Hi all, I purchased a Lionel 127 station at a garage sale (i.e. no returns). I replaced the old wiring but the bimetal strip isn't bending when power is applied. The coil around the strip looks good, the light goes on and I've tried flipping the power source between the first and third posts. Can the bimetal strip wear out over time?
Replies sorted oldest to newest
What does the train do when it comes into the stop block?
Below is the schematic of the 132 stop station - I don't have the 127 schematic, but believe they are essentially the same. If you have an ohmmeter, disconnect the wiring to the 127's terminals, and measure the resistance from terminal 1 to terminal 3. If the resistance is open circuit, the nichrome heating wire is defective, or the wiring from the terminals to the nichrome heating wire is open. If the resistance is 0 ohms, the bimetal contacts are closed, and I would like to think that you might be able to slightly bend the bimetal to open the contacts.
As I am sure you know, when the engine is within the isolated block, it will stop, and complete a circuit through the engines motor to supply power to the nicrhome heating wire, causing the bimetal to bend, making its contacts, which applies full power to the engine, and away you go. A friend had one of these, and his problem turned out to be that his engine at the speed he ran did not fit within the size of the isolated track section - adding another piece of track inside the isolated section fixed his problem.
Med, thank you, I will try the testing.
Rob, on the fast or slow settings it just stops. On continuous it runs through just fine.
Yes Bi-Metal Strips can and do wear out.
Remember the old Flasher Units for turn signal that made the clicking sound.
Those were ALL Bi-Metal Strip Switches and they could fail either SHORTED (Closed) or OPEN (No Connection).
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
