lionel transformer whistle control

Hopefully someone like Rob will answer your question on this. I do not think it would be advisable to permanently engage the whistle control. I’m pretty sure whenever the whistle control is activated the AC voltage is increased to compensate for the AC motor in the tender. On newer engines the engine always speeds up cause there is no other motor using up the increased AC voltage. If I’m way off track 😂with this I apologize.

@romiller49 posted:

Hopefully someone like Rob will answer your question on this. I do not think it would be advisable to permanently engage the whistle control. I’m pretty sure whenever the whistle control is activated the AC voltage is increased to compensate for the AC motor in the tender. On newer engines the engine always speeds up cause there is no other motor using up the increased AC voltage. If I’m way off track 😂with this I apologize.

Rod,

You're right on the mark.

The whistle button does indeed switch in a boost to compensate for the whistle motor or diesel electromechanical horn kicking in.  Since Dave doesn't have a whistle motor or horn his engine sucks up that extra boost.

Dave: Most all of what we run, especially the traditionally-sized stuff, is perceived to be too fast for today's finicky tastes, i.e not like real trains, especially when well-tuned and lubricated.  In fact they're usually so fast that a high throttle position will throw them off the track.

Why do you need more speed?

Mike

Better to move up to a LW or RW. The whistle/boost circuit is designed for a limited duty cycle... if you want to use the compensation windings, hard wire the 1033 to bypass the whistle control.

And guess what? Lionel did that for you by making the 1034 transformer - A-U posts are 10-20 volts - which is what the 1033 would be(instead of 5-16 volts) when the whistle circuit is bypassed.

I don't want more speed as much as I want more voltage to make more  smoke output.   As I mentioned earlier in other posts, on post-war Lionel and AF engines. I place a bridge rectifier (or 2 in series) to the motor causing the engine to go slower, but at the same time causing more smoke output and causing the headlight to shine brighter.

@Drummer3 posted:

I don't want more speed as much as I want more voltage to make more  smoke output.

Lionel purports that the CW-80 will do that.

^^What Rob said.  A modern transformer / controller that outputs a chopped-wave AC signal will give you brighter lights and more smoke.  A lot of folks recommend the MTH Z-1000 over Lionel's CW-80.

I would not suggest locking down a whistle switch. I had a whistle control switch stick on a ZW.  I didn't notice it.  About an hour later a lot of smoke came out.  I had to retire the transformer for repairs.