Any documentation would be appreciated.
George
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Nary a nibble, eh? I now have seen two different versions of the inside of a 408E. One has a 4 position terminal strip mounted to the frame, the other has a 6 position terminal strip. What does your 408E look like under the hood? Olsen's was no help since he did mainly short parts lists on the standard gauge, no wiring diagram, at least for this engine. Anybody got a wiring diagram that includes the terminal strip(s)?
George
@Dan65train, Hi Dan - sorry, no picture is visible on either my PC or my iPhone.
George
@GeoPeg, I messaged you
@Dan65train posted:@GeoPeg, I messaged you
Dan, no message. Then I peeked at my phone number in my profile, and sure enuff, it's my land line. It has been changed to my cell, so if you wouldn't mind re-messaging, I would appreciate it - thanks.
George
Update - having found a diagram, it is basically the same as most other e-unit equipped Lionel engines. In this version the brushes are switched, not the field. Also of particular interest to me, the lamps appear to simply be ON whenever there is voltage, i.e. they are NOT directional.
That said, I have seen pendulum style e-units both with and without the extra electrical contacts (built into the e-unit) needed for directional lighting. I suppose at some point, Lionel incorporated that directional feature into some of the 408 engines? I would be curious to know if anyone actually has an example of such an engine.
I did try the old trick of wiring one lamp lead (#53 bulb) to a brush, the other to ground. Then added another lamp wired the same, but to the opposite brush. There appears to be only about a 2v difference presented between the hot leads to each bulb, i.e. when supplied with 12vac, one bulb would always be at 12vac while the other received about 10vac, so the second bulb only dimmed very slightly. The effect was not good enough to bother with in my opinion. . I know this method is usable, as I have done it in a 44 ton switcher, but even in that arrangement, the bulb which should have been extinguished was still visible, but at a greatly reduced brightness. I would be curious to know if the same trick has been done using LEDs, whereby the difference of 2 volts could be used to trigger a directional circuit? Has anyone ever done that? Thanks!
George
