Has anyone had this problem,this is the third command base I have had that has gone bad. The first one lasted 7 years and in the last 3 years 2 more have gone bad. I am told there is no way to fix a command base.I went down the basement to run my trains and it was fine , next thing I know I have a run away train. I tried 4 TMCC engines and all were the same. I also noticed the Command Base was not reacting to my Cab 1.This is the same problem I had with the other 2 Bases that went bad.

I use and old Z and whenever my command base is within 12", it does not work well consistently; if you have no blink on the command base light, try some fresh batteries in you Cab 1; I've had good luck with the above; Falcon70

The Cab 1 has new batteries and I use 180 volt bricks for power for the 2 main lines and a 135 volt brick for the yard.

The fact that the trains run away means the transmitter side of the command base is not working. If the LED does not flash in response to the Cab-1 it means the receiver side is not working.

Failures of both sides of the command base at once indicate a power supply failure or a microcontroller failure. Does the power LED come on?

It could be that you have glitches in your power that is killing the voltage regulator or processor in the base. That's the only thing I can think of with these symptoms and it happening again and again.

Cam, I have had one command base failure in 4 years.

Did it have similar symptoms?

My engines did not run away; they just did not do anything and I think the red light did not blink.

If you suspect Power line spikes are a problem, you might want to try powering your setup through one of those UPS backups power supplies like used on PC's. They can be had to $ 50 to $ 100.

If the engines don't run away that means they can see the command signal so the back half of the base is working. If the base stops responding to the Cab-1 the simple thing to check is that the crystal is not loose and try a different Cab-1 if available.

The green light, lights up so the base is getting power. The red light does not come on or go off and on when I turn the Cab-1 in any direction nor when I press any buttons. This is the same problem that I had the both times when the base failrd.

Bob,
You need to "tune" your command base. Open it up and you will see a tuning pot. While you have an engine on the track, press the cab-1 whistle. Turn the tuning pot all the way to the right and all the way to the left-the whistle will completely go to nothing on both ends. Turnt he tuning pot back in the middlwe where the whistle sounds the loudest. It will be back in tune there.

Ted, I opened the command base, which is the tuning pot, I see a red screw towards the front of the controller and a black screw towards the back of the base. Both are enclosed in silver metal boxes. Also, as soon as I turn on the power to the track with the Cab 1 the engine takes off.

Bob,
Good question-I asked one of my fellow demo guys to post that answer for you. Not sure and will not give you the wrong answer. Be back soon with a reply.

Ted, this is the third base that has gone bad on me, Billy at Milburn Hobby did not think there was a fix for the base, it would be great if this works.

The tuning coil for the track signal is the one closest to the track output screw. You need to use either a non-metallic screwdriver or make small adjustments and check the result with the screwdriver moved away because the metal screwdriver will itself affect the tuning.

The other coil is part of the Cab-1 receiver circuit.

It sounds like your problem is no TMCC signal to the track. Is it possible you have inadvertently slid the switch from command to traditional?

Cam, Thank you for the information, I will try it when i get home. I love Trains the command base does not have a switch you are thinking of the track power controller, but thank you for the suggestion.

Bob,
I thought that was the screw to use to tune the base but was not sure. I like to keep friends with good information.
Thank you Cam.

I had a similar problem recently. Engine would either take off full speed or not respond at all while sitting still. The problem turned out to be a defective power strip that was feeding my bricks and the command base. try using a differe t source for your power feed.