Let's see how many of you knew this........I learned this nonsense because of my interest in Lionel trains.

Lionel uses AC to power their trains (instead of DC as most other model train makers). Because of this they had to develop a way to reverse the motors and came up with a rotating relay that they named the E-Coil.

This had a drum with contacts similar to a PC board, wipers that pressed against the drum completed the circuit when the drum was in a certain position, in effect rewiring the motor and it's direction.

This drum was rotated in steps from a plunger relay.

Any of this sounding familiar yet?

Turns out that Lionel was a major vendor of special variations of these mechanisms for most of the American TV makers for their remote control systems (to turn the tuner knob)

Wouldn't Paul Harvey be proud of this drivel?

So, do I win the trivia award? :p:

Anthony

Imagine that! They use an E-unit :D

Do they buzz as bad as the ones in the 2018 style engines? :)

Originally posted by Kamakiri
Imagine that! They use an E-unit :D

Do they buzz as bad as the ones in the 2018 style engines? :)

Bwuhahaha! You probably need a new spring if it's buzzing. IIRC the E-Unit (not coil as I mistakenly referred to it previously) uses a pulse of superimposed DC current to activate it. The normal AC power can cause this chattering/buzzing unless the unit is in good shape.

The neat thing about Lionels is that you could leave an engine in "neutral" but with power still applied so that the lights and smoke would stay on. Also, because of the 3 track system you could isolate segments and use the tracks themselves to activate various accessories like crossing gates, the man in the tower or shanty shack etc.

Anthony

I'm not sure, it seems that every engine with that body style has a buzzing e-unit, mine I actaully bought from a licensed Lionel dealer. My 2035 buzzes also.

My 2020 and 2023 are silent :)