Wiring the ERR AC Commander in a "later" PulMor motor

Remove the jack. You don't need it with the e-unit gone. Follow the ERR instructions. One wire to each brush and one to the field. Also add the capacitors between the brushes and motor ground. Power to the board from the center rollers, ground to a lug on a brushplate screw. I've converted 4 Pullmor locomotives this way and they've all worked flawlessly when wired this way/according to the ERR instructions. 

Thanks Lou1985 but I have done exactly that. That is why when the motor doesn't respond that I am stumped!

JPThut

JPThut posted:

Thanks Lou1985 but I have done exactly that. That is why when the motor doesn't respond that I am stumped!

JPThut

You must have the wiring exactly like it is depicted in Lou's diagram. The center screw of the 3 terminals is the field. The outer 2 screws are the brushes. If it starts up backwards, reverse the brush wires.

If you have the AC Commander in the tender, there needs to be a wire that connects the grounds on the motor to the AC  Commander. You can't rely on the chassis grounds, Pulmor motor to engine chassis and the AC Commander to tender chassis. They have to be connected just like the diagram. I did this very conversion on my CSS 6-18011. Until I pulled it out and converted it to a DC Pittman motor and Cruise Commander. Also, make sure of the polarity on the caps on the brushes.

If you still cant get it to work, post up some clear pictures on how you have it wired and folks on the site will help you out.

I've installed probably a dozen AC Commanders, just finished one.  The above instructions have always worked flawlessly for me.

I suggest you first test the motor by itself and make sure it's working properly.  Wire one brush to the field connection, wire the other brush to one side of the AC power.  Wire the ground to the other side of the AC power.  If the motor doesn't run, fix that first.

Here's a simple diagram of the motor by itself, ignore the light bulb, it's not needed.

Many thanks! I did test  the motor as you suggest after the E unit was removed and it is fine. I did have to add a wire from the outside contact of the field wire to ground which is what I think I need to do now that the AC Commander is installed. I'm just a little overcautious and not wanting to risk frying the AC Commander. 

JPThut

You certainly need a good frame ground to the motor and the AC Commander, other than that, the other three wires are all that's required to run the motor.  I frequently briefly test the motor after wiring just the five wires on that end of the board before completing the installation.

Good news! Things are now working! And as I suspected, I did need to add a wire between the field lug to the ground lug. I'm attaching a photo of the inch long wire. It is the white one. I believe this was necessary because of the "plug and socket" system Lionel used on this engine to control the E unit. Removing the E unit removed the original ground.

JPThut

Oops, forgot the photo.

Now that you got it working and no longer have the e-unit, you don't need the banana plug and wire.

Chris, 

I think I'll just tape off the end and leave it in the cab so it will be more original when I sell it sometime. Thanks for your help!

John