Has this happened to anyone?

I had a couple of out of phase Z-1000 bricks.  I wondered why they all weren't manufactured and delivered "in phase", but nothing an old extension cord and a Dremel didn't take care of.

Hi Don,

Great to see you posting hear again!!!  

I don't recall the exact particulars, but I seem to remember that a batch of the early 180W bricks were manufactured with inverted polarity.  Lionel documented a specific range of serial numbers that had the problem, and provided clients with an adapter that would fix the problem.

It's possible you picked up some old stock... or if you're certain all the s/n's are current, then you may have tripped over a QA issue (again).

David

I wonder if there is an accountant somewhere who decided that it was cheaper to allow X% of product to fail and replace them under warranty, then to step up quality control.

There is always customer loyalty to consider and what defective product will do to any individual customer, but I am thinking that brand loyalty may be a thing of the past.

Heck with the subject.  I'm just glad to see Don back on here.  Where you been?  (none of my business, I know). 

.....

Dennis

Hey Don!  Welcome back!

Greetings Don,

I haven't seen you post in a LONG Time.  You can cut the plug and reverse them or Lionel even has a part you can order to fix the issue.

Jim

I want to thank all of you for the kind words.

I've been busy designing, building and wiring train layouts from Oakland Hills, California, to the northern boarder of Oregon. Lately it keeps me pretty busy.

I've seen this issue before, but to have 6 out of TWENTY out of phase is a bit much. They were all ordered and shipped directly to the job sight, from the same supplier at the same time. It leaves me no time to contact Lionel with an issue when I'm at the customers sight nearly 700 miles from home and the customer just wants his railroad built with little or zero problems. They need to get their ducks in a row and do the job RIGHT!!!

I do not have time to order the Lionel "FIX" for a problem that has been plaguing us for years now!

Don

I believe these would have to be old stock.  I haven't heard of any phasing issues with newer run 180w in the past 5 years or so. 

He Don.

Good to hear from you.

Unfortunately, sometimes they put the connections in wrong during assembly. They either switch the primary connections or the secondary connections. Not a difficult problem to fix once you get the thing open, which is usually the hardest part. Had a pair of K-Line transformers that were like that -- plugs were right, but the secondary connections were different.