Heres a maintainence riddle for all you trouble shooters out there. I was running a modern era whistle tender behind an older lionel steamer that I’m fixing up. This loco takes a lot of voltage to go at high speed. No problem, I have a post war Z transformer that puts out like 26 volts right. Well I got it cranked up, rollin around the track and I push the sound activation button I have wired to the Z (the Z has no DIR or WHSTL button). The tender lets out a loud blast and I’m grinnin like a possum eatin a sweet potatoe.(I guess thats what they say here down south. I’m a transplanted Yankee). When I release the button the whistle keeps on screaming. I do the usual emergency shutdown procedures and take a look at the button and see if its stuck. It checked out fine with another loco I have. OOPS. Did I run too much voltage through that tender and burn something out. Opened it up and didnt see anything mechanical in there. Just a small circut board on the whistle box. Now every time i apply power to the track that tender has a constant whistle. Did I mess it up big time or is there a way to fix it?
STEVE
If it’s not too modern, it might be possible to reverse-engineer and repair it. It obviously should be redesigned as well to fix whatever its vulnerability is, since the way you used it is not unreasonable. But if you don’t have the means or ability to do that, or if it has a microprocessor or “application-specific integrated circuit” (ASIC) in it, you’ll just have to replace it. You can improve your chances with the replacement by putting a transient-voltage suppressor (TVS) across the voltage supplied to it.
Thanks Bob. Any idea as to where I could find replacement parts? The tender only cost me 10.00. I don’t want to invest alot of money.
STEVE
No idea. But why don’t you post the tender number and anything else you have to identify the circuit card. Somebody else here might be able to help.
Good idea lionelsoni, The only number I could find on it was 8050 T. Its made in China so I know its a newer tender.
STEVE
Steve,
I have had countless issues with my ZW burning out all my modern Lionel electronics. Buy the TVS, I was told and I have one on order. I stopped running my modern AF and Lionel because of it. To find a replacement whistle board call the lionel parts department they will ship one to your house… unfortunately the last whistle board I replaced cost 36 bucks! But your model may be cheaper. To bad Lionel does not sell a TVS for us old school guys to run the new stuff with our ZW’s.