E-unit tester

Yes I do and I'll try in the morning to send it to you. I've built one and it works great!

I would also be very interested in this

Ray

I built an e-unit tester using three pilot lamps and three diodes. When the e-unit is working properly, one light, representing the field always lights. The other two lights alternate, representing the connections to the brush holders.

During one visit to Madison Hardware in NYC they had an e-unit test set up sitting out. It had an e-unit vise, and a motor mounted to the board, along with solid wire, very neatly bent to make the circuitry. I think there were Fahnestock clips for the e-unit wires. (It wasn't for sale)

One of the old Lionel service station bulletins (probably early 1960s) also had a customer tip to put together an e-unit tester.

I know it's from a CTT article, but could we try to get the directions posted somewhere public?

There was an article in the june 1991 CTT on repairing e-Units,  the late John Grams (aka, Ray Plummer) described how to take it apart, clean it, test it, and put it back together.  I have repaired several e-units recently, you can test the solenoid by placing test leads on the soder lugs and applying a brief burst of power to see if the plunger is  pulled up.  There is another thread going on repairing e-units, you may want to look at that, otherwise it kind of hit or miss on finding old articles in brand x's magazine.

 https://ogrforum.com/t...pw-horizontal-motors

hope this gets you started in the right direction. 

For a real test of an E-Unit, you should also add a load to simulate real operation.  You can light an LED and not really have a good E-Unit.

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or a real test of an E-Unit, you should also add a load to simulate real operation.  You can light an LED and not really have a good E-Unit.

I am certain you are correct. I used incandescent  pilot lamps, not LED's. That's a little bigger load, but certainly not that of a motor.

So far, I haven't had an E-unit that tested OK with my little tester that did not work correctly when installed. I don't use it very often.

I keep a couple of rebuild kits around, and I've never had to test them outside the engine for continuity.  I normally stand them up and cycle them with power to make sure the drum advances properly every time for a couple of trips around, then I stick them in the engine. 

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I keep a couple of rebuild kits around, and I've never had to test them outside the engine for continuity.

I have a pretty good supply of e-unit renewal parts on hand. I also have a drawer full of derelict e-units, waiting for me to get around to rebuilding them.

In all my years I never had a chance to try one out. It's always been a rebuild it & put everything back together world.

God Bless,

"Pappy"

Super Dave

I think a lot would be interested in the E-unit tester circuit, if you could post it on here for those wanting it.  It would be appreciated if you could share the circuit.

No problem. I'll try and post it over the weekend. It works pretty nice and is handy to have on file so if you buy some extras you know if they work or not. 

Thanks to Richard Gonzales (OGR member) who had the article on HSL DVD, he provided the complete article.  For those that are interested, here it is.  Thanks to Rich.

Thank you for posting this article and making it available to the group.

Ray

As Ray said "THANK YOU" for posting Teledoic & Rich Gonzales.    Lenny J