background image

 

Start-up 

Solution 

When I apply power to the 
track my engine doesn’t do 
anything. No lights, no sound, 
no nothing. 

Check to see if that section of track has 
power. Use a voltmeter or a lit passenger 
car. 
 

 

Slide the engine a couple of feet in either 
direction, you may have a bad track section 

 

Have you got that section electrically 
isolated with a toggle switch or other 
device? 

Sound 

Solution 

I have no sound from my 
engine, but my lights are on 
and it moves just fine. 

Check the volume pot on your tender. Full 
CW = Max volume 

There’s a crackling sound from 
my tender 
 

Check to see if a screw or some other 
material hasn’t lodged itself in the underside 
of the tender.  

Smoke 

Solution 

My engine isn’t smoking at all 

Make sure you’ve got the smoke switch ON 

 

If you just filled it with smoke fluid 
sometimes the fluid can make a seal in the 
stack. Blow down the stack to clear the air 
bubble 

 

Check the Tender/Boiler drawbar 
connection. You’ve got to have them locked 
together 

My engine’s smoke output is 
low  

If you’ve been running your engine in DCS 
or DCC mode the smoke may have gotten 
set to Low or Med. With the engine running 
in DCS or DCC set the smoke back to High. 
It’ll remember what you last set it as when 
you run it again in Conventional DC 

 

Analog DC

CARE AND MAINTENANCE

HO Troubleshooting Guide

The following Guide will help you trouble shoot your MTH HO engine. This guide 
is broken up into the four operating modes of  the engine, Conventional AC, 
Analog DC, DCC, and DCS

M.T.H. HO 4-8-4 GS-4 Steam Engine

36

Summary of Contents for HO 4-8-4 GS-4 Steam Engine

Page 1: ...r crawl to full throttle cruise control for steady speeds regardless of curves switches and grades built in decoders for DCC and the M T H Digital Command System DCS and a full range of prototypical s...

Page 2: ...ourlayoutunattended Obstructedaccessoriesorstalledtrainsmayoverheat resultingindamagetoyourlayout Thistrainsetisintendedforindooruse Do notuseifwaterispresent Seriousinjuryorfatalitymayresult Do notop...

Page 3: ...pply increasing DC voltage until she starts up and pulls out I M A DCC MOTOROLA OPERATOR Step 1 Unpack your engine Step 2 Set the engine on the track Step 3 Power up your DCC system Step 4 Select engi...

Page 4: ...e model What Else is in the Box The following items are packed with your engine Quick Start Guide 1 For those who can t wait to get started This will give you the basic information to get your engine...

Page 5: ...nt Experience the most your new locomotive has to offer in the simple to use yet powerful world of DCS To be clear DCS is NOT a proprietary version of DCC as some other manufacturers offer DCS is a co...

Page 6: ...Your new HO Steam engine includes realistic Classification lighting with appropriately colored LED s in the boiler We even included a light in the cab so the engineer and fireman can see to do their...

Page 7: ...stem is unparallel in the model train industry Your smoke unit comes primed from the factory however before running the smoke unit for more than a few minutes you should add more fluid Add between 10...

Page 8: ...als that can be found on the MTH Web site www mthtrains com DCS NOTE In DCS and DCC when the smoking whistle is active the regular whistle whistle button in DCS F2 in DCC will play the whistle sound w...

Page 9: ...mechanical coupler that can be attached to the rear of the tender Follow the steps below to install your mechanical coupler or any other Kadee compatible couplers Place the spacer Insert the coupler a...

Page 10: ...e note of their orientation Screws Gearbox Cover Gearbox Screws Brake Shoe Lever Bellcrank Gearbox Cover Removal Installation of Drive Wheel Sets Your HO Steam engine comes from the factory with tract...

Page 11: ...ld lift out with the wheel set carefully set them back into cavities from which they came Drop the replacement wheel set into the chassis Make sure the bushings are in the correct orientation The smal...

Page 12: ...desired MTH is new to DCC but we recognize it s importance to many HO operators So we loaded our engine with more DCC features easily accessible to the operator than any HO engine ever built previousl...

Page 13: ...direction the old fashioned way by reducing throttle until the engine stops flip the direction switch and then increase throttle again Either way is OK we just thought a graceful transition from any...

Page 14: ...lume from maximum down to off whatever suits you Turn it counterclockwise to reduce the volume or clockwise to increase it Smoke There is also a potentiometer for smoke control exactly like volume con...

Page 15: ...C mode lighting operation is fully automatic They re always on and behave appropriately The headlight functions under rule 17 and dims when stopped for a time or while backing up Of course just as you...

Page 16: ...fault press the F3 Start Up Shut Down key and your engine will start up Lights sounds smoke ACTION Roll the throttle and away you go Our models are compatible with 14 28 and 128 speed steps We strongl...

Page 17: ...isten When running the engine simply press the F4 key to activate PFA When you bring the engine to a stop the arrival sequence will play You can remain in this segment as long as you like Press F4 aga...

