![]() ![]() Simply charge the new battery as directed, remove the locomotive shell, and have at it. The battery is attached to the typical wire harness/connector that you see in appliances which use 9-volt batteries. Removing the old battery and installing a new one is easy. Energizer only lists a 7.2-volt rechargeable NiMH battery, which is not adequate for MTH’s system.) (Beware of 9-volt rechargeable batteries that don’t deliver at least 8.4 volts when fully charged. 23-529) that’s suitable, but some operators prefer Rayovac’s NM1604-1, available at Wal-Mart and other retailers. ![]() MTH lists a Radio Shack NiMH battery (stock no. If you’ve ever had a cordless vacuum or rechargeable screwdriver “go bad” you’ve faced this problem before. NiMH batteries don’t usually exhibit the “memory” problem of older NiCads. If the battery is bad, obtain a new NiCad from MTH or replace the NiCad with an 8.4-volt 150-mAh Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) rechargeable battery. You can also do a quick charge for an hour using the same procedures and then test the locomotive to see if the battery and sound system are functioning properly, and then finish charging it later. Or simply put the engine in neutral on the track and turn the throttle to 15 volts for 14-16 hours. 50-1005 or battery chargers sold at Radio Shack and Wal-Mart, among other places). You can charge the battery by removing it and sticking it in the appropriate battery charger (such as MTH no. MTH has this suggestion: If you haven’t run a ProtoSound-equipped locomotive for a few months, charge the battery before running the locomotive and cycling through the various sounds. However, the problem can be avoided entirely by paying attention to the battery before it has a chance to scramble your circuit. If that’s the case, there’s nothing you can do to get it working properly again except to send the locomotive to MTH, which simply replaces the bad chip. The net effect is usually that the locomotive stays locked in one direction, or the sound sequences become corrupted. As an aging or long-idled battery fails to deliver the voltage needed to allow the sound system to power down properly, the locomotive’s computer chip can get “scrambled” – basically, the software becomes jumbled by the electrical irregularities so that the system can no longer think properly. In MTH’s sound systems, a bad NiCad also can create a tech-y problem. How do you know the battery in your locomotive is going bad? If your locomotive is several years old, the sounds stop when you interrupt power, the whistle or horn are distorted below 10 volts, or the locomotive will not sequence through forward, neutral, and reverse properly, your locomotive likely has an undercharged battery. MTH reports that fully a third of the locomotives returned for repair could be serviced at home by recharging or replacing the battery. At this point, the battery must be replaced. Read on more.Īlthough MTH circuitry continuously recharges the battery whenever you run your locomotive, the original factory-installed NiCad (nickel cadmium) battery deteriorates with age until it can no longer hold a charge or reach its full voltage capacity, no matter how long you charge it. ![]() The culprit is often a component that’s hardly hi-tech. MTH’s original ProtoSound and ProtoSound 2.0 systems can create great anxiety when the systems backfire. But such systems can add a sour note when they start acting “funny.” The age of miniscule computer chips has delivered sweet sounds to modern toy train locomotives. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |