Significance of the "V" on side of Bachmann motor

[stumpt]

What is the significance of the "V" on the side of the motor?  How should the motor be placed within the split frame so that when the run forward is selected the locomotive actually run in the forward direction? 

[Jim Banner]

The best way is to replace it in the frame the same way it was when you took it out.

In this article: http://members.shaw.ca/sask.rail/dcc/tmaster/tmaster.html    the V was inverted and looked like an arrow head pointing upwards.  Your locomotive might be different.  Fortunately, there are only two possibilities so you have a 50% chance of being right the first tme.

Jim

[BestSnowman]

Fortunately, there are only two possibilities so you have a 50% chance of being right the first tme.

I don't want to derail the thread (pun intended) but I actually laughed out loud when I read that (you can ask my wife).

To the original question it's entirely possible the V has no significance to the orientation which is an excellent reminder on why you should pay close attention when you take something apart that will one day need to be put back together.

[Doneldon]

stumpt-

I'm not sure it matters. The motor will be spinning the same direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise) regardless of whether the "V" is on the top or bottom. That would only change if the motor were flipped end for end, i.e., from behind the driven axle to the front of the driven axle. And even that won't create a problem because the motor feeds could be easily switched or forward/reverse could be changed in the decoder. In short, I don't think you need to worry about it.
                                                                                                                                             -- D

[Jim Banner]

Actually, it does matter.  When you turn the motor over, the brush tab that touched the left frame half will now touch the right frame half (and vise versa) which reverses the power applied to the motor.

If the locomotive has a suitable DCC decoder, you can program the motor to run backwards and reprogram the lights to match direction of travel should you happen to install the motor wrong way round.

Jim