I have a Santa Fe AA (2353) set and on the bottom of the power truck there is a square hole and a black wire hanging down about a 1/4 inch through it. I looked at the wiring diagram and can not find this wire. I have a red wire connected to the collector shoe as is shown in the diagram and everything seems to be working fine. Can anyone tell me what the black wire is for?
Is your hole more in a rectangle shape about 1/4" by about 1/3" if so it sounds like a shoe is missing maybe for auto uncoupler other wise can’t figure hole not sure if 2353 had that feature thou
The hole is about 1/4 inch square. I have not tried the coupler and that has a black lead on it. Thanks for your help.
It is almost certainly for the coupler. Here is what it is supposed to look like:
http://pictures.olsenstoy.com/cd/locos/loc2333e.pdf
The head of the rivet that holds the shoe on is meant to touch a special rail in a piece of track made for uncoupling. Putting voltage on that rail operates the coupler. These shoes often cause trouble by hanging up on turnouts and other trackwork. Someone probably removed yours to cure such a problem. I have another way of operating my couplers; but I don’t damage or remove the shoes. Instead I retract them by wedging a loop of small insulated solid wire under the shoe plate (part TC-109 on the diagram).
Thats it. I looked at the dummy unit and it does have the coulping shoe. I guess I should have looked at that first. Thanks again.
Bob I wrote to you a little while ago about my wiring diagram (based on a diagram you had sent me) to fix my blinking passenger car lights. I wired it recently and it worked great-no more blinking. Thanks again.
John
You’re very welcome, John.