Need help with a ZW. Right hand whistle switch not working after rebuild.
Picked up a 275 watt ZW with riveted core and set off on a rebuild. There had been some work done by a previous owner.
Replaced power cord, terminal screws, rollers, circuit breaker and added diodes for whistle control. Also replaced wiring where insulation looked iffy. When tested, power to all circuits ranges from 20.5 to 20.6 volts. Left hand terminal D voltage up to 26.0 volts when whistle is engaged. Tested fine on an MTH loco.
All is good except when I engage the right hand whistle switch. Power from A terminal goes to zero. Goes to zero when engaged to direction as expected.
I’ve added photos of the current wiring but to make things clearer, I added a drawing of the wires from the core when I removed it as well as a drawing of the connections on the RH whistle controller. I thought I had taken enough photos and labels during disassembly but I’m clearly missing something.
Took a look at my ZW (same variation). It seems there should be an additional wire coming from the panel for the whistle control. The terminal that is empty should have a black wire going to somewhere under the transformer, which I cannot access without disassembling my controller more.
I circled where the missing wire ends under the transformer, so the person with the problem could see where it goes, because there are many other wires in the same photo.
Upon closer inspection, isn’t what’s circled a cloth-insulated wire, with the end of the insulation frayed out, with only the copper conductor going ‘under’? Bare like that, it can’t be going far…
Hard to see with the angle, but the wire with the insulation does go under. The insulation ends as that is where the wire is connected to the underside of the transformer. This is the other end of the wire that should be connected to the empty terminal on the whistle control panel on the controller.
Fixed it. I re-examined that “empty” contact on the controller and saw a dab of solder. After staring at the schematic for the umpteenth time, I kept thinking that there had to be another lead from the core. That was also mentioned by Yellow_Tank-Car. I pulled the core and found the lead that I had missed. I soldered it to the controller and damn if it didn’t work. Thanks all for your advice.
I should add that I asked this question on trains.com and a Facebook Lionel group. The information here was much more helpful and accurate. Facebook not so much.
