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Would it be possible to reverse the wires that go to the can motors so when you go forward with the remote or app, the train will go in reverse?  Specifically with the Santa Fe Lionchief FT Diesel, from the set, 6-84719.  Wanted to put two of the FTs together in the normal "AA" fashion, but obviously one would be backwards so it would want to go in the opposite direction of the other.  If it would work then they would both be controlled with the remote working correctly, even though one would be backwards.

My uneducated guess is that the electronics sees the remote going forward and just sends the signal to the motors to spin one way, then the other way when the remote is in reverse.

I know with the ERR upgrades, the manual states if the motor direction is not correct, just switch the wires.

Thanks

 

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I have many K-line diesels with can motors. They are mounted opposite each other and are wired accordingly to spin in the same direction. I would assume you can do as you propose. I wire all of mine in series to slow them down. The blue and brown wires off the board are the power leads to the motors. Yellow and blue are the hots from the motors. These show after I changed them to series.

I'm not familiar with ERR so someone who is may provide more info.

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Bob

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Ok, I opened it up. 

The red/black wires go to the pick up rollers and the frame. (First Picture).

The blue/red wires first go to the back motor, then brown/blue wires go from the back motor to the front motor (Picture 2 & 3).

Would I only need to reverse/splice the blue/red wires, somewhere before it gets to the back motor?  I don't know if I can reverse them within the white connector.  If I can, that would be the easiest, if not, splice the red blue.

Before I do anything, I just want to make sure my thinking is correct.

Tony

 

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Tony H posted:

I am able to switch the blue & red wire in the little white plug if that would work.  That would switch the wires to both motors.  I have not put power to it yet.  Waiting for people with more knowledge to chime in.  Like you mentioned in your earlier post, the white clip has little tabs that can release the wires.

That should do what you want, as well as being easy and reversible (no pun intended).

Wait. I did intend that pun.

Last edited by RoyBoy

Jim, they do look good.  I bought a NIB B unit from 1993 of Ebay, should have it next week. 

Since I bought two set, I am debating on keeping the extra coaches.  Might want to renumber/rename them if I can.  The second observation car will be sold on Ebay, have one bid already.  All the tack will go as well.  By the time all the extras are sold, the second enging will be under $100.

The remote controls them both fine.  Turned the sounds off in one, but those 4 little can motors pull no problem.

These are DC motors as I understand it.   The direction of spin is determined by the plus and minus at the motor.   So reversing the wires right at the motor would accomplish what  you want.    And if  you do it there,  you will not affect any other functions on a control board as my guess.    

The control board just reverses the polarity on the wires to change direction.

I discovered a very easy way to accomplish this. I simply swapped the motor positions in one of the units. In other words, I removed the motor in the front of the locomotive and put it in the rear location and put the rear motor in the front. With the motor positions swapped, they will drive the locomotive in the reverse direction. I did need to lengthen the wires on one of the motors a bit but that is the ONLY wiring modification needed. I've been running two Lionchief Santa Fe FT's in a consist this way for over a year now and they work flawlessly together. One remote controls both locomotives. I also added a couple of Lionel FT non-powered dummy B units to the consist.

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In the category of "why DIDN'T I do that."

Back when this set was available on Amazon (I think that is where it was) for $209, I almost bought a set just to add the second FT to the set we already have.  Now with a total of four add-on cars (bought the first two already) I really wish I had gone ahead and bought it when it was such a good price.

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