I have a 397 coaling station, and a 164 log elevator. they have the controller hard wired to the motors. How do i extend this wiring of the controller so that the wire will extend to the end of my layout?? I hate to cut the wire in the middle, but its the only solution i might have. Could I open up the controllers and somehow add a longer wire and then solder the other end to the wire that is hard wired to the motors?? thanks.
You can extend the wire by adding more length, open the controller and remove the old wires by un-soldering them then solder new wires into place. Don’t cut the wires at the remote because it may be easy to do as you need to pull the old wire off the solder terminal first then solder a new wire. Mark your wires with numbers or letters before cutting to help identify the wires later.
Lee F.
Hi Lionel2
I faced the same issue. but i took a different tactic. Actually i used a different approach with each type of accessory.
On some of the modern ones, they come with connectors…Molex, JST etc…very diffictult to find a match, but if you are lucky to find them, then you can create an ‘extension’ and have the controller any where you want. this worked on the steam/clean/grind and the drawbridge.
On some, like the grantry crane ARC/AMC and intermodal cranes…i bought a second controller, cut off the connector pieces i needed and sold the remainder on ebay…got my money back too…
On others, like the pw crane i just cut the wire, added a euro-connector and made the wire as long as needed.
This allowed me to place the accessory, then move it later to a place further away if i chose and not get caught up redoing the soldering every time i moved it over time.
Keep in mind this working on the electric can effect the re-sale value, if that is an issue.
THE KEY THING TO BEING SUCCESSFUL IS TO MARK THE WIRES FIRST, AS LEE f SAID. OTHERWISE, A WORLD OF TROUBLE.
Ralph