The good news first: I received the Gateman and the controller in the mail today and with a little help from this forum and the seller, it works!!
The not so good news is, I bought a 1033 xfmr for more power and to help run the Gateman & future xtras. Now, when I move the handle towdards whistle, the train speeds up/no whistle and will derail.
Doc Wyatt
Doc,
The first thing that I would suggest doing is reversing the wires from the transformer to the track. On a modern locomotive, the whistle is polarity sensitive, and won’t work if the DC spike to the power occurs in the wrong direction.
You don’t state whether or not your 1033 was rebuilt. Often times, transformer rebuilders will(usually unecessarily) replace components of the whistle circuit. Depending on how exactly this was done, a rebuilt transformer doesn’t always consistently work with whistles made in the last 20 years or so.
If the transformer hasn’t been rebuilt, it’s likely that the contact switches need a good thorough cleaning/adjustment, or, very possibly, the rectifier is bad.
I would be money on reversed wires being the cause, however.
Which engine is it ?
The newer engines when operated with the older tranformers normally require what’s called a “whistle controller”. They are relatively inexpensive and are pretty much available from most train related hobby shops, on-line train shops and even E-Bay. If you have the manual for this engine it should specify if one is required and which one.
I agree with Ben. If the transformer is wired properly internally, you should connect terminal A to the outside rails and U to the center rail, to get the right polarity for the whistle.
It’s a 18633, Doug. He started another thread.
Sorry I’ve not got back to reply sooner, but I did read your suggestions. Thanks
First, I did try reversing the wires and nothing going. I will need the “whistle controler” I would guess. Can you advise on a part # ?
Secondly, even more disturbing was after adding 3 drops of liquid smoke the engine did not smoke at first (5 min or so), then after that it started smoking I heard a sizzling/gurgling noise and at the same time the light on the engine stopped working. Do I have a black cloud hanging over or what?
Doc Wyatt
I think I found out what happened to the light and smoke on the engine. There is one wire that came unsoldered. Holding the engine upside down with the front facing away from you, underneath on the left side there is the wire that came undone. You can defintely tell that it should go to the light, but then there is another wire running from inside (I would guess the smoke element?). Is that correct and should I resolder all back together? Thanks,
Doc Wyatt
Doc,
Go to http://www.lionel.com/CustomerService/Findex.cfm, select Parts List and Pictorial Diagrams, and enter the loco number 8633. The search will pull up a diagram and parts list. From there you may be able to tell where the wire goes. The smoke unit also houses the light bulb, so a single wire may be the problem. You may need to disassemble.
don
I do not have the manual for the engine. Although I am unsure as to why, but listen to this: With the train running, instead of moving the 1033 whistle handle all the way right, I just eased into it and it will whistle. The train will slow when that happens, but if I increase the speed all is well. Hmmmm.
Doc Wyatt
That makes sense. The whistle signal is a DC component added to the normal AC voltage fed to the track. The controller goes through two stages. In the first stage, it adds an auxiliary winding to the main secondary winding, which adds 5 volts, but puts a rectifier in series at the same time, which reduces the increased voltage by 30 percent. Except at the very low end of the voltage range, this is a net loss of RMS voltage but with a large dose of superimposed DC (64 percent of the RMS voltage), to get the whistle relay to operate.
Then, in the second stage, the controller shunts the rectifier with a low resistance, which restores the waveform almost to normal but leaves a little DC, to keep the relay operated.
Of course, without a whistle relay in a modern locomotive, most of this complication is pointless. It appears that your locomotive expects more DC than the holding voltage that the 1033 puts out; but that the operating voltage is enough to satisfy it. You could increase the resistance in the 1033 to get more DC in the second stage; but it’s probably easier just to move the handle part way.
I did go to the parts and pictoral page and while it does have great detail on the loco there was not that much info as far as the smoke/bulb wiring. I did just for a test stick the two loose wires together and onto the bottom of the smoke elment post and the light and smoke worked. I am curious though just how much smoke does a 18633 emitt if everything is in order? Regards,
Doc Wyatt