Williams on Fastrak

[calleyFan]

Hi there,
I bought a Williams by Bachmann Baldwin Sharknose today in O scale and took it home to my Fastrak layout. It slows down on the 0-36 curves and when pulling the two dummy units it sometimes stops altogether.

Also, the light on my 80 watt Lionel Controller blinks on and off when it goes at a certain speed or pulls weight. If it blinks for a while, the train stops altogether. Can somebody help me with these problems?

Thanks.

[DominicMazoch]

As they say in Home Improvement:  MORE POWER!  A larger transformer!

[Cobrabob8]

I agree with Dominic on this. More power is the answer. When I replaced my ancient Lionel KW transformer with a new MTH Z-4000 model transformer I noticed a world of difference. I now have plenty of power to run my dual motored Lionel and Williams locomotives. I also have an A-B-A set of Williams by Bachmann Baldwin RF-16 Sharknose diesels which I have noticed no problems with.
Cobrabob.

[Len]

The blinking green light on your CW-80 means there's either a short or an overload condition going on.

How many feeders do you have running from your CW-80 to the track?? Steel rail is not a great conductor, and if you only have one or two feeders it's possible not enough current is getting to the motors if the loco is too far from a feeder.

Does it run ok when it's withing a track section or two of a terminal track? What size wire are you using to get from the transformer to the terminal track feeder wires?

Len

[phillyreading]

I have to agree with Cobrabob8, you need more power for two dummies with a powered A unit. Try to find a Lionel KW or an MTH Z-1000 for power. I power a set of Williams F-7's, two powered F-7's and an unpowered B unit with an MTH Z-1000 and it works great.

Also you need to have additional power supplies going to the Fastac, as that is one of Fastrac's many flaws besides wallet draining. I found out as my K-Line Interurban set needed more power when running on Fastrac, also Fastrac got very dirty for me.
I was using some Fastrac to see what it would do, it was new or never used but sat in a box for over a year before I used it. Other Fastrac pieces I bought at Target store one year after the holiday sales, and it too got very dirty more quickly then my 031 & 042 tubular track section.

Lee F.

[cantrellwd]

Williams recommends 90 watts for the two engines that I have:  SD90 and a Hudson, however one of their service guys says 80 watts minimum - I had a problem that turned out to be low wattage in a Lionel transformer. 

Sounds like your situation could be borderline volt/amps that fluctuate with line voltage into your home or load from other things on your layout; causing available watts to move up and down.  I have a Lionel 90 watt that works well with either of the Williams - actually I can run both of the Williams at the same time with no problem, and of course the ZW works well too.

[phillyreading]

From my experiance I would suggest adding power feeds to the Fastrac about every five sections of track.
An 80 watt transformer should be enough power for most Williams engines. What happens is called electrical resistance, especially in model train tracks, and you need to add feeder wires to overcome this if your layout is over four feet of track length and distance.

Lee F.

[calleyFan]

Turns out that I had a 40 watt transformer that came with the Thomas the Tank Engine set in 2008 or 9. We've ordered the GW-180 (180 watt transformer with circuit breaker) so that should  be enough to power it all. I found it strange, too as our 40 watt one doesn't have an accessory plugin. The ZW-L is just too expensive and we aren't far enough into the hobby to get an MTH or Williams transformer.

[phillyreading]

Turns out that I had a 40 watt transformer that came with the Thomas the Tank Engine set in 2008 or 9. We've ordered the GW-180 (180 watt transformer with circuit breaker) so that should  be enough to power it all. I found it strange, too as our 40 watt one doesn't have an accessory plugin. The ZW-L is just too expensive and we aren't far enough into the hobby to get an MTH or Williams transformer.

Glad to hear that you found out what was wrong!
BTW; what is the GW-180? Is it a 180 watt ZW or power bricks for a ZW?

Lee F.

[Cobrabob8]

Here is the answer to my lack of power concerns I had. An MTH Z-4000 transformer. What a brute!!!
Cobrabob.

[calleyFan]

@Lee
A CW-180 is a new transformer that Lionel has started making. It is a 180 watt transformer with an accessory plugin on the back (which my current CW-40 doesn't!) and it comes with a seperate powerpack and circuit breaker.

[phillyreading]

calleyFan,

The way the CW-80 made my MTH engine act I am not going to chance a CW-180 or any new transformer by Lionel until I know what it does with all my engines in O gauge. With the way some of the new so called "chopped sign wave" transformers work or behave I will continue to use what I have, post war transformer power.

Lee F.

