I need some advice from the circuitry experts out there. I have a Lionel 614 Alaskan switcher, with which I am going nuts, trying to figure out where all the wires are connected. I have the Lionel postwar operating and repair manual, which provides a wiring schematic, but I just can't figure it out. The loco has a 2-position e-unit, with a double-wound field coil. I can get it to go in only one direction, so I think I'm wiring the field coil incorrectly. The e-unit cycles properly and current goes through it correctly. In plain layman's language, can someone offer a solution to this hair-pulling dilemma.
initagain I need some advice from the circuitry experts out there. I have a Lionel 614 Alaskan switcher, with which I am going nuts, trying to figure out where all the wires are connected. I have the Lionel postwar operating and repair manual, which provides a wiring schematic, but I just can't figure it out. The loco has a 2-position e-unit, with a double-wound field coil. I can get it to go in only one direction, so I think I'm wiring the field coil incorrectly. The e-unit cycles properly and current goes through it correctly. In plain layman's language, can someone offer a solution to this hair-pulling dilemma.
It might help if the members had the circuit diagram in front of them. Perhaps the link below would help. Is it the same one you have?
http://pictures.olsenstoy.com/cd/locos/loc600p8.pdf
Follow the diagram as referenced above.
A common mistake, though, is forgetting to make sure the terminal lug off to the side, cinched under the brushplate screw, is insulated from ground. It's just screwed down there for convenience, not for any electrical connection to the motor body.
Rob
There is one very common problem that arises in diesels with two position e-units. As noted above, the field coil is double wound. Two wires are twisted together, and soldered to one of the brush holders. One wire is soldered to the terminal that sits between the two brush holders. The fourth (last) wire is soldered to a solder lug. The solder lug is mounted to one of the brushplate cover screws. That solder lug must be insulated from the motor. On a 614, there should be a nylon bushing in the solder lug hole. When you tighten the screw, it must not touch the metal of the solder lug. On some late locomotives, there is no nylon bushing. A nylon screw is used in its place. These engines use metric brushplate screws.
Back to your 614 switcher. If the nylon bushing is missing, you can try replacing the original metal screw with a nylon one, or use a shouldered fiber washer as a replacement. The shouldered fiber washer will probably require the lug's hole to be enlarged. I think you can get the nylon bushing from the Train Tender. In my experience, they have been hard to obtain.
The nylon "shoulder washer" that insulates the screw holding the solder lug on the top of the armature plate is indeed essential if a nylon screw is not used. You might be able to find a Nylon screw at your local hardware store. Size should be 4-40 x 3/16. (Either way the wires attached to the solder lug must not be grounded to the motor frame.) The part number for the nylon washer is 202-108. (Parts supplier Brasseur Electric Trains of Saginaw, MI, suggests substituting 633-107) There is a good pic of it here:
http://pictures.olsenstoy.com/cd/ho/d200b.pdf
You say you "can get it to go in only one direction". Does going in that direction alternate with standing still; or does it to in that direction every time you turn the track voltage off and on again? If it is the latter, you probably have the field wires mixed up. Were all four of them separated when you went to rewire it; or were two still twisted together?
Bob Nelson
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