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While difficult for me to explain, it is fun to work on these. I have cleaned and refurbished several of them. The important part is the metal tab above the motor that makes and breaks the electrical circuit to the reverse unit coil. When the motor is in operation, this tab should open the circuit using the magnetic attraction to the motor field. Gravity will close the circuit and cycle the reverse unit (BRIEFLY) when power is restored to the unit.
Sorry if this is confusing, but it is basically how it works. It is easy to see why Lionel so desired the Ives e-unit design.
William1,
Most people I know lock the units in forward or remove them totally. And again, if you have room you can replace it with a 3-position E-unit.
Look up, hojak or ron m they can instruct you better. Just a thought
Nice timing on this post, guys, thanks. I am cleaning and puzzling my way through my first pendulum unit.
Soooo..... the gull-wing brass lever is to lock the unit in forward, otherwise the flapper is free to swing to and fro as the motor attraction dictates, right?
I'm just curious, as my motor has been removed and seen some - um - "blacksmithing" in the distant past.
1.At some time, the wheels being re-inserted pushed the cloth aside and bent one of the brass contact strips upwards.
2.The wire along the top of the motor didn't see crumbling of the insulation: it looks completely melted.
3. Does the headlight pigtail (which is missing)solder to the pickup plunger on the roller mounting? I have a small blob of solder visible.
4. What is the purpose of the large contact strip on top of the motor? Is it for an option that isn't fitted, or did somebody put it back in upside-down, and it's supposed to be the flapper contact?
Thanks for any wisdom, and warnings if you foresee a massive shorting of electricity in my near future.
Hey there Guys,
I'm new to the forum and recently had to rewire a 260E with a pendulum unit. I was lucky to find a copy of the original patent for it online which details the wiring for it. (I would have uploaded the images but haven't spent the time to learn how yet.) If you go the the homepage for Dr. Tinker follow the link for Patent/Archives and pull up the information for June 24, 1930, L. Caruso Reversible Electric Locomotive. Hopefully this will help answer any wiring questions you have. I also noticed that on electric style locomotives you can wire them for directional lighting with the pendulum unit.
Post a pic when you are done!
Allen
For me personally, I am not rewiring anything. I am just curious to know how it is intended to function. What makes it reverse, or change directions?
A pendulum reverse unit - just by the name, it makes me think the motion of the engine, by stopping, will change it's direction. The 'pendulum' would swing on a stop and change the heading. But, I don't see that in practice.
Hey there Guys,
I'm new to the forum and recently had to rewire a 260E with a pendulum unit. I was lucky to find a copy of the original patent for it online which details the wiring for it. (I would have uploaded the images but haven't spent the time to learn how yet.) If you go the the homepage for Dr. Tinker follow the link for Patent/Archives and pull up the information for June 24, 1930, L. Caruso Reversible Electric Locomotive. Hopefully this will help answer any wiring questions you have. I also noticed that on electric style locomotives you can wire them for directional lighting with the pendulum unit.
Post a pic when you are done!
Allen
Here's the patent:
<https://www.google.com/patents...&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA>
Ron M
For me personally, I am not rewiring anything. I am just curious to know how it is intended to function. What makes it reverse, or change directions?
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I'm messing around with my first pendulum unit. As far as I can figure, the pendulum activation goes like this (once I realized what JR Junction was helpfully explaining above)
-The flapper at the front stays attracted to the motor field when the motor has power.
-When the power turns off, the flapper loses attraction, swings up and touches the tiny contact underneath that great big contact strip on top.
-This energizes the solenoid momentarily, which gives the pendulum an almighty smack with the hinged solenoid rod.
-This smack forces the pendulum to swing one way or the other, (i.e., the split metal plate that the rod acts on) and it moves the reverse contactor likewise.
-I was able to mimic this after cleaning, by holding the unit right side up and tapping the solenoid rod with my finger. You will see the pendulum itself rock from one side to the other on each tap.
Does this sound right, Standard Gauge experts?
Firewood asked:
1. At some time, the wheels being re-inserted pushed the cloth aside and bent one of the brass contact strips upwards.
Simply bend it back into position, and use a rubber cement such as Goo to reattach the cloth covering and place a weight on it over night.
2.The wire along the top of the motor didn't see crumbling of the insulation: it looks completely melted.
I think you mean along the top of the e-unit. This lead brings ground to the contact which powers the coil to the e-unit. The contact flapper is always in the contact position unless the lever is used to hold it in the open position. Being that standard runs on a bit more power than O this wire gets hot and the insulation if not crumbling has been found melted. To repair, strip some wire insulation off of a strip of household 14/2 wire or similar flexible skin wire and slip over the bare coil lead or use a thin shrink tubing.
