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M.T.H. HO 4-6-6-4 Challenger Engineer's Manual

Manual is about: Steam Engine

Summary of HO 4-6-6-4 Challenger

  • Page 1

    M.T.H. Ho 4-6-6-4 challenger steam engine congratulations! You've just purchased the most feature-rich and technically advanced ho steam locomotive ever produced! This highly detailed model includes a broader range of features than you’ll find on any other ho scale steam, including smooth performanc...

  • Page 2

    M.T.H. Ho 4-6-6-4 challenger steam engine 2 this product may be protected by one or more of the following patents: 6,019,289; 6,280,278; 6,281,606; 6,291,263; 6,457,681; 6,491,263; 6,604,641; 6,619,594; 6,624,537; 6,655,640. ©2014, m.T.H. Electric trains®, columbia, md 21046 caution: electrically op...

  • Page 3

    M.T.H. Ho 4-6-6-4 challenger steam engine 3 quick start guide of course, you should read your manual over before running your steam engine. But if you just can’t wait, choose how you want to run below and enjoy!! It is important to pay attention to which model you have purchased and to make sure you...

  • Page 4

    Unpacking your engine removing and unwrapping your engine carefully remove and unwrap the model on a soft surface. By nature, models with high levels of detail have some small fragile parts. Carefully remove any foam packing pieces that may be surrounding the model. What else is in the box? The foll...

  • Page 5

    Product overview getting to know your m.T.H. Ho locomotive key features your new ho is equipped with the exclusive m.T.H. Proto-sound® 3.0 digital sound and control system. In plain english, this means your locomotive contains state-of-the-art electronics providing realistic digital sounds, puffing ...

  • Page 6

    Digital control in standard analog dc mode, your model still operates under digital control. The ps3 advance speed control system converts track voltage into digital speed commands. Your model will run smoothly and consistently at any speed regardless of load, hills, or curves. If you are a dcc user...

  • Page 7

    Engine diagram m.T.H. Ho 4-6-6-4 challenger steam engine 7 tender drive wheels cab interior light fireman/ engineer figures lighted classification lights pilot truck smoke stack drive wheels control hatch boiler connecting the engine to the tender your mth steam engine is equipped with a tetherless ...

  • Page 8

    Installing the mechanical couplers your ho engine comes with a 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. M.T.H. Ho 4-6-6-4 challenger steam engine 8 place the spacer insert the ...

  • Page 9

    Set-up m.T.H. Ho 4-6-6-4 challenger steam engine 9 smoke unit preparation and use your is equipped with a proven fan-driven smoke system design featured in mth products for over 10 years. The performance and realism of this system is unparallel in the model train industry. Your smoke unit comes prim...

  • Page 10

    Next, remove brake shoe detail by gently prying and pulling up the part and set aside. Remove the 5 screws holding down the rectangular chassis bottom cover. Carefully remove the cover... Then carefully remove the 2 screws holding down the gearbox cover, set them aside and then stop. Don’t do anythi...

  • Page 11

    Now, very slowly and carefully lift the wheel set upward. Keep a close eye out for the driver springs as they sometimes stick to the bushings and lift out. If you drop one, you'll need some really good eyes or a magnet to find them. If they should lift out with the wheel set, carefully set them back...

  • Page 12

    Lubricate side rods and linkage(both sides) (ll) (l) (l) lubricate axles (l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (ll) (ll) lubrication using light machine or household oil, apply a very small amount to all drive rods, linkages, axles, and other moving parts as shown. Your gearbox is properly greased at the factory and ...

  • Page 13

    Features and operation now, for the fun stuff! Your new mth ho steam engine has more features and operating capabilities than any ho engine ever built by any manufacturer. We're going to walk you through everything she does in general but, you'll probably find a few we forgot to mention on your own....

  • Page 14

    Analog dc not much explanation is required here, and that's exactly why you run your trains this way! Here's the good news, even if you like to keep it simple, your mth ho engine is packed with cool sounds, sights, and smells yes, smells, that you're going to love. Running the engine set the engine ...

