Lionel TMCC/Conventional Engine Operation Troubles


gvtfan

Kid with trains
Today I finished wiring my TMCC system into my one loop of track on my 8 by 8 table. Everything seems to be in working order. I have two conventional engines, one of which is at the shop, the other which hasn't ran in about 2 years. With the Power Master, I followed the instructions to make my engine run, but I was only successful in making it light up.
Here are the steps I took:
Turned on System
TR Button
1 Button
AUX1 Button
0 Button
Boost Button
Direction Button

The engine then went through the sequence of directions, but it showed no effort to move. Is it the engine, or the TMCC?
 
Dumb question, but did you:

Set your Power Master to CONV and RUN?

What kind of powersource are you using? (ZW, a Powerhouse brick?)
 
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Not as dumb as it sounds actually...I know I set it to CONV, but I'll double check that it's set to run, I don't think it is.

Thanks!

Charlie
 
Is the locomotive you're trying to use have sound (or at the minimum, bell and horn/whistle)?

I have a Weaver GP38-2 I just bought brand spanking new at a local train show. The seller had never run it, and it was, he thought, 6 years old. I asked him to put it on the track to test it, and it hummed and the light came on, but it didn't run. I was going to have TMCC put in it anyway, so it was going off to the Weaver factory that following Monday.

Turns out, this locomotive had a NiCd battery that operated the bell and horn. When the loco isn't run for a while, that battery begins to loose its charge and ends up fully discharged. If the battery sits not recharged long enough, it will not take a charge when you finally try, by putting the loco on powered track and running it.

My Atlas O has a similar thing in it (uses some sort of battery for operating the sounds in conventional mode), but I didn't pay attention to the conventional instructions as I've always ran it in TMCC mode. I have a couple traditional O locos, but neither have sound and thus batteries.

This may be the problem. If so, your instruction manual for the locomotives should help you.
 
Thanks Trey, but this model is from the mid-70s, and I'm pretty sure it had no such battery. I appreciate your time though, as this is good for future reference! Just curious though, how much was it to make it TMCC?
 
Dumb question, but did you:

Set your Power Master to CONV and RUN?

What kind of powersource are you using? (ZW, a Powerhouse brick?)
Must be my engine, as I double checked everything and it was set to CONV and RUN. I should have another conventional engine to test with soon.:rolleyes:
 
Weaver has a price list on their website. I think it was $250 to install both TMCC with Railsounds and EOB (engineer on board). You have to call to get a Return Authorization number first. They had the install done the day the package arrived, and total turn around was 2 weeks (thanks to UPS ground--it takes twice as long for a package to get here than it does to ship it to the same place).
 



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