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Reply to "Question: Just how much slower(wired in series in a williams Loco)"

Quarter Gauger 48 posted:
Mixed Freight posted:

Well, I finally got around to hooking up my first loco's motors in series (WbB U-33C), and boy is it ever nice now!  It runs like a scale model train instead of a hyper-sonic slot car!

After studying the stock wiring, doing the series motor connection proved super easy.  For the front motor, I removed the blue wire/female crimp terminal from the plastic plug that connects to the reverse board.  Next I removed the rear motor's yellow wire/female crimp terminal from its plastic plug on the reverse board.  Then I shaped a simple tiny U-clip from a piece of 16 ga. solid copper wire.  I plugged the female crimp terminals onto this tiny copper U-clip, thereby connecting the blue and yellow wires together.  Lastly, I slipped on a piece of heat shrink tubing, and applied some soldering iron heat to shrink it on.  Wah-La........ instant non-permanent electrical connection!  No cutting/stripping/splicing/soldering/wire nutting/taping of wires. And I can EASILY resort back to the factory set-up if I ever want to.  Not sure why I would want to, but that's beside the point.

Many thanks to everyone on this thread and a previous thread a few months ago for all the great explanations and diagrams.  I believe I got about 6 more WbB locos to convert, and hopefully they'll all go as quick and painless as the U-33C!  

Hey Paul, sounds like you did a great job re-wiring! I think I will try this method as well, as I don't want to cut the wires.  Can you expand on the clip you made or possibly show a photo.  I would appreciate seeing how you did that.  Thanks very much in advance'...

Thanks!  Glad you liked my idea.  Don't have time for pictures right now, but I may take and post some on the next loco I do.  For right now, I'll simply expand on a few items............

The "U-clip" was made from a piece of 16 ga. solid copper wire (not 18 ga. as I originally posted).  If you can imagine a piece of 16 ga. solid copper wire about 7/16" or 1/2" long to start, then bend into a fairly tight U-shape with needle nose pliers, that's pretty much all there is to it.  Each straight leg is about 1/8"~3/16" long minimum, and the rest is the 180* bend.  I plugged the female crimp connectors onto the legs, then slid a piece of heat shrink tubing on and shrunk it down with a hot soldering iron.  Sort of resembles two wires connected with a wire nut.

On my U33C, the front motor and the rear motor EACH plug into the reverse board with a 4-wire plug.  I simply unplugged the front motor plug from the board, then using an awl, disengaged the blue wire female crimp connector from the plug.  Then inserted the plug back into the reverse board socket.  Next I did the exact same thing for the rear motor, except of course I removed the yellow wire instead of the blue wire.  And that's it!  That's how I got the two wires loose without cutting them.

Pretty quick and easy, really.  And the way the loco runs now, it's almost like Christmas in July with a brand new loco!

Hope that helps! 

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
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