  • Page 15

    Smoke unit cover wick in poor condition wick in good condition sounds in this mode, sounds are pretty much automatic. If you're moving, you'll hear chuffing sounds. If you increase or decrease the throttle quickly, you'll hear labored or drift chuffing, respectively. Of course, if the engine has bee...

  • Page 16

    Lighting your model is equipped with a headlight, backup light, cab interior light, number board lights and classification lights. The first thing to know about the lighting is there aren't any bulbs. It's all leds so, if you look for a section on how to replace them, you won't find it. You should n...

  • Page 17

    Dcc/motorola digital command control now, if your operating in this mode, you may very well know more about dcc than we do so, we're going to stick to telling you about our engine in this operating environment. First of all, in dcc mode, we brought all the features of analog dc along and of course, ...

  • Page 18

    F4 pfa pfa in mth lingo stands for passenger and freight announcements. Since your engine provides freight service, you'll hear freight yard sounds.. Pfa is a very popular sound feature that's a staple in almost all mth products. We had to give you this! There are 4 sound sequences or segments in pf...

  • Page 19

    Couplers your mth ps3-equipped engine comes with remotely controlled proto-couplers. They can be fired using your dcc handheld at f7 and f8. F7 – front coupler pressing f7 twice (toggling on then off) will fire your front coupler f8 – rear coupler pressing f8 twice (toggling on then off) will fire y...

  • Page 20

    M.T.H. Ho 4-6-6-4 challenger steam engine 20 engine sounds f25 – engine sounds you can turn the engine sounds on/off by pressing the f25 button. Pressing it once (enabling f25) will cause the engine sounds to shut off. Thewhistle/horn and bell sounds will still be active, however. To turn the engine...

  • Page 21

    M.T.H. Ho 4-6-6-4 challenger steam engine 21 f22 – coupler slack when an engine couples to a train and pulls out, it has to take up the coupler slack. You can play this sound by pressing f22 twice (toggling on then off). This feature works two ways – while the engine is sitting still, press f22 twic...

  • Page 22: Description

    M.T.H. Ho 4-6-6-4 challenger steam engine 22 function chart f0 f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f6 f7 f8 f9 f10 f11 f12 f13 f14 f15 f16 f17 f18 f19 f20 f21 f22 f23 f24 f25 f26 f27 f28 headlight bell horn start-up/shut down pfa lights master volume front coupler rear coupler forward signal reverse signal grade crossin...

  • Page 23

    Dcs digital control system as you may have gathered by now, dcs is an mth exclusive digital control system that provides easy access to dozens and dozens of features in our models. We developed dcs to provide a powerful and advanced model train control system that was simple and enjoyable to use. We...

  • Page 24

    Sounds chuff rate you can adjust the chuff rate from the default setting of 4 per revolution to whatever you like between 1 and 16 per rev. Why? Some folks like to run fast and 2 or 3 chuffs per rev keeps chuffing sounds a little more distinct, even though it isn't prototypical. Doppler loop you can...

  • Page 25

    M.T.H. Ho 4-6-6-4 challenger steam engine 25 advanced dcc operation: this section of the manual provides more in-depth detail on how to set up and configure your mth ps3-equipped engine using the nmra-standard cv's as well as the manufacturer-specific cv's. It also explains some of the other f funct...

  • Page 26

    M.T.H. Ho 4-6-6-4 challenger steam engine 26 cv29 cv29 is the basic decoder setup cv that is used by all dcc decoder manufactures. So, if you are familiar with cv29 from other manufacturer's decoders mth's is no different. The most important part of cv29 is the ability to switch between long and sho...

  • Page 27: Desired 4-Digit

    M.T.H. Ho 4-6-6-4 challenger steam engine 27 c. Enter “38” to change the value of cv29 and hit enter d. The engine will give you a two whistle/horn blast response 4. In the following steps you will now need to write values to cv17 and cv18 to tell the engine what the long address should be5. Call up...

  • Page 28

    Below is the table of factory default mth supported dcc cv's. This table is specific to the engine in the title of this manual: m.T.H. 4-6-6-4 challenger steam engine 28 factory default values for mth ps3.0 dcc configuration variables (cv’s) decimal key 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 17 18 19 21 22 23 24 25 29 52 53...