[671]

Hi Phillyreading,
          I agree with the using of the post war ZW. All of my WbyB Steamers have been modified by using the voltage reduction/diode circuit touted by Joe Satnik. Hi Joe!
          I use the diode voltage drop circuits that you find on the Dallee website. The locos run slower with control, smoke better, ( Due to the higher constant voltage delivered to the smoker/headlamp constant voltage circuit ), whistle/bell plays better, and the lighted cars have brighter lighting due to the higher track voltage.
          I run my trains for hours. No performance or overheating problems have shown their ugly heads.

                                 Keep on Chuggin'...671

[Joe Satnik]

Dear 671 (Official Beta Tester),

Hi to you too !  

Thanks for the kind words.  

What number of diodes (inside the bridge) works well?  

Does that number vary between the different models of steamers?  

Thanks.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

[671]

Hi Joe Satnik,

       I use the 8 amp bridge rectifier along with two of the 6 amp rectifier diodes from Radio Shack. The two six amp diodes can be mounted in between the "table legs" of the 8 amp bridge rectifier. Using a little care, it becomes a small package. Snip off the excess "leg" length.
       Follow the Dallee wire diagram, to interupt the motor lead. I use a ZW 275 watt transformer. I have used this on all of my WbyB Steamers.
       1.  The 2056 semi-scale Hudson, Great Northen Berkshire, J 4-8-4 B & O. These three locos have a "Well" below the electronic E-unit card. The 8 amp bridge rectifier fits perfectly into this well, table top down, legs up. Wrap two turns of electrical tape around the rectifier to prevent shorts. It is an easy manufacture and install.
       2.  My scale 773 Hudson has the E-unit in the tender. Plenty of room, just interupt one wire from the board that is going to the plug socket at the front of the tender.
       3.  My 671 S2 turbine was a little tight on the installation. I installed a nice tight flat Bridge and diodes on the left (PORT SIDE). It is mounted edgewise legs facing E-unit board. Wrapped with electrical tape to prevent shorting.
       All five of my steamers perform flawlessly in conjunction with my Post war ZW. They do not "Rabbit Start". The speed is super slow creep to faster than I would want it to go. I run my trains at about the 10 volt setting on the control handles. If I run a long passenger set that has a lot of interior lighting, possibly a 11-12 volt setting.
        I modified the Wheat grain bulb headlight by placing one small rectifier in line between it's plug and bulb. Test before soldering and shrink tubing. This is a DC circuit. If the rectifier is installed backwards against the current flow, the bulb will not light. This single rectifier reduces the voltage by approx .7 volts to the bulb. It is still plenty bright, but this voltage reduction will surely extend the life of the bulb. This is almost 10% voltage reduction. The board energizes the light at 7.9 volts, the diode drops that voltage by .7 volts.
         I have also modified the smoke units. I use a small slide switch that is mounted into the Engineer's cab side using 5 minute two part epoxy. DO NOT get glue into the switch. The switch is mounted far enough into the cab so that it can not be seen easily. Yet it is easy to reach with a finger to operate. I wire it so that it interupts one of the wires going to the smoke unit. When I want to run smoke, I turn it on, no smoke, unit off. This should extend the life of the smoker.
          Another modification that I have made is to the smoker on the 2056 semi-scale Hudson. The original smoker came through defective. WbyB sent me a replacement. This was my first WbyB loco. At that time The loco had no modifications done to it. The new replacement smoker performed poorly in my judgement. The smoker spit out the smoke fluid and was a poor quantity of smoke.
           My fix was to buy and install a Seuthe #5 smoke unit. It was larger in diameter than the original William's unit. Simple to install the larger unit. Remove original smoke unit along with the short stack that it goes into. Both are hot glued in place. The hole for the stack is now large enough for the #5 Seuthe unit. Infact it is a little too large. I shimmed the stack to the correct height by placing a very small piece of shrink tube between the smoker and the loco's smoke stack hole. Cut off the excess tab of tubing. It looks great.
            The smoker is rated for 4.5-6 Ac or Dc volt power. The smoker board puts out 7.9 volts. I reduced the smoker's incomming power with two small rectifier diodes in series ( DC voltage, test before soldering and shrink wrap). This reduced the voltage by 1.4volts. Effectivly suppling 6.5 volts maximum to the smoke unit. This is less than 10% over-voltage. 10% or less over-voltage is an acceptable amount in most electrical applications.
             Let me say this, This loco smokes like it is on FIRE. It takes fifteen drops of fluid. ( I have switched to the Crest brand of fluid) It smokes like crazy. It does not pop and spit. Consistant smoking for over 15 minutes up to and including twenty minutes on one 15 drop fill. I have been running this loco for about one year now.
             This loco with all of my above small modifications is super. It is so smooth running, great smoker, whistle and bell loud and clear. I can not say enough positive things about it.

                                        Joe Satnik, Keep on Chuggin'...671