postwar zw problem.

[yamaha226]

Hi all,i have a postwar 275 zw and 1 out of the four posts does not show any power on my meter.its the second one over from the left .i checked the solder joints ,no loose wires.does anybody know what would cause this? is this an easy fix?

[cwburfle]

It is very common for the ring terminal to break off the back of the binding post. Try moving the ring terminal at bit. If it moves at all, its broken off.

[cjmeyers]

Fortunately a broken ring terminal is easy to fix. Many repair part dealers offer a 'cheater' terminal with a threaded nut on the back. The originals were riveted in. Pull out the old one. Push in the new one and tighten the nut in the back to press up against the copper buss-bar.

Regards,

CJ Meyers

 

[yamaha226]

Thanks for the quick replys.just a note,the common posts are all fine im just not getting power to the one post.Every thing is tight as far as the post looks.i was just wondering if something could burn out and knock power out to just the B post.thank you all.

[lionelsoni]

The B terminal is wired straight to a roller, with no intervening whistle-reversing contoller; so it should not be hard to find an electrical fault.  It's got to be an open circuit at the terminal itself (apparently not), at the roller, or in the wire between them.  Also consider the possibility that the problem is mechanical, that is, that the handle has become disconnected from the roller somehow and is not moving it onto the transformer's secondary winding.

[yamaha226]

Thanks bob,im gonna look again tonight to see what i can find. its just weird that every thing inside looks good ,every other function works as it should just no power coming out of that post. i really am grateful for the help. i do love workin on post war stuff and this is the first one to stump me,not done yet though.

[EIS2]

Try probing the defective channel with an AC voltmeter.  Start at the pickup on the coil and keep moving out until you get to the appropriate terminal.  That should show you where you are losing the voltage.

Earl

[yamaha226]

Well i just got time to check out some of you guys suggestions and ended up finding out it was a rivet on the common post that had popped off as stated above (thanks). i would have never noticed that for a while. All is well as i replaced it with one i had with a nut on the back. thank you all.

[xgrep]

Hi all. I'm new to this forum, but have enjoyed model railroading off and on for years (still have a large working Jouef set from when we lived in Europe).

I'm in the process of organizing my garage (something that hasn't happened since, oh, maybe 1983) and just dusted off my beloved 275W ZW only to find that all of the common binding posts had disconnected themselves from the rail. Where can the recommended "cheater" posts with threaded back be obtained? I did a quick search on Google, but, being new to train forums, don't really know where to look.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

[lionelsoni]

If you don't mind having a nut showing on the outside of the case, you can use an 8-32 screw.  Put the head on the inside of the case.

[TrainLarry]

The easy replacement binding post part #T-159R is available here. Search for it under 'Lionel Alpha Parts' in the left pane.

Larry

[xgrep]

Thanks, all. I'd like to keep it looking original in addition to working, so the thought of a "hack" with machine screws and nuts wouldn't be my first choice. Thanks for the pointer to ttender ... I had looked there, but didn't know what to search for. This is the valuable info that those in the know have, for which I'm very grateful. Now those #51 bulbs are hard to find cheap too :-).

[Hudson#685]

XGREP,

Jeff (The Train Tender) is a great guy to deal with.

John

[lionelsoni]

I assume you mean "hack" in a nice way...;-)

http://tmrc.mit.edu/dictionary.html

[xgrep]

LOL, yes, indeed :-). "back in the day" (when a hacker was a talented but probably young and somewhat undisciplined software engineer - like Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg), it only had the positive meaning, and was probably more related to "ad hoc" than to the verb often associated with axe murderers. My intent was somewhere between "ad hoc" and definition (4) in the infamous tmrc dictionary (an entropy booster? :-)

[rtraincollector]

xgrep

Thanks, all. I'd like to keep it looking original in addition to working, so the thought of a "hack" with machine screws and nuts wouldn't be my first choice. Thanks for the pointer to ttender ... I had looked there, but didn't know what to search for. This is the valuable info that those in the know have, for which I'm very grateful. Now those #51 bulbs are hard to find cheap too :-).

If you call jeff he will tell you what he has that can do the job also so if you can't find it on his site call him he'll help you get what you need.

[lionelsoni]

Scroll down to the "unit of hackery" in the TMRC Standard Units.

[webenda]

lionelsoni

Scroll down to the "unit of hackery" in the TMRC Standard Units.

Then scroll back up to read, "these units are on par with the farad for capacitance, i.e. they are so incredibly large that they are almost never achieved." Too, too funny Bob.

[lionelsoni]

This thread inspired me to search for--and find!--my old TMRC membership card, as well as my original Dittoed copies of the 1959 dictionary, operating rules (Rule G:  "...The excessive use of the clubroom for immoral purposes shall be frowned upon."), a layout map, some Tech Nickel Plate ("The Green River Route") schedules ("The Railroad is not responsible for late trains, early trains, indeed any trains.  The Railroad, in fact, is not responsible"), and the TNP memo form, which leaves only a few square inches for the actual message amid a lot of nonsensical bureaucratic clutter.