Help with Lionel CW-80 transformer

[Anonymous]

I bought a CW-80 before Christmas over EBay and due to a busy schedule, just opened the box. The only thing missing are the INSTRUCTIONS!!! I have read some post on other boards that there are some problems and it is not a simple plug and play unit. I sent Lionel an Email to get a set of instructions but have not heard from them. Is there another source that can help me?

[Anonymous]

i bought 1 too. i dont realy care for it. i might use it to run acc. only. my 736 birkshier dont realy like it. i pulled out the old kw. what is your e-mail address? i will copy & send you instructions for cw. mike

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the help. I have heard problems with it on the OGR board, so I knew it wasn't a plug and play type of thing. I hope I have a better experience than you did. My email address is: [e-mail]. Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

i sent you the instructions. hope you got them & they help you.....mike

[Anonymous]

I, too, am having a problem with my second CW-80. (I returned the first as one of the posts was loose and, I believe, was at times shorting inside the unit.) The Lionel dealer commendably replaced it on the spot -- they have always provided excellent service, prices and answers to my questions.

I called Lionel when I was having trouble setting up my switches for use with 'accessory' power, as opposed to powered by the track. The written instructions indicate that the red post should be used for the power feeds and the black posts should be used for grounds. The accompanying diagram, however, indicates the opposite. The service rep. specified that the removeable leads to the modern 022 switches be attached to the black posts. This seemed to go against intuition.

Well, I hooked everything up when I got home as he suggested and things looked great -- a nice, not-too-bright glow from the signal lights, and the trains staying put when I powered up the transformer (the original problem was that the trains were taking off as soon I plugged in the transformer -- even with the throttle in the off position). Did things work? No -- as I throttled up, the power to the switches dropped porportionately.

I pulled the power feeds to the tracks and ran the switches off of track voltage, which is fine as long as I am pulling a train of at least nine cars.

That was just before Christmas. Before I get all the Christmas decorations put away, I was hoping to assemble a compact layout under the tree; one with at least *a little* operational interest -- say a passing siding, a spur, and two or three operating tracks, and have the layout all mounted and ready to go for next year.

Do my problems sound like those mentioned on the OGR boards?

[Anonymous]

Yes, they sound like some similar problems people had with the CW-80. I bought mine on E-Bay and it seems after I got it I started reading all of the difficulties with the trasnformer. It sounds like even with instructions you will have problems.

[Anonymous]

I decided to check my CW-80 again last night after this forum reminded me that I still needed to resolve this issue. This problem presented itself when I attempted to supply constant power to my turnouts. If you use only the variable feeds, this problem does not present itself.

I, once again, cautiously tried about every different 'reasonable' wiring arrangement I could think of (switching the power and ground leads, switching the variable and accessory leads, and switching the leads diagonally). I also tried both grounds attached to the same lock-on.

Results: My best results were from using the black posts marked as ground as what I consider to be power feeds to both lock-on clip# 1 and the power feed on the 'modern(?)' 022 turnout, and then a single connection from lock-on clip# 2 to the red accessory post. Does this work? Almost. The turnout and throttle work as they should -- constant, resettable, power to the turnout and variable power to the train track. What does not work? The whistle and bell button functions are now switched. Consequently, you hit the bell button, and the whistle blows until you hit the button a second time. This is something I can deal with, but would really prefer things operate as intended.

Conclusion: I think production messed up and switched internal contacts at some point. I just do not know whether they did this once, for the power feeds, or did they also switch the wiring for the bell's and whistles.

Moral: Don't go for all the bell's and whistles....

[Anonymous]

Try reversing the leads from the transformer to the lock-on. This is the usual solution when the bell & whistle functions are reversed.

Tony