# 154C connector



## WestCelt (Dec 14, 2010)

I have a road crossing light which I recently had rewired. Afterwards it seemed to work and the lights would flash back and forth when the train rolled over the switch. I now find that the right light goes on and stays on and only the left switch light flickers. curiously another light works just the opposite and the left light is always on and the right flickers off and on. There use to be what looked like masking tape on the under side of the switch but that is all gone now. Can someone explain the mechanics of how the light works and why it doesn't work now? And could someone tell me how to make the lights flash back and forth more like they do in real life instead of just a flicker-flicker?

Thanks in advance. 

Rolandhwell:


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Well first off did you rewire it correctly? did you get the logic board too hot when rewiring it? and not only that we dont know which crossing this is, there are prolly hundreds that have been sold over the years so we would need to know what brand and how the thing is hooked up to help.

Massey


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Massey said:


> Well first off did you rewire it correctly? did you get the logic board too hot when rewiring it? and not only that we dont know which crossing this is, there are prolly hundreds that have been sold over the years so we would need to know what brand and how the thing is hooked up to help.
> 
> Massey



I am guessing Lionel #252?


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Your guess is as good as mine Ed I dont even know what scale this guy is working with here. If it is Lionel stuff I will leave that to the ones that are more versed in it than I. I have only repaired and cleaned a couple of Lionel and they were newer models not the older stuff.

Massey


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

154 contact connector?

Do you mean 153?

What did you rewire?

First tell us the number of the crossing gate, the 252 works off of a single light bulb and "reflects" the light to the red domes on the crossing, off what is called a lucite bar.

I guess your talking about a different crossing.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Massey said:


> Your guess is as good as mine Ed I dont even know what scale this guy is working with here. If it is Lionel stuff I will leave that to the ones that are more versed in it than I. I have only repaired and cleaned a couple of Lionel and they were newer models not the older stuff.
> 
> Massey



Yes it must be a fast track crossing. The #252 really does not have any wiring except to hook it up.
I know nothing about fast track gunrunner should know.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Of the Lionel engines I have repaired one was a siezed motor which I ordered a new one from Lionel and installed just like the factory and the other engine was all torn apart and the guy that did it didnt know how to put it back together. It was in a box full of this and that most of it was not part of the train. Both engines were newer plastic bodies and 3 rail O.

Massey


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

The best way to get the lights blinking is to use an electronic flashing circuit. You won't get that effect from the #154 track adapter.


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Roland,
The 154C connector is a reed pressure switch. The switch is a contact surface that the wheels of the train cause a contact with the rail powering the light. It sounds like one of the contacts is bent or out of adjustment or possibly dirty. You will notice that the inside of contact plate of the 154C Contactors has a layer of insulating paper. This layer keeps the electrical circuit normally open. Whenever a car truck passes over the contactor the circuit is completed through the car wheels and the fIagman operates. Keep top of contactor clean. 
Readjust them by carefully bending them to make them the same height off the rails closer the better they will work. The reason your two lights work opposite is that when the signal was rewired it was wired the opposite of the other signal light no harm it will still work.
To get them to flash evenly and all the time when a train is present would require some modern technology like a flasher circuit and a occupancy detector circuit!


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Uhh Sean, that's not it, no reed switch here!

The rest of your description seems correct.


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