I hardwired a Walthers SW-1 but the engine ran backwards so I reversed the motor leads. All is good but now the headlights run opposite of the dierction of travel. Can I just reverse the headlight wires or what else must I do to fix this. It’s just a DC board.
[#welcome] to the forum. Your first posts are moderated, hence the delay.
I’m a DCC guy and I can’t remember if my DC locos were directional. My guess is the rear headlight has to attach to where the front head light is now and visa versa, but by bumping your post, someone who knows for sure will weigh in.
edit This is really an electrical question. One of the moderators may move it to the electrical forum. If it disappears, look for it to show up there.
I’ve seen this on the forum about changing one CV by one digit for reversing the direction. You need to change the wires to the motor back to the way you had it and wait until someone contributes the CV number change thing. That will put the light back in sync for the correct direction.
Mel
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
I’m beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
CV’s are just for DCC, not straight DC
Its been a while since I messed with DC, I think you have two options.
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Swap the lights around as you have already mentioned.
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Put the motor wires back the way they were and then swap the rail / current pick up wires.
I agree with swapping the light wires around.
Mike.
That’s the fix, I missed he was operating on DC.
Put the motor wires back the way they were, leave the light alone and swap the wires to the rails.
Mel
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
What ever the OP decides to do, the engineers side is the “+” side. If it’s DC, and you turn your power pack on, in the “forward” operating mode, the locomotive should run forward.
Here’s an older thread where this topic is discussed, “forward and backward” [swg]
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/249991/2789587.aspx
Mike.
If it ran backwards, the fix would be to swap the track pickups, NOT the motor wires. Then the lights would still agree. Swapping the motor wires in a fix for DCC, where the track pickup polarity does not matter.
There is no specific direction in DC, with regards to the power pack direction switch. NMRA recommendations are that the loco moves forward when the engineer’s side rial is +, but on say a straight piece of track running in front of the power pack, that could mean the power pack direction switch is pushed to the left but the loco runs to the right. I would find it odd that a fairly modern release loco like the SW1 woud run cab forward with the right rail +, most manufacturers don;t mess this up any more. If the board was removed and then reinstalled, likely the track pickup wires were just reversed. I’d put the motor wires back and swap the track wires.
–Randy
I agree with Randy. Undoing the motor wire change and swapping the track pickups is the correct way to fix it for DC.