Saw on the Bay a battery eliminator for Lionel P/W 1.5v horns...has anybody tried one? It's a small unit with 1.5v output...looking for comments before buying...thanks all....joe
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Not that hard to build one of these.
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I've built a LM317 based circuit similar to the one above that fit into a C or D cell battery adapter pictured. I'm not aware of another product that drops in so simply:
https://ogrforum.com/...23#66610802182583723
There are also commodity voltage reducer boards that use the LM317 or you can build your own.
If you opt to bypass the battery by using a rectifier, there is a tutorial on The Nixcrossing YouTube channel that is pretty straightforward.
I just bought one on line for my NYC F-3 2344. Since I seldom use the engine and less the horn I thought it would be a good idea to test the horn first. Of course the horn is not working properly. It works fine if I pinch the contactors together. I sanded both sides of the contactors. I squeezed the contactors closer together. I sprayed CRC on them. I checked for loose solder points and loose wires etc. It does not work on the rails. It will sound briefly then die. Advice please.
@Dennis Rosenthal, Do you have other relay triggered horns/whistles that work in this transformer/track setup?
I ask because it could be the original rectifier in the transformer has aged out, cruddy transformer whistle switch contacts, or even user error as the classic Lionel transformers and their whistle/horn activation controls actually have 3 positions:
Off - No whistle
Pickup- High DC offset just enough initiate the command
Hold - Minimal DC offset to hold the whistle command active and an additional +5V Boost to for older air whistles
The modern electronics generally only react to the Pickup and not the Hold position, but experiment to find what works for you.
The Pickup position is selected by moving the whistle lever partway. Turn it just shy of the Hold position (just shy of the position that provides the 5V boost that brightens the headlight and speeds the motor) to find that pickup position.
The details of the multiple steps of the whistle/horn control are documented in the Lionel literature:
I and a few others have opted to use 9v batteries instead of the D cells for the PW buzzer horns. Wire them in with a 9v battery plug and put them in a PVC tube to fit like the D cell and they work. Some horns may need minor adjustment, many do not. My wife is in music and hates "non-tuned" noise. 9v tends to work better jumping the relay contact. When making a battery replacement, you may be able to go up to 9v. There are already a few 9v batter replacements on the market. There can still be a problem with long term storage of 9v battery in the engine, similar to D cell, but not as often as a D cell it seems.
I already purchased the battery eliminator circuit. I want to be sure the current relay is working properly before moving forward. I am assuming the battery eliminator circuit board still engages the relay.
Dennis...I have converted several PW engines to use 2 AA or AAA batterys, while not an eliminator 3 volts seems to fire the horn with no problem..I tried the circuit I got from the bay...was not happy.
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