar with units that use a battery, will they keep a unit from moving?

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## carinofranco (Aug 1, 2012)

93firebird said:


> I did try setting to factory settings. But I will try and replace the battery. It looks to be the original which would make it about ten years old. Not familiar with units that use a battery, will they keep a unit from moving?
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk



The original batteries have a useful life of about 5 years, so this one is way beyond that. it is hard to say what a weak battery will do. Some functions will work but maybe not all.

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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

First off, you should immediately replace any white MTH battery, as they're well past their useful life! You need a 7 cell NiCad or NiMh battery, the ones rated at 8.4 volts.

Next, you need to power up in a specific sequence for ProtoSound 1 locomotives, and it MUST have a good battery.

FIRST: Install either a fully charged battery, or put the locomotive on the track and just allow the battery to charge for several hours with 12 volts or more.

With power off for at least 10 seconds, advance the throttle slowly to no more than 7-8 volts. 

Wait for a few seconds, you should hear the two dings.

Hit the direction button for 1/2 a second and the locomotive should start out in forward.

If it's still stuck in neutral, you can try a Reset-18, check the manual for the sequence.

The 30-2117-1 happens to be one locomotive that suffers from a possible lockout due to a low battery. The fix is for an MTH tech to use a special reset chip to beat it back into submission. If that's the case, you can send me the PS/1 boards and I can reset them.


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## 93firebird (Dec 25, 2011)

I will try changing the battery. It is the white one after all.

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## Boston&Maine (Dec 19, 2007)

Something similar happened to a PS1 locomotive I used to own. In my case it did turn out to be a weak battery. I hope you are lucky like I was. Let us know if the recharge / replacement gets her up and running


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## Dano (Aug 26, 2012)

Jeepers, are model trains supposed to be that complicated?!! I will try your fix, John, when my CN loco gets here but the first sign of rebellion and the guts are coming out!


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## 93firebird (Dec 25, 2011)

Looks like its going to need a hard reset. Ordered the reset kit from Nassau hobbies, $33 shipped.

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## jesteck (Apr 15, 2014)

If it has a 10 year old battery that it needs for proper operation, wouldn't that be the first place to look? Sounds a bit simplistic, but then the only train I ever owned that used a battery was a 1950's Lionel O-guage NYC twin diesel, and the battery only powered the horn.


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## Kwikster (Feb 22, 2012)

Dano said:


> Jeepers, are model trains supposed to be that complicated?!! I will try your fix, John, when my CN loco gets here but the first sign of rebellion and the guts are coming out!


That one reason most of my loco's are postwar. Have a couple MPC era non-electronic ones. My ONLY loco with electronics is the PE Berk, only cuz I wanted a berk with that cab number and couldn't afford to get the bigger one, which won't run on O-31 curves anyway.

Carl


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

93firebird said:


> Looks like its going to need a hard reset. Ordered the reset kit from Nassau hobbies, $33 shipped.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


Should have talked to me first. The consumer reset may or may not fix it, and I have all the tech chips to reset them.


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## 93firebird (Dec 25, 2011)

If it doesn't work, ill ship to you

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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Is this the kit you ordered? Original Proto-Sound Reset Kit

The consumer reset kit is for the three clanks of death. If that's not the symptom you have, that reset chip won't fix it.

Here's the Reset Kit User's Instructions, that's the only symptoms that it was designed to fix. MTH Techs have a number of other chips to address other issues with the PS/1 boards.


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## 93firebird (Dec 25, 2011)

When I first turn on I hear three clanks, two dings of the bell and then engine sounds.

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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Well, you're in luck then, that's the one issue that the consumer reset kit is made to resolve. I don't know what extraction tool comes with that kit, but be careful taking the chip out of the socket. I use this tool.


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## 93firebird (Dec 25, 2011)

Sweet! The kit comes with that tool.

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