Good Morning All- I recently purchased an old KW that seems in pretty good shape. I replaced the carbon rollers, carefully cleaned up the windings, and replaced some missing handles and knobs. My question is regarding voltage output. According to the user’s manual (my Lionel dealer made a copy for me), connecting the “A” or “B” post to the corresponding “U” post should yield 18 volts, even though the post is labeled “20 volts”. I can’t seem to get more than 14.5 volts directly from the posts and this drops to about 13.5 when measured on my track. Am I expecting too much to get the full 18 volts from this old transformer, or is there an additional problem? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. Jim E.
I am not familiar with the KW, but transformers are very simple devices. If you are not getting the full 18 volts, check the following:
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Check your house voltage to insure it is not low. I have had that problem in the past.
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Make sure that you are getting full throw on the throttle handles. Look inside the transformer to see if the rollers are going all the way to the end of the transformer coil.
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Make sure the rollers are installed properly and go all the way to the ends of the coil. The roller should just go off the coil at the ‘OFF’ position and go to the last winding of the coil at the full throttle position.
Good Luck…
Earl
According to the service manual, you should be getting 20 volts, probably a little more on a modern power line. So you’re about 6 volts low, which happens to be the voltage of the fixed winding. What you’re seeing is the maximum voltage that you would get if you used the C terminal as the common instead of the U.
Try this: Look at the voltage as you move the handle. What voltage to you get just before it’s completely off. That should be 6 volts, then an abrupt drop to zero.
Another possibility is that your circuit breaker has failed open. In that case, the output voltage should still be a correct 6 to 20 volts with no load on the transformer. The fact that you report a 1-volt difference between the transformer and the track is a hint that you’re testing it with some small load on it. See if you get different voltage measurements with the transformer completely disconnected from the track.
Thanks for the ideas, Earl. I’m sure the rollers are making the full path across the windings. I checked that out early on in my quest for an answer.
Talk about feeling like the Maytag repairman! There is nothing wrong with my KW. I get the full 19.5 volts from the posts I’m supposed to. I know this because I got suspicious of my multi-tester and checked it against my friends’. Sure enough, my gauge was off. A quick trip to Homers and purchase of a new digital meter confirmed it. Oh well, at least it was a quick “fix”.! Jim E.
Jim, I’m glad you found the problem and I appreciate your reporting the results so that we all learn from your experience and can bring closure to this problem. Have fun with your KW.
Earl