Page 18: ...e F6 off and then back on and it will go down to 0 and stop Forward Reverse Signal Just like a real engine you can announce the direction of intended movement using your DCC handheld and F9 and F10 F9...

Page 19: ...nds back on press the F25 button again disable F25 Additional F Functions NOTE The engine must be sitting still in order to trigger F Functions F14 through F18 F14 F16 Idle Sequence Pressing F14 F15 o...

Page 20: ...ngine it will play the Coupler Slack sound The second way is to simply force the sound while the engine is moving To do this simply press F22 twice toggling it on then off The sound will play F23 Coup...

Page 21: ...nal F10 Reverse Signal F11 Grade Crossing F12 Smoke On Off F13 Smoke Volume F14 Idle Sequence 3 F15 Idle Sequence 2 F16 Idle Sequence 1 F17 Extended Start Up F18 Extended Shut Down F19 Labor Chuff F20...

Page 22: ...eleration Rate CV24 Consist Deceleration Adjustment CV25 Speed Table Select CV29 Decoder Configuration CV49 Short Address controllers that prohibit PoM CV50 Extended Addr High Byte controllers that pr...

Page 23: ...he engine will give you a two whistle horn blast response 5 Call up the engine on its new address and away you go NOTE If you have elected to use PoM and did not start up the sounds of your locomotive...

Page 24: ...onds after removing power to insure the settings are stored in the engines memory Reapplying power in less than 5 seconds may result in losing the setting changes If all else fails and you aren t sure...

Page 25: ...e just telling the DCC system to start talking to engine address 55 You will want to make sure that no other M T H engines are on the rails or any other manufacturer s engines with an address of 55 ar...

Page 26: ...Trim User ID 1 User ID 2 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 15...

Page 27: ...IFICATION Bell 1 Brake Sounds 2 Cab Chatter 3 Clickety Clack 4 Coupler Close 5 Coupler Slack 6 Drift Chuff 7 Engine Sounds 8 Forward Signal 9 Grade Crossing Signal 10 Horn 11 Idle Sequence 1 12 Idle S...

Page 28: ...t to write at CV170 So looking at the Function ID table above you can see that PFA is a value of 23 4 Using your DCC system enter a value of 23 for CV170 and hit Enter You have just re assigned the PF...

Page 29: ...1 Front Engine 2 Middle Engine 3 Rear Normal Forward Direction of Travel F R F R R F Custom Speed Tables Below is a table that shows the value to write to CV25 to achieve the desired speed curve For...

Page 30: ...t engine s address Most systems have a light bulb icon to indicate whether F0 is active or not Ensure that it is OFF 5 Call up the Rear engine on your DCC handheld address 3 in this example 6 Set CV19...

Page 31: ...you to set which F Functions you want the consist address to control For example you will likely want all of your MTH consist engines to respond to Start Up Shut Down F3 Also you ll likely want at you...

Page 32: ...our MTH Proto Sound 3 0 equipped HO locomotive does not program well on Programming tracks due to the inclusion of super capacitors utilized in the locomotive s electronic package The super capacitors...

Page 33: ...xample CV29 you would simply add the additional bits you enabled to the existing value to obtain the new CV value For example if you had a consist address CV19 set to 5 and you wanted to alter this to...

Page 34: ...3 mm Boiler Height rail to smoke stack 57 1 mm Tender Height rail to smoke stack 59 7 mm Boiler Weight 438 g Tender Weight 226 g Overall Weight 664 g Wheel Flanges RP 25 Electrical Input Voltage 0 24...

Page 35: ...Supply 0 18VDC at Controller 240 Watt Electronic MRC 6200 0 18 5v 60 Watt Electronic Not Recommended For 70 3001 1 J3a Not recommended for 70 3001 1 J3a RECOMMENDED DC TRANSFORMERS Notes On Use Use 2...

Page 36: ...ender Smoke Solution My engine isn t smoking at all Make sure you ve got the smoke switch ON If you just filled it with smoke fluid sometimes the fluid can make a seal in the stack Blow down the stack...

Page 37: ...lights and sound but it won t move Lower the track voltage then raise it again The engine should start moving If you apply greater than 9VDC quickly the engine will just set there Lowering it below 9V...

Page 38: ...tself in the underside of the tender When I run Doppler I can hear the Doppler shift but then the engine sounds fade out and I can t get them back This is normal You will need to press the F12 button...

Page 39: ...engines even after they are lubricated may take a little bit to get everything run in Be a little patient and let it run for a bit It should clear up shortly after lubricating and running Check to se...

Page 40: ...both may have the same address Take one of them off the rails and try it again Sound Solution When I press the Whistle Button on my DCS remote or DCS commander the whistle doesn t blow Check if the pl...

Page 41: ...move Check the Tender Boiler drawbar connection You ve got to have them locked together My engine hesitates at slow speeds An engine may do this right out of the box if it has not been lubricated Fol...

Page 42: ...vice Centers If you need assistance at any time email MTH Service at service mth railking com or call 410 381 2580 Limited One Year Warranty All M T H products purchased from an M T H Authorized Retai...

Reviews: