I’ve had trouble with the chuffing sound on my TMCC Lionel Berkshire locomotive. The chuff had become intermittent to the point I had to turn the rail sounds off. I thought id look inside today and I found a micro switch that seemed out of adjustment. There is a lever that rides on the smoke puffer that should snap the micro switch on and off but mine was not. I assumed that since the chuff is synchronized with the puff, the switch must have something to do with the intermittent sound. A closer look reveled the hold down screw for the switch was loose. I moved the switch back in contact with the leaver, tightened the screw, tested the open and closing action of the switch with a ohm meter, and my Lionel is running again with all its thunder! Now if I can figure out why the tenders coil coupler misfires all the time…
Great, that’s the spirit.
Get in there & fix it yourself.[8D]
[#ditto]
If you had sent that in to be fixed, how long would it have been gone?
Way to be!
Jim
Manamanah - by couplers misfiring do you mean opening unexpectedly? If so, the possibilities I’m aware of are: dirty track and/or switches causing a false signal causing them to open. A fix that has worked for me is to install a capacitor across the leads to the coupler. I used a Radio Shack #272-996 1uf, non-polarized, 50V max. I believe it dampens out the surges.
Roger,
Yes, that’s what is happening, the coil coupler opens unexpectedly. I will add the capacitor, Thank you for your reply.
I have a K-line semi-scale Dreyfuss Hudson with the same sort of switch.
For whatever reason, they put it right under the smoke unit, so that if the smoke unit overfills, it runs right into the switch. I think that they recognised the weakness of the design, since I had to replace the switch twice. The second one they sent me, out of the warranty period(but still free of charge) was of a slighly different design. I believe it’s been about three years since they replaced the switch, and it hasn’t given me a hiccup since. Good thing, too, since there’s no longer a K-line to supply me with replacements, free or not.