3. Does the headlight pigtail (which is missing)solder to the pickup plunger on the roller mounting? I have a small blob of solder visible.
The button is soldered on the pick up and nothing attaches to it. When the pick up assembly is attached, that button picks up the center rail power picked up by the rollers and takes it up to one of the contacts on the side of the motor above the brush plate. From there, the cloth covered wire harness takes it to the contact panel on the end of the e-unit. That lug is the one the wire that you see melted in question 2 connects to, and your headlight lead for a steam, loco set up. The light leads connect to the two small nuts on the e-unit terminal panel which are only present on those e-units installed in electrics allowing directional lighting.
4. What is the purpose of the large contact strip on top of the motor? Is it for an option that isn't fitted, or did somebody put it back in upside-down, and it's supposed to be the flapper contact?
There is a U tipped contact strip that comes from the brush plate contacts that connects to the threaded stud on top of the field assembly and is fastened by a nut. This provides the hot side power to the field from the contact plate on the end of the e-unit.
The pendulum e-unit is a finicky piece of equipment as the hot contact plate on the end opposite the coil is just making contact by gravity. Bouncing on rough track such as going over switches easily caused this to lose contact causing the loco to suddenly reverse. When hot, the coil pulls a pin up against a split and sprung lever that moves the contact set against the metal spots on the back of the terminal plate. This swivel action was often unreliable, the contacts often burnt out, and the flat cloth wire harness often went bad, or the coil cooked. Thus, many units were disabled, or ripped out and replaced with a long down lever Ives style unit which worked much more reliably.
Gandy
The pendulum e-unit is a finicky piece of equipment
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GandyDancer, thank you for the knowledge; it's much appreciated.
A shot in the dark here, but has anyone substituted an old style hand reverse in place of the original pendulum reverse unit? Just a thought, as a lever in a steamer cab would be a throwback to the old hands-on clockwork-style operation.
On the project front, I've been digging into my 390E further, and even got a hint of armature rotation once I had the motor by itself with no gears or wheels to drive. I used an American Flyer transformer, but I figured 15 volts would be ok with no load on the motor. Methinks the armature has no life left in it, but plenty buzzing at least.
I have a 251E that has the pendulum reverse. I have not attempted to service it yet. I does work, but keeps changing direction. My question is, what is this other lever for? Is it original. It is like a manual reverse unit, but with only 2 terminals.
Steve
Interesting, Steve...I doubt that your extra lever is original. It's probably some sort of e-unit bypass. I've worked on a lot of Lionel pendulum reverse units. Sometimes you can get them to work again but they tend to be unreliable. The AF reverse unit with the clutch mechanism is better in terms of reliability as long as the fiber contacts board is still viable. Both Marklin and Bing also had variations on the pendulum reverse scheme. Marklin's 64 series reverse was a complicated design. I have never come across one that still works. Usually, they are disabled or missing. Bing, on the other hand had a better design (see photo below) and I just completed work on a Bing loco with a functioning pendulum-style reverse. They all share in common the absence of "neutral," the benefit we got with the Ives-designed barrel reverse.
Steve,
The lever is intended to disable the auto reverse coil by interrupting the ground to the reverse coil that is normally completed by the contact and and the swinging plate on top of the motor. The switch is original to the engine and I currently have a 254E on the bench for repairs that has the same switch. The switch was Lionel's answer to the problems encountered with dirty track. The switch is equivalent to the brass lever used on the standard gauge motor to disable the reverse unit.
Eric Hofberg
TCA, LCCA
William 1 posted:I have a 384E with one. I have found it and know how to keep things going forward. Seems tricky. How is it intended to function? I swear it will change positions from being in hand in the correct position to landing on the track not so. Not a problem, just curious.
"Know how to keep things going forward" -- that sound GREAT.
I'm dense, as another poster referenced a brass gullwing lever that accomplishes this. I'm trying to lock a 384E with a pendulum reverse in forward gear, as I'd like to avoid the operational "charm" the unit brings for a little while at least. I can't figure out how to do it -- I'm sure it's a simple fix, as the patent even references an intended workaround the reverse unit.
???
Well, looking further into it, I figured out why I was confused-- my motor seems to be missing its manual override switch, part 141 on the patent.
I think I bent a paper clip and adhered it to the engine with gorilla tape. Works like s charm.
I have the eunit bypass lever on my 390e. However, it doesn't stay engaged. It is supposed to hold the flapper from dropping on a direction change/power interruption. I'm not sure why mine doesn't work. It looks like it is supposed to fit into a slot in the flapper, but it doesn't seem to fit. That may be why mine isn't working. I zip tied it in place to lock out the eunit.
George
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