Hey Leonard, are you talking about “spade connectors" ? It's a good idea to have the battery so that it can be quickly disconnected, soldering the wires to the battery would be a bad idea

The official battery is 6v 4Ah, check the dimensions against the battery compartment or old battery

http://www.hedstrom.co.uk/shop/spares/th...

If you use a 12v or two 6v attached in series it could damage the sound board.

Two 6v in parallel would give you a longer run the between charges.

Hi Andy,

I'm afraid I don't have a better photo and the train got sent back to the charity shop after my daughter got too large.

However, from what I remember there's a black blob which is the "brain" of the board, a few connectors and some primitive buttons.

Things to look for are:

* Dirt on the connector pads for the buttons, clear with a PCB cleaning block or wire wool if you can't get a cleaning block

* Loose or broken connectors, resolder these

* Cracks in the PCB tracks (these could be hard to find) you could fix with "conductive paint"

If you are a bit more advanced with electronics, then you could also swap out that board with something else. I did a quick google for "sound effect module" produced a result which might work

Velleman MK134 - Steam Engine Sound Generator Electronic Kit

You'd also need to be a bit handy with a dremel or the like to ensure you had space for it.

all the best.

Andy

You don't need to clean the speaker, you might need to clean the sound switch contacts though. For that you need to get to the control board. If you can get some contact cleaner that is best or just a cotton bud and a dab of water should also work.

That could be a problem with the sound board which lives inside the steering wheel. It's quite a challenge to get to that which is what caused me to write the guide in the first place. I had to clean the switches on that board to get mine to work.

Alternatively could be a loose or broken wire on the speaker which is down in the base, one of the first things you get too when stripping it down.

If you've got sound but no movement then the most likely cause is the battery is discharged or defective. If you have a multimeter you could check the voltage on the battery.

If may also be a motor / mechanical issue. With the power disconnected you should be able to rotate the wheels but it won't spin freely as there is a gearbox.