An Old Question....again

[Jim K]

Hello,

I recently purchased a CW80 power pack. The unit seems to work fine. I have adjusted the accessory voltage as directed with no problem and have run 2 out of my 3 Lion Chief Plus locos fine when using the remote. When I try to run those units in conventional the locos just sit there. Horns/bells work just fine. I have tried cycling the power on/off to move out of the neutral position I assume I'm in but cannot do so. The lights in the locos dim when the direction button is pressed. Is there a procedure to get the locos to move when in conventional/transformer mode? The manuals just mention the neutral/forward/neutral/reverse technique. I know this is not a new problem except to me. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Jim K

[chuck]

Lion Chief Plus? Did you flip the switch on the loco to conventional (aka NOT remote)?

[Jim K]

Chuck,

Yes to flipping the switch. I have poked around a bit more and think the problem is in the CW80. I placed one of the Lion Chief locos on the inner
loop which has an old Type S unit serving the load and it worked okay. Well at least it would go forward and backwards. Not too sure what to do now.

Jim

[chuck]

The loco's headlights come on when you power up the CW and they flicker when you hit the direction button?

I'll see if I can find the old posts from OGRR that had some tech info on CW-80. It is an electronic switching unit and it does use a modified sign wave for output.

Have you got an old school illuminated passenger car (incandescent bulbs, not LEDS?) If so, you can see if the transformer is really putting out any appreciable power as the bulbs will provide a load to work against. If the car lights up and you can vary the brightness with the throttle it is probably working.

[Jim K]

The loco's headlights come on when you power up the CW and they flicker when you hit the direction button?

I'll see if I can find the old posts from OGRR that had some tech info on CW-80. It is an electronic switching unit and it does use a modified sign wave for output.

Have you got an old school illuminated passenger car (incandescent bulbs, not LEDS?) If so, you can see if the transformer is really putting out any appreciable power as the bulbs will provide a load to work against. If the car lights up and you can vary the brightness with the throttle it is probably working.

Yep, the lights come on fine and then dim when the direction button is pressed. I put an old Lionel B&M switcher on the track and it worked fine. The horn about blew me out of the basement! I adjusted the accessory voltage fine too. This guy seems to have all of his brawn, just maybe not all his brains?

[robert.]

Do you have your command base plugged in? If so. Unplug it and disconnect it from your track. Only have your cw connected to your track. Things should run for you. If not. Try some test track on the floor.

[Jim K]

Do you have your command base plugged in? If so. Unplug it and disconnect it from your track. Only have your cw connected to your track. Things should run for you. If not. Try some test track on the floor.

Robert,

No command base. I'm just running with Lion Chief Plus locos on a CW80. The locos run fine on my older transformers, like a Type S. They run in either remote or conventional. When on the CW80 they run fine in remote but don't move when in the conventional (transformer) setting.

Jim K

[jwse30]

It sounds like the CW-80 isn't shutting itself completely off (0 volts) when you press the direction button. Do the engines work properly if you use the lever to shut off track power instead of the direction button? Perhaps the direction button needs to be depressed and held for a period before the reverse units activate?

I'm not overly familiar with either technology you are using here, so forgive me if these ideas do not apply. I own a CW-80 that gets used for Christmas tree duty, and I think I have one Lionchief engine (not plus, so remote is the only way to run it).

Hope this helps,

J White

[chuck]

Lion Chief plus may have issues with CW 80 in conventional mode. Lionel tried to set up CW to allow low voltage not to trip mechanical E units. Lion Chief in conventional has similar "feature". These might be fighting with each other.

You could try wiring in a simple toggle switch between the transformer and track to cut power to try to cycle the e-unit. Transformer also has a delay on voltage rise and fall, aka it may not be quick enough to trip the electronic e unit in the LionChief plus engines.

[Jim K]

Lion Chief plus may have issues with CW 80 in conventional mode. Lionel tried to set up CW to allow low voltage not to trip mechanical E units. Lion Chief in conventional has similar "feature". These might be fighting with each other.

You could try wiring in a simple toggle switch between the transformer and track to cut power to try to cycle the e-unit. Transformer also has a delay on voltage rise and fall, aka it may not be quick enough to trip the electronic e unit in the LionChief plus engines.

Thanks Chuck. It appears this voltage set value is most likely the problem. With nothing on the track I'm seeing 3-4 volts. Now this is using an old standard volt-ohm meter and I have heard that the waveform on the CW is not sinusoidal. Anyhew, this voltage is always there unless I put an old, like 30 year old, B&M switcher on the track. Then it goes to zero and that loco works fine. I was able to short out this voltage and get the RS-3 to run in forward for a little bit. I never could get it to go in reverse. Then I just looked around and said to myself: self, don't you always run using the remote with those three Lion Chief Plus locos anyhow? Yes, I do. Other non LC+ locos appear to do fine. So maybe Lionel just out smarted themselves here. But I believe the LC+ controls are the wave of the future for the less adorned locos and the train set equipment. It is a great system.

Thanks all for your time.

Jim K

[chuck]

You are very welcome!