Question (?) on Replacing Cord on LW Transformer

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

I picked up an old non-working LW that I took apart and fixed the faults on. It started out humming very loudly and having no voltage on U and now it is quiet and has clean voltage with smooth action. However the original rubber insulated cord is shot. I sometimes restore old tube radios and on those when I replace the cord I polarize the cord so that the hot wire always goes to the on/off switch so the chassis isn’t energized while it’s off. Transformers are a different beast lackign the on/off switch…

  1. Sooo does it matter how a new replacement cord is polarized? Looking at it I can’t see how it would but…

  2. What about a cord wtih a build in GFCI in the plug itself like a hair dryer typically uses? Would the whistle or reverse switches possibly interupt the ‘plug’ safety switch? Would it draw too many amps for one of these?

  3. What about a 3 prong grounded plug? Is it worth grounding the metal chassis?

Or make things simple and just go with the standard 2 prong replacement cord and not worry about polarization since it lacks an off switch anyway. Probably a simple thing that I’m making too complicated is my guess! [:D]

thanks

2

I would just replace it with the standard two-prong plug/cord. If you ever found it to be out of phase with another AC transformer on the same layout, you could just rotate the plug in the receptacle to phase it and mark the neutral prong side of the plug with white paint.