LGB23802 (2-6-2T 996001-4) Lighting Conundrum

[viaEstrecha]

I bought one of these as a donor loco but it is too nice to cannibalise and so I have stripped, repaired and refurbished it for possible re-sale. It is the posh one with lights, smoke and sound under analog, with extra functions if you add a decoder for MTS (which it doesn't). I bought it with a declared issue with the lights - now all lamps work but perversely, opposite to the selected direction of travel!

All ribbon cable connectors are unique and keyed, so I haven't reversed or muddled any, I am stuck. Unless a board has an internal problem, I can't see what is up or why the lights are reversed. There are these red switches which I think are set for no MTS - the documentation advises setting them to 'Off for MTS', though that is not obvious from the marking, nor how they should be for basic analog.


I suppose one way to fix the problem might be to carefully fiddle with the ribbon cable to the motor block shown bottom right below, to swap over the two outer wires to the motor (marked as 'yellow' and 'green', though helpfully it is a black cable)? That ought then to make the motor run forward and back to match the lights, I'm assuming.

Just seems a bit bodgy to do that, so I thought I'd ask here, in case anyone has a better suggestion.

 

[dunnyrail]

Motor could be wired wrong way round, but how does that work on your line? Not sure if you noticed but all bar 1 loco on my line run chimney first x Gernrode, all bar one having had their orientation swopped to make them as per the real thing. Green Mallet still to do at some stage.

 

[viaEstrecha]

Motor could be wired wrong way round, but how does that work on your line? Not sure if you noticed but all bar 1 loco on my line run chimney first x Gernrode, all bar one having had their orientation swopped to make them as per the real thing. Green Mallet still to do at some stage.

Just trying to get it running as LGB made it- it has no mods and is track powered - so front lamps need to work when loco goes forward, rear when it goes backwards

 

[PhilP]

Has the motor been taken out of the block?

Turning the motor over in the block, will reverse the contacts, so the direction. - This is assuming there is not a moulding to prevent the motor fitting this way round?

PhilP

 

[viaEstrecha]

Has the motor been taken out of the block?

Turning the motor over in the block, will reverse the contacts, so the direction. - This is assuming there is not a moulding to prevent the motor fitting this way round?

PhilP

Interesting, and very plausible. I've no idea of its backstory, but it is not impossible the previous owner did it - it looks to have been well maintained and had clearly been disassmbled before. I'll check that out, as I'd prefer to restore it as original as I can, and that's a neater solution than messing with wires, if it works. Thanks.

 

[viaEstrecha]

Interesting, and very plausible. I've no idea of its backstory, but it is not impossible the previous owner did it - it looks to have been well maintained and had clearly been disassmbled before. I'll check that out, as I'd prefer to restore it as original as I can, and that's a neater solution than messing with wires, if it works. Thanks.

Never taken a motor out before, so that was educational! It did have a one-way-round lug, so it most have been in the right way. Worth a look though. And it may indirectly have led me to find the source of the mystery.

When rebuilding this thing for the umpteenth time, I discovered the 4 core ribbon cable between the rear board and motor block only had 3 wires attached and I'm guessing this was the culprit, as one wire was therefore previously loose and failing. Happily, my newly acquired donor chassis loco is an LGB22801 (the more basic 2-6-2T model, which has many components in common with the troublesome 23802) and I've used its very similar ribbon cable as a replacement. In the Škoda project, I won't actually need that cable anyway, as it is battery powered and I've already made two connectors just for the motor pins.

A quick test was promising, so I'll aim to check it all properly tomorrow. Fingers crossed again

 

[dunnyrail]

Has the motor been taken out of the block?

Turning the motor over in the block, will reverse the contacts, so the direction. - This is assuming there is not a moulding to prevent the motor fitting this way round?

PhilP

This is a 4 pin motor block, swopping the wires to the terminals on the 4 pin plug will achieve the same effect

 

[viaEstrecha]

The good news is that it is fixed

The issue must indeed have been down to a damaged ribbon cable, for with the replacement one substituted, all lights now match the loco direction. That motor and motion are very sweet, now they've been cleaned and serviced. The rear lamps could be a touch brighter, I suppose, to be picky, but I shall quit while I'm ahead. Job done and on to the next!