Technical

I have found that an ammeter is very useful for checking the operation of both locomotive and track. The ammeter is a standard moving coil 0-10 amp meter mounted on a suitable plastic box with a four pin chassis mounted plug on one side and a four pin socket on a short lead on the other side. The four pin plug/socket match the ones on the lead connecting the transformer unit to the controller. The components were all obtained on line from a well known electrical supplier beginning with Mapli. The unit is connected in series with the existing transformer/controller cable (i.e. between the output of the transformer and the input to the controller). It is important to connect the meter to the input side of the controller unit, not the output side (the output of the transformer is steady 17v dc; the output from the controller changes polarity, causing the ammeter to "backfire").

In use the ammeter indicates to current drawn by the locomotive via the track. During warm up of the loco the meter should indicate approximately 7 amps. If it doesn't there is a fault somewhere. A reading of zero indicates either the connection to the track is incomplete or the loco is not sitting properly on the track. A reading of 3.5 amps indicates the there is a problem with the loco or tender or the connection between the two. If the loco cab lights are lit the loco and the connection to the tender are both OK. If the cab lights are not lit then the fault may be the connecting wires from the tender. If the cab lights are lit then the overheat cutout in the tender may be open circuit.

Once steam is up and the train is in motion the ammeter will indicate any imperfections in the track causing the meter to flicker. This can be caused by bad connections in the track causing a voltage drop, dirt on the track , dirty loco wheels etc.

When the controller "heat" control is in either of the lower positions the ammeter reading will drop slightly.

Hope this is helpful.

Tony