In this vlog I take a look at the clever technology that went into making Lionel Trains function, including a copper oxide rectifier, variable transformer, and electromechanical AC switching of the Lionel E-Unit. I also take a deeper look into AC solenoids and the amazing effects of the mysterious shading coil. Oooooo! Thanks for watching! Toot-Toot!
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Fran are you still doing this kind of train stuff ? 2023 /11/5
Memories! Been there, done that! When I was 12, my uncle was an EE at Chrysler and gave me a handful of alternator diodes. Getting rid of the generator was his project. He explained to me that they passed current in one direction and not the other. I figured out a sort of bridge rectifier to power my transistor radio off my Lionel transformer. Sort of worked with a bad hum. Asked uncle about it and he said I needed a capacitor. I put in a electrolytic cap and it worked fine…until my brother tried to increase the volume by turning up the transformer voltage. The cap went off like a firecracker. Scared my brother and mom. I thought it was funny. BTW, my dad had an old electronics experimental kit. Just coils, metal plates, and magnet wire…NOT U.L. ! blew out many a fuse trying to invent what would now be a rail gun. Everyone thought I would be a EE…ended up a biologist with a minor in chemistry, but that's another story. Thanks for your channel. It would have made my younger self even more dangerous.
Watching all your back videos. Thanks for sharing
Cool Fran! Thanks for this.. I wondered how this worked!
there is drums on the back
the shading coil act as the brake as the brake in an electric car where the brake shorts the engine or attach the battery in order to be charged by the engine
we have the same radioshack multimeter…well mine is not working right now :/
American Flyer E has no plunger, a plate under the coil core.
Must be something we don't know about.
R
I've rebuilt hundreds of Lionel Es and AF.
Sometimes when the plunger stickers up (over time plunger gets residual magnatism), I install a spring to push plunger down.
No sucking of plunger.
Must be something else.
Mass inertia ?
Somehow I don't think so.
Must be something else.
Roger E
This made me so happy and reminds me of the time I spent with my great grandpa when I was younger. I loved his trains. I miss him
Check again . It reverses the polarity of the armature verses the field coils. Both brushes are in use for forward and reverse.
transformer shifts 180ΒΊ in secondary, you are referring to current vs magnetic flux…
I learned something new and cool today, 12/04/21 – I suppose keeping that hole clean is as important as the contacts! Thanks Fran!
Does the E-unit reverse the polelarity when actorvated ?