I have two E-8’s from Aristo Craft. The problem is that the connector piece that connected the two external wires in the rear was not in either boxes. What piece fits between the two and is there any alternative to the connector piece so that the locomotive can be set up in a lead-lag situation since Aristo Craft is no longer in existence. Thanks.
Ron RLD has that connector http://rldhobbies.com/art29607_1.aspx
or you can make your own with 2 male connector http://www.allelectronics.com/item/con-240/2-conductor-locking-connectors-w/leads/1.html
cheers
Beware of connectors not from the train dealers!
The red and black wires from electronic vendors are not always in the same polarity/orientation/locations as the connectors from the train suppliers.
Paul Norton from OVGRS.ORG has a terrific page on batteries and connectors: http://ovgrs.org/the-trains/battery-power-fixes-and-tips/all-electronics-2-wire-connector-set-fix/
Caveat emptor?
yes in this case i have to agree with David. the E8 has been know to have strange wiring.
cheers
Not just the E8. The wiring on the Pacific was bass ackwards on the track power/batter power switch.
And the front MU plug wiring in some FA-1s. Fortunately it can be fixed by unsoldering two wires and soldering them in their proper place.
Soldered between PCB-01 (the Plug and Play circuit board) and PCB-02 (the motor block circuit board) are eight wires. The wires to be moved are the red and black wires to the right of the screw. Unsolder them.
Solder the wires to the open tabs to the left of the screw. The black wire is soldered next to the screw.
Now both front and rear MU connectors will function in either track power mode (motor switch on) or battery power mode (motor switch off).
David, when I got my USA GP-38-2 I noticed that the locomotive would not move once on the track. I found out that the red and black wires on one of the trucks were backwards. In essence, the motors on either end were pulling against each other. Never figured out if it came from the factory like that or if Fred accidently reverse them after he painted it. After a test in the shop, the problem was solved and it has worked properly since.
Aristo-Craft and USA Trains motor blocks are wired the same.
But as they are mounted in opposite directions on twin block diesels, they will have a tug of war if wired red to red and black to black.
The factory circuit boards in these diesels make allowance for this, and connect reds to blacks in the PCB traces.
If a non Plug and Play board is used for a battery power conversion rather than the factory PCB, the red wire of one motor block has to be fastened to the black wire of the other block, and vise-versa.
Ron Hill said:
David, when I got my USA GP-38-2 I noticed that the locomotive would not move once on the track. I found out that the red and black wires on one of the trucks were backwards. In essence, the motors on either end were pulling against each other. Never figured out if it came from the factory like that or if Fred accidently reverse them after he painted it. After a test in the shop, the problem was solved and it has worked properly since.
That is 'way easy to do. I got an Airwire “Drop-in” G-3 decoder from Airwire and plugged it in per the instructions, only to find that one of the leads to a truck had been wired backwards at the factory as it produced the same problem, the motors were working against each other. Once I figured which one agreed with the lighting, I reversed the other truck lead, and everybody was happy. I rewired my loco so as not to upset the warranty of the Airwire. I suppose I should have let them know for QA purposes, but it was such an easy fix it didn’t seem worth it.
The trucks on a GP 9 only go in one way, so I’m, quite sure that one of the trucks didn’t get reversed.
Ron, I also have 2 E8’s…
They have excellent all wheel pickup (when properly assembled by Aristo). I have no issues on track power that would make me desire to connect them together.
Are you running battery?
Greg