Williams Horn not working with ZW

[67flh]

I have  Wms. F-3 and a E-7 AA units and the horn will not blow when I use my ZW's whistle switch. They worked on my friends track and he uses a ZW. What should I do to remedy this?

Brad in Iowa

[phillyreading]

Brad,

The problem may be in the ZW you have, but try moving the whistle control to between 1/2 to 2/3 of the normal way to activate a Lionel whistle, you may also need a few seconds to activate a Williams whistle. Also are these newer Williams by Bachmann with the True Blast-2 units? If the newer TB-2 by Bachmann you will need to reverse the wire to the track and see if the whistle works after that. The last possibility is that your ZW's whistle circuit needs updating with new electronic diodes.

Lee F.

[phillyreading]

I went over to the Bachmann website and they advise not using a Lionel CW-80 transformer with their new stuff as the CW-80 has some kind of chopped or broken waveform for the output and that distorts the signal to the engine and may make it blow the horn or whistle all the time at full volume, and your engine or streetcar sit where it is at.

If you need a new transformer, I would advise getting either the Atlas or Bachmann 80 watt transformer or the Z-1000 transformer by MTH. These should work with all Williams engines or streetcars.

Go to a train show if you can not afford to buy these new, sometimes there will be a good bargain on a rather new transformer for under $50.00.

Lee F.

[Warburton]

I have the same problem with my Williams GP-38 (a newer model). I can get the horn to blow rarely by just touching the whistle know on my postwar TW transformer.

[phillyreading]

Since the horn works, it might be the transformer disc that has burnt out a little thru use. Try another transformer or the Lionel sound activation button, if it works correctly then the horn or whistle feature may need repair.

When you say newer model do you mean Williams by Bachmann or Williams only(before Bachmann)? Williams thru the years has used at least three differant horn or sound systems in their engines. Bachmann has only the True Blast-2 system whistle/horn & bell, can only access one feature at a time with TB-2.

Lee F.

[rtraincollector]

Depending on transformer I use to get williams to sound some times it just barely touching/pushing the horn/whistle control my post war zw it has a certain area it works if I push all the way no go . Other engines work fine.

[phillyreading]

rtraincollector

Depending on transformer I use to get williams to sound some times it just barely touching/pushing the horn/whistle control my post war zw it has a certain area it works if I push all the way no go . Other engines work fine.

Williams by Bachmann claims that is normal for the postwar ZW & other postwar transformers and the way it operates, for the horn to work when the whistle button is just partially pushed.

Lee F.

[SPFan]

 If you have a digital multimeter, set it to DC volts and measure the DC offset when you hit the whistle lever. You should have at least 3 volts to trigger the Williams sound. Selenium rectifiers get leaky over time and the DC offset drops. Replacing the rectifier disk with a diode should help. MY 1033 triggers both horn/whistle and bell (with reversed track wires) just fine with a solid state diode.

 

Pete

[lionelsoni]

ZWs and other Lionel transformers use copper-oxide diodes, not selenium.  If you replace it, you should know that the Lionel schematic drawings generally show the polarity opposite to the way the transformers were actually wired.