I’m going to begin with the statement that I in no form am an expert. Nor do I work on many trains with anything associated with circuit boards. However in my job I do find myself working on circuit boards occasionally. So with all that out of the way, can you see if there is a swelled/busted capacitor? Or have you ohm tested the resistors? If you brush up on testing all that you could turn that $90 repair into $.30 maybe a dollar. That is if the part isn’t proprietary like it is for some items I wind up working on. But it could be possible that if you have a techy friend who knows a little about board repairs that could help diagnose the problem rather than replace the whole board. If a circuit on the board is burned out, there are ways to repair that as well. Just food for thought and something I’ve often wondered about when someone has board issues with some of this stuff.
If the driver board only works in one direction for example it only runs in reverse. You can reverse the two wires at the DC can drive motor so that the locomotive will work in forward direction only. Place a label on the bottom of the locomotive saying that it doesn't run in reverse. I agree it doesn't make sense to spend $50 to fix a $50 locomotive.
I’m going to begin with the statement that I in no form am an expert. Nor do I work on many trains with anything associated with circuit boards. However in my job I do find myself working on circuit boards occasionally. So with all that out of the way, can you see if there is a swelled/busted capacitor? Or have you ohm tested the resistors? If you brush up on testing all that you could turn that $90 repair into $.30 maybe a dollar. That is if the part isn’t proprietary like it is for some items I wind up working on. But it could be possible that if you have a techy friend who knows a little about board repairs that could help diagnose the problem rather than replace the whole board. If a circuit on the board is burned out, there are ways to repair that as well. Just food for thought and something I’ve often wondered about when someone has board issues with some of this stuff.
If the driver board only works in one direction for example it only runs in reverse. You can reverse the two wires at the DC can drive motor so that the locomotive will work in forward direction only. Place a label on the bottom of the locomotive saying that it doesn't run in reverse. I agree it doesn't make sense to spend $50 to fix a $50 locomotive.
*Promosm*