  • Page 29

    User-settable f-function list this feature allows you to take the 28 f-functions that currently reside in each mth protosound 3.0-equipped ho engine and change the location of that function. For example: f18 is currently extended shut down and you'd like that placed down to f28 which is feature rese...

  • Page 30

    The list on page 34 includes all f functions that an mth ps3 engine could have. You are free to change any of the above listed items to any f function position, 1- 28. For example, if you your engine came from the factory without a smoke unit but you added one at a later date you could swap out any ...

  • Page 31

    Advanced consisting advanced consisting follows the nmra standards. Any values assigned to cv's 21- 24 are ignored once the consist is removed (cv19 set to 0). • setting the msb (bit 7) of cv19 tells the engine that it is facing reverse in the consist • setting cv21 and cv22 determine which f functi...

  • Page 32

    To set this consists up so that: • the headlight is on in the front engine when going forward, off when the consist is in reverse • the reverse light and headlight is off in the rear engine when the consist is going forward, headlight is on, reverse light is off when the consist is in reverse • the ...

  • Page 33

    7. Set cv22 to a value of 2 to the rear engine's address to tell the rear engine that you want to control its fl control with the f0 button at the consist address. The engine will give you two horn blasts to announce that it received the cv change 8. Ensure f0 is deactivated at the rear engine's add...

  • Page 34

    Setting up cv21 for a consist cv21 allows 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). Please refer to the table below to see which bits have what decimal value and which...

  • Page 35

    Programming track your mth ps3-equipped ho engine can function on programming track outputs from dcc systems. Because each dcc system manufacturer's output capabilities on the programming track differ it is recommended that you use a dcc programming track booster to perform functions on the programm...

  • Page 36

    Specifications us patents us 6,457,681 oct. 2, 2002 us 6,619,594 sept. 16, 2003 us 6,655,640 dec. 2, 2003 m.T.H. Ho 4-6-6-4 challenger steam engine 36 physical boiler length (front cplr to rear cab wall) ~265.8 mm tender length (over rear cplr) ~163.0 overall (over couplers) ~438.1 mm boiler width (...

  • Page 37: Recommended Dc Transformers

    Dc power supply chart transformer model min/max. Voltage power rating transformer type mrc controlmaster 20 0-20v 100-watt electronic ph hobbies ps5 ph hobbies ps10g 0-20v 0-20v 100-watt 180-watt electronic electronic bridgeworks magnum 15 bridgeworks magnum 200 bridgeworks magnum 1000 bridgeworks m...

  • Page 38: Start-Up

    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 ...

  • Page 39: Lights

    Check for an obstruction in the smoke stack add 10-12 drops of smoke fluid lights solution one of my lights is out most likely you had been running the engine in dcc or dcs mode and toggled that light off. Put it back into one of those modes and turn that light back on. The engine will remember that...

  • Page 40: Start-Up

    Start-up solution when i apply power to the track my engine doesn’t do anything. No lights, no sound, no nothing. Did you press f3 yet? F3 on your dcc handheld will start your engine up. Check to see if that section of track has power. Use a voltmeter or a lit passenger car, not your tongue. Slide t...

  • Page 41

    Check for an obstruction in the smoke stack add 10-12 drops of smoke fluid lights solution one of my lights is out check your f keys. F0 is the headlight (also controls the back-up light) and f5 will toggle the cab light none of my lights are on could be the same reason as “one of my lights is out” ...

  • Page 42: Start-Up

    Start-up solution when i apply power to the track my engine doesn’t do anything. No lights, no sound, no nothing. This is normal. You have to hit the start-up button. Check to see if that section of track has power. Use a voltmeter or a lit passenger car, not your tongue. Slide the engine a couple o...

  • Page 43

    Smoke solution my engine isn’t smoking at all press the smoke button this will activate the smoke 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 l...

  • Page 44

    Service & warranty information how to get service under the terms of the limited one-year warranty when you suspect an item is defective, please check the operator's manual for standard operation and trouble- shooting techniques that may correct the problem. Additional information may be found on th...