Sitting on the UCS track with UNLOAD pressed, the coil only buzzes. When I power it directly by touching transformer leads to the pickup shoes, it works fine. When I check the voltage output of the UCS blades and I press "UNLOAD," I get a reading of 17.2 volts. Any suggestions on what to do next?
Terry
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Is the milk car squarely on the UCS track? I know that the operating barrel car can only have one operating shoe in contact so it needs to be half-off the UCS to work properly. Assuming your car is in the proper position, it is probably an issue with the internals of the UCS track controller. The modern reissues are terrible and I am in the process of replacing my modern controllers with used postwar ones. Good luck.
Is the wire order reversed on the uncoupling track?
I got so tired of trying to operate the old Lionel milk cars properly, including the remakes, that I updated to a newer servo-driven milk car. Contact with the operating track is always good and the little man unloads the milk cans slowly and properly, without throwing them all over the platform when the track voltage isn't just right.
No throwing!?!? Sounds to me like you’re missing half the fun!
George
My guess is your shoes are not lining up properly or the track or shoes are dirty, or both. If both are dirty you are bypassing that problem when testing with a direct contact.
Guys, thanks for your input. The UCS track works fine with a merchandise car, so I don't think the track is the problem. Must be some kind of shoe misalignment because, as I said, applying power directly to the shoe contacts from transformer wires results in snappy coil activation. I think I will just install an ERR milk car kit and call it a day,
Terry
Why give up so easily? It's only electricity in and electricity out. Do a little more trouble-shooting. Maybe the shoes don't have enough downward tension and they're not making form contact, or maybe there's corrosion on the contact rails. Try checking the level and tension of the shoes and try using a little emery cloth and alcohol on the power rails.
I have measured the depth of shoe travel, cleaned both shoe contact points and blades, and measured continuity between shoes. Touching the shoe contact points to transformer fully energizes the coil, which would indicate there is no voltage loss between the shoes and the coil. The voltage at the blades indicates 17v when the unload button is pressed, more than enough power to fully energize the coil. When I move the car off the track in either direction with the button pressed, the coil no longer hums, indicating contact between shoes and blades had existed when the car was centered on the track. It seems the coil is not getting enough voltage to move the arms and the problem would seem to be between the shoe and the blade. Since the track does operate the merchandise car, I can't see that the track is faulty. My next step would be to check the voltage at the coil itself, which would indicate somethings amiss with the shoe contact, I guess.
tcripe,
I converted my milk car to ERR Mini Commander. So now I can activate the car anywhere on the layout and not be concerned with installing the USC track. You indicated that that might be you next step. As one that has had experience with the Mini Commander, I can assure you it's easy to install and I have yet to have any negative issues with it.
RAY
I also went to the ERR Mini Commander option. Works great for me.
What Controller are you using to activate the UCS Track. If it is an original Lionel (2) Button - Take the Bottom Off and clean the contact on the Leaf Spring Contacts. The button simply push those contacts together and if they are dirty they may not pass enough current to make it work.
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