Thanks for the first view of the inside of the ZW Transformer I have had. And its a view of what I can expect when I eventually have to open one on mine to upgrade or repair. Again, thanks.
Hey your welcome, I'm glad this helped. Remember to take pictures or make a video while the disassembly so the reassembly will go smoother. Keep em running
Good show of a real safety problem. Note to all train people. Be wise about the next person that might have your trains; ones you decide to sell later or when you are gone. I saw a recent video of a guy evaluating a item he just bought and then he had to work on it. So after commenting on this or that paint problem or scuff, he is now working on it with out a soft cloth on his bench and now that same body he was just fussing over is getting more rubs, scuffs, and more damage.
The Weller solder guns need those nuts tightened often, and the copper tips are sooo much better, and yes they work better if the tip flat part is against the part needing heated up. I went to the variable heat stick irons sometime back for most of my solder work for the sake of avoiding to much heat on circuit boards but I still can heat it higher when necessary. I also bought copper tips for them to heat up fast but they don't last as long as the metal tips that came with it.
Sounds like you have a short or grounded power wire. This could be an old wire that the plastic covering has dried and fell off. or this may be a wire that rubbed the coating off. You shouldn't plug it in till you have the transformer serviced.
I understand your reasoning but you don’t want to polarize a PW Lionel Transformer, it can interfere with it ability to be phased with another Lionel Transformer( usually another ZW)
This might be a good time to use a polarized plug and make all your transformers the same plug orientation so multiple transformers on the same layout will have common polarity. Original plugs on ZW were not polar. And circuit breakers were slow. Modern up grades at this point are in one’s own interest.
That is a very good point. I looked at the cords that i had bought from my supplyer and none of the were polarzied. I have five more with out that type of plug. I'm hoping the next order that i get will be polarized. Youer correct if your running pre war or post war these work great , But for the newer digital trains I recomend that you use the upgraded transformers that if there is a short you don't fry the computer board.
Sorry to criticize, but a polarized plug is NOT the best thing for any toy transformer. As far as phasing goes, there's no guarantee that you'll match the plug polarity with the phasing on all the various types of old transformers out there. In addition to that, TOY transformers have to be FLOATING supplies with no reference to the power grid. It's safer. A polarized plug indicates that there was some attention paid to that, and it's not what you want. Non-polarized plugs are the only way to go with Lionel equipment EXCEPT for the Command Base and Legacy Base. Those require proper polarization so the ground plug in the power adapter is inserted. The ground in the house wiring becomes your 455 kHz antenna while the single wire to the outer rails becomes the ground plane for better signal reception.
@@cpnscarletare you not saying the same this we stated? The house wiring s/b same ground as transformer case and the outside rails on the tracks for multi postwar Lionel transformers using polarized plugs. The discussion and video is illustrating post war Lionel transformer. I could care less about modern stuff or solid state that is not the topic. A polarized plug in this case insures all the Lionel Postwar transformers output is in tune with each other on all subsequent receptacle plug in’s to wall outlet. Yes, Lionel postwar transformers lead posts also need to be wired same negative to outside rails too.
On the surface this has a great point until someone wires one of the plugs different then the rest, so the on the output side you now have to swap around your track wires making the bell and whistle controllers mixed up. On the solid state transformers this is helpful but on the purely conventional it only makes more of a mess, unless; your transformer does not have a common connection and no bell or whistle controllers built in..
Thanks for the first view of the inside of the ZW Transformer I have had. And its a view of what I can expect when I eventually have to open one on mine to upgrade or repair. Again, thanks.
Hey your welcome, I'm glad this helped. Remember to take pictures or make a video while the disassembly so the reassembly will go smoother. Keep em running
Good show of a real safety problem. Note to all train people. Be wise about the next person that might have your trains; ones you decide to sell later or when you are gone.
I saw a recent video of a guy evaluating a item he just bought and then he had to work on it. So after commenting on this or that paint problem or scuff, he is now working on it with out a soft cloth on his bench and now that same body he was just fussing over is getting more rubs, scuffs, and more damage.
Some times your too focused on just one issue and forget the other things....LOL LOL
Just a suggestion, clean the tip of your soldering gun. That gunk on the tip will make the tip crack faster and not get as hot. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you. Ordering my new plug today.
The Weller solder guns need those nuts tightened often, and the copper tips are sooo much better, and yes they work better if the tip flat part is against the part needing heated up. I went to the variable heat stick irons sometime back for most of my solder work for the sake of avoiding to much heat on circuit boards but I still can heat it higher when necessary. I also bought copper tips for them to heat up fast but they don't last as long as the metal tips that came with it.
Thanks for the video. Very informative.
Your welcome. I hope everyone gets something from this. I'll be doing the carbon rollers soon.
So when you put through the new wire of the new cord, does it matter which side go top or bottom? If so how can i tell?
Hey I got the same transformer and Everytime I turned on the power the green light dim and you tell me what the problem is
Sounds like you have a short or grounded power wire. This could be an old wire that the plastic covering has dried and fell off. or this may be a wire that rubbed the coating off. You shouldn't plug it in till you have the transformer serviced.
a proper polarized three prong plug is appropriate
I understand your reasoning but you don’t want to polarize a PW Lionel Transformer, it can interfere with it ability to be phased with another Lionel Transformer( usually another ZW)
This might be a good time to use a polarized plug and make all your transformers the same plug orientation so multiple transformers on the same layout will have common polarity. Original plugs on ZW were not polar. And circuit breakers were slow. Modern up grades at this point are in one’s own interest.
That is a very good point. I looked at the cords that i had bought from my supplyer and none of the were polarzied. I have five more with out that type of plug. I'm hoping the next order that i get will be polarized. Youer correct if your running pre war or post war these work great , But for the newer digital trains I recomend that you use the upgraded transformers that if there is a short you don't fry the computer board.
Sorry to criticize, but a polarized plug is NOT the best thing for any toy transformer. As far as phasing goes, there's no guarantee that you'll match the plug polarity with the phasing on all the various types of old transformers out there. In addition to that, TOY transformers have to be FLOATING supplies with no reference to the power grid. It's safer. A polarized plug indicates that there was some attention paid to that, and it's not what you want. Non-polarized plugs are the only way to go with Lionel equipment EXCEPT for the Command Base and Legacy Base. Those require proper polarization so the ground plug in the power adapter is inserted. The ground in the house wiring becomes your 455 kHz antenna while the single wire to the outer rails becomes the ground plane for better signal reception.
@@cpnscarletare you not saying the same this we stated? The house wiring s/b same ground as transformer case and the outside rails on the tracks for multi postwar Lionel transformers using polarized plugs. The discussion and video is illustrating post war Lionel transformer. I could care less about modern stuff or solid state that is not the topic. A polarized plug in this case insures all the Lionel Postwar transformers output is in tune with each other on all subsequent receptacle plug in’s to wall outlet. Yes, Lionel postwar transformers lead posts also need to be wired same negative to outside rails too.
On the surface this has a great point until someone wires one of the plugs different then the rest, so the on the output side you now have to swap around your track wires making the bell and whistle controllers mixed up. On the solid state transformers this is helpful but on the purely conventional it only makes more of a mess, unless; your transformer does not have a common connection and no bell or whistle controllers built in..
That was probabally done 50 years ago by someone who wasnt a collector.