cannot control voltage lionel amc

Bill, does the light on the AMC blink when you are sending commands from the remote (it should blink when any command for any eng, acc, etc. is sent)?

Did you assign it an ID with the jumper off and then replace the jumper?

With the jumper off you also have to select AC or DC output voltage and interactive or Constant mode. Replace the jumper. See page 14 for a list of the commands.

What accessory are you trying to operate. The instructions for the Log Loader have a mistake. The wire that goes all the way to the right to the AC terminal should connect to the other (empty) terminal not the one that's shown in the diagram.

hello steve. thanks for the reply. yes, the amc blinks with each command i give it. i assigned it odd numbers with the jumper off and selected ac. the accessory i will be operating will be the gantry crane but i have an ohm meter connected to the output of the amc to see if the voltage changes, and it does not. here is the steps i did by the manual. see if i am doing this right. jumper off assign odd number[31]. put jumper back on. waited 5 minutes to do other things, came back took jumper off hit aux1,then 1, then letter l for ac voltage, used boost/brake to set voltage and pressed aux1, then 4. this was for motor 1. i then pressed set and replaced jumper. put ohm meter leads on motor 1 output and check voltage while moving boost/brake up and down. no change in voltage. the light on the amc blinks everytime i do something with the legacy controller. thanks again. 

You did hit SET after assigning the address and after setting it to AC and interactive right? (I know, dumb question but it happens)

The only other thing I can think of is if the box is powered by a transformer that has a command signal on it (the one wire connection) Lou Kovak who designed these boxes suggested that a separate power source be used because sometimes the signal gets corrupted. I use an old small transformer but I've also used a door bell transformer

If I think of anything else I'll post it.

hello steve and yes i did hit set. another thing that is wrong is that when i hit halt, the voltage does not change. according to the manual, everything is suppose to stop which i am assuming the voltage goes to zero. thanks again. bill

If when you hit Halt the voltage stays up then the unit is bad. I would return it and get another. It does work well when you get a good one.

I don't have that unit so I'm not sure but are you making these voltage measurements under a load? With the sawtooth waveform and a regular meter I don't believe you will see the voltage change as the waveform is always at 18volts. A couple of standard filament light 18 volt bulbs hooked to it should show the difference. The duration it's on is what gets you less voltage. 

Ron

hello steve. thanks again for your input. i will let you know the out come. railfan ron, i am not measuring the voltage under a load. but will do that shortly and let you know. thanks again for the input. bill

hello railfan ron. just tried the amc under a load. no change. thanks again. 

hello steve and railfan ron. just an update on this problem i posted. got the amc working. comes to find out operator error. as railfan ron said, i had to have the amc under a load and when hooking it up to the gantry crane i was able to adjust the voltage. lionel's manual not very clear on some of the things but got it working. i want to thank you both for trying to help. 

Glade to hear you got it working.

Glad to hear you got it working also. These new electronically controlled voltage devices are very hard to measure voltage and or work correctly unless they have a load on them. The easiest way to see is run them with something and the second easiest is to put a scope on them. Since most people don't have a scope there is only one way.

Ron

LifeLike makes Hobby Troubleshooters. [ About $4] They test for 3-18 Volt output. They have a tiny bulb at one end and there are alligator clips at the other, red/black wire coded.

I used them to test my BPC and ASC to verify that the wire codes are in place before I place them at the power station. First step was to make sure they all had power to them. Since all of these controllers come off of the same power unit, daisy chained, I was able to verify that the power worked between them, they lit the bulb at the end of the chain. Surprised me. Next step - in progress - is to verify that power comes off of the BPC track lead when the correct TPC/BPC coding is entered.

I will then carry this power station to its place under the bench work and connect the appropriate wires to the bus[s] around the layout.

Ralph

I set the voltage after it was hooked up to the accessory.  That way you can tell which voltage works best with that accessory.  You keep increasing the voltage till the best output is attained, then Set to hold it at that output.