# MTH PS2 buzzing sound



## L0stS0ul (Feb 6, 2015)

Howdy, 

I have a new PS2 engine that has been running great. It's our Christmas engine and it's got about 100 hours on it so far this season. In the last 2 days I've started hearing a buzzing sound. I originally thought it was coming from the track but now I think it is the engine. The sound is turned off and I do not have the smoke unit turned on. I put another engine on the track, it's locosound not ps2, and there is no buzzing. I took the PS2 engine down to my main layout and placed it on that track and I hear no buzzing from the engine so it's a bit of a mystery. 

The track is about 50 feet of brand new lionel tube track. The power is a Lionel 6-12780 RS-1 50 Watt Transformer with a DCS Remote Commander hooked in. I have 4 lockons spaced evenly around the entire loop wired in the star configuration. 

I run 5 williams PRR passenger cars with upgraded LED lighting behind the ps2 engine.

Any ideas? I'm afraid to run the engine with this buzzing sound.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Try a different transformer. Certain transformers can cause issues with PS2 and PS/1 locomotives.


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## L0stS0ul (Feb 6, 2015)

Thanks GRJ. It's been one of those not so fun days in the model train world for me but I think I'm going to bed with everything sorted. I started with, what I thought was, cleaning the track. As I said in the first post this track has well over 100 hours of use on it. Probably closer to 200 as I've run multiple engines. 115 or so of those hours with the engine with the buzzing. 

Let's start with lesson number 1. When I clean track I usually use a scotchbrite pad to remove the gunk from traction tires and stuff and then follow it up with some track cleaner wiped on with a paper towel. Today I could not find just the scotchbrite pad so used one of the pads with sponges on the other side. NEVER use this. There is something on the pad that will kill electrical conductivity. After the cleaning everything ran worse. 

So I paired everything back to just 1 electrical drop, 1 engine that I know works well conventionally, and I removed the remote commander. The engine ran horribly across the track and would even come to complete stops at certain points every single time it hit that section of track. I tried several transformers with the same situation. I did notice that the engine was arching really badly as it ran. I've never seen this before. This is when I figured I must have made something worse with the cleaning I did earlier and started cleaning the track again. This time I only used paper towel with the track cleaner. After a few hours of cleaning track, and a few hand cramps, the test engine was finally working well on the track all the way around. The passenger cars are also working well and not flickering like crazy like they were. I felt like I was back to where I started.

Then the transformer fuse popped. Apparently a few of the screws that I used to hold the track down had popped loose and one of them was shorting out the track. I removed all of the loose screws that I could find and replaced them with longer screws. 

I let the locosound engine run for a about an hour and it was running well so I hooked up the remote commander and tried out the ps2 engine. Not a single buzz to be heard.

I don't know if it was just the fact that the track was in need of a good cleaning. Maybe it was one of the screws threatening a short. No matter the buzzing is gone for now. Maybe the track/engine buzzing is a sign of the track needing cleaning in this setup. 

At least I get to go to sleep with everything working. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my day lol


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

Nice to see its sorted now. I dont think think scotch brite pad was the problem. I only use the name brand ones myself. As for the screw, I keep a magnet I run over the layout whenever I have a problem now. I while back I was working on something or other and a screw or nut dropped off of it causing a short. It took me forever to find it. Now with the magnet , I can find stuff easily.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

I am glad you sorted the problem out. For the record GRJ is correct that some power supplies caused PS1 and 2 buzzing. I don't know which ones. I have a CW-40 (a non-remote RTR set unit) that I used to use on my upper mainline loop, which caused some PS locos to make a very faint buzz, particlarly when I was running them with incandescent lighted cars. I'm sure the buzzing was coming through the speaker and I could hear it even with the chuffing switched off, which is a pretty strong clue as to where and why the buzzing is created, but I never followed up. I just tried other supplies. A ZW-L caused no buzzing, nor did a 50-year old Marx, and strangely, neither did a CW-80 which I am using now.


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## Todd Lopes (Nov 11, 2015)

I had trouble with both Lionel CW model transformers, the CW-40 and CW-80 with MTH locos. I have a few and just use them for accessories.

Glad it all worked out!


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## L0stS0ul (Feb 6, 2015)

Last night there was no buzzing when I tested it with the PS2 engine but this morning when I fired it up the buzzing was back. I swapped out the transformer for one of my Z-1000's down stairs and it actually buzzed louder. I'm now thinking it's one of the passenger cars as I pulled all of the cars off the track and the buzzing went away. I've got a set of MTH cars with the original lighting up there right now and no buzz. Maybe I've got a grounding issue or something on one of the passenger cars. I'll have to pull them apart and look. It is odd that I get no buzzing with the locosound engine though. 

One other odd thing. I could not get the remote commander to work in passive mode with the z-1000 controller. Every time I move the throttle up the engine fires up in conventional even though the remote commander's light is on.

There was something on the scotchbrite sponge. When I opened the package I did notice that the sponge was a little damp and whatever it was required a lot of elbow grease to get off. The sponge was the only thing different from how I usually clean my track. 

I only had these short screws when I put the track up and clearly that was a mistake. Now I have about 50 of them to take out and put longer screws in. Wonderful  The magnet is a great idea and would have saved me some troubleshooting. I'll need to pick one up.


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## L0stS0ul (Feb 6, 2015)

I've continued to mess with this today. I do hear the speaker buzzing now that I've been listening for it when using the lionel transformer. That buzz is not the same as the one I was experiencing. The one I was hearing seemed to come from the track and it was loud. The speaker buzz is really soft and I can't hear it unless my ear is right next to the engine. 

Either way I'm going to pick up a Z-750 transformer for this layout and just go all in MTH. I plugged one of my z-1000 bricks directly into the remote commander and everything is whisper quiet even with the williams passenger cars and the engine seems to perform better low speed than with the lionel transformer. 

It looks like everything is back to a steady state. {{knock on wood}}


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

The chopped waveform from any electronic transformer, except perhaps the MTH Z4000, can create audio _hash_, just the way it works.


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