2466WX Whistle relay question

[kpolak]

I am trying to get my 2466wx whistle to well...whistle.

I can activate the whistle by manually tripping the relay, but it won't connect by itself.  I cleaned the contacts, and tried bending them closer together, but nothing seemed to work.

I installed new rectifier disks on the ZW today, and I can see the passenger lights get lighter, and changing directions of the locomotive has never been better.  I am assuming the rectifier disks are good, and working.

I did a continuity test on the relay, and it seemed intermittant, but I was still getting connection.  Is the relay bad?  How does this work?  Is there a magnetic field generated by the relay, to draw in the contact?  Can I take this apart, and repair this myself, or should I just buy another?

Thanks,

Kurt

[Jumijo]

I had/have the same problem with one of my pw whistle tenders. Forget the number, but I was told by none other than Jim Barrett that it is most likely a motor shorting problem. He suggested buying a new or used motor cheaply at a train show and swap them out.

One other thing I will suggest is that you make sure the relay is well grounded. Sometimes soldering a wire from the frame to the top of the relay holder makes these old guys work better. 

Jim 

[kpolak]

Ran a 22ga solid copper wire from the screw on the top of the relay to the screw holding the bottom of the whistle.

No change.

I'm going to check to make sure that the power is getting to the relay with a direct connection from the transformer.

Thanks,

Kurt

[initagain]

 

Here is a humble suggestion.  If the wires from the relay solenoid coil appear to have been re-soldered or you re-soldered them yourself, disconnect them by "unsoldering", and take a knife blade and scrape the ends of the wires before reconnecting them.  The coil wire referred to above has a coating of shellac on it which needs to be removed so that good connections can be made.  Electrical current will not pass through the shellac coating.   I had this problem several times before I finally figured out what needed to be done.  I hope this suggestion works for you.

[kpolak]

Sorry, looks like the issue is on the ZW contact plate assembly...right side.  Singled out again!  Why can't the left side go bad???  I don't use the left side.

Now I can't get the whistle to stop...  I know I have a solution for that; I just read abut it this am.

initagain:  I did notice the coating...I realized that was a problem when I tried testing earlier.  Thanks for the heads up. 

Thanks for the help.

Kurt

[kpolak]

A few squirts of the old contact cleaner did the trick.

Kurt