# American Flyer 336 whistle question.



## Kaplang (Jul 18, 2017)

I have just acquired an AF 336 with the coal car and whistle control. I am not sure it is working properly and need some input. I am using an AF 18b transformer. I think I have hooked up the whistle controller properly and here is what I'm getting. 
With the dead Stick Up and the transformer on when I push the whistle controller button sounds comes out of the coal car. With the dead Stick down no sound when I press the whistle button and the engine goes forward or reverse. Something is definitely wrong and I am not sure want it is. Could the problem be with the controller or inside the coal car?

Any help here will be greatly appreciated 

George


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## cramden (Oct 13, 2015)

Kaplang said:


> I have just acquired an AF 336 with the coal car and whistle control. I am not sure it is working properly and need some input. I am using an AF 18b transformer. I think I have hooked up the whistle controller properly and here is what I'm getting.
> With the dead Stick Up and the transformer on when I push the whistle controller button sounds comes out of the coal car. With the dead Stick down no sound when I press the whistle button and the engine goes forward or reverse. Something is definitely wrong and I am not sure want it is. Could the problem be with the controller or inside the coal car?
> 
> Any help here will be greatly appreciated
> ...


Lets make sure the wiring is correct. Black wire from the controller goes to base post on transformer. A second black wire goes from base post on transformer to base post clip on track. Red wire from controller goes to variable volt post on controller, no wire from variable post goes to track clip. Yellow wire from controller goes to 15 volt post on transformer. Finally, green wire from controller goes to other track clip post. If you add feeders to the track they must originate from that track clip. If all is working you should get a buzzing noise with engine running and pressing the controller button. Most engines with Air Chime Whistle will make a crackling sound from the speaker in the tender when running. Follow this wiring and hopefully everything works.


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## Kaplang (Jul 18, 2017)

cramden said:


> Lets make sure the wiring is correct. Black wire from the controller goes to base post on transformer. A second black wire goes from base post on transformer to base post clip on track. Red wire from controller goes to variable volt post on controller, no wire from variable post goes to track clip. Yellow wire from controller goes to 15 volt post on transformer. Finally, green wire from controller goes to other track clip post. If you add feeders to the track they must originate from that track clip. If all is working you should get a buzzing noise with engine running and pressing the controller button. Most engines with Air Chime Whistle will make a crackling sound from the speaker in the tender when running. Follow this wiring and hopefully everything works.


I checked my wiring and it is exactly as you describe. I have no feeders. I actually don't know want feeders are.

Pushing the button on the whistle controller still causes the engine to go forward or reverse as well as sounding the whistle. It is acting like 15 volts AC is going to the engine when the button is pushed. Is the whistle using D.C.? I'm thinking the tube ( air Chime whistle generator ) that plugs into the whistle controller is a rectifier that is suppose to convert AC to DC just for the whistle circuit in the coal car. Am i correct on this?
George


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## cramden (Oct 13, 2015)

Kaplang said:


> I checked my wiring and it is exactly as you describe. I have no feeders. I actually don't know want feeders are.
> 
> Pushing the button on the whistle controller still causes the engine to go forward or reverse as well as sounding the whistle. It is acting like 15 volts AC is going to the engine when the button is pushed. Is the whistle using D.C.? I'm thinking the tube ( air Chime whistle generator ) that plugs into the whistle controller is a rectifier that is suppose to convert AC to DC just for the whistle circuit in the coal car. Am i correct on this?
> George


Feeder wires are jumper wires that are used to keep the voltage the same throughout the layout. If your engine slows down the farther it is from the transformer jumper wires can be installed. I always thought the generator tubes sent a D.C. signal to the whistle but I could be wrong. Since Flyer engines are universal and will run on A.C. or D.C. it's probably what your experiencing. I just checked one of my 336's and it does move slowly when the button is pushed. Maybe it's getting A.C. voltage since I can cycle the reverse with the button. Anyway, it shouldn't run at full throttle when you push the button with the handle up. If that's the case then maybe the points in the tube are stuck in the closed position. Let us know how it works when the engine is running. Hope this helps.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

The 336 tender "whistle" sound uses a vibrator enclosed in a cardboard or metal tube that plugs into the control button. All it does is put some harmonics on the 60 HZ waveform that are reproduced in the tender speaker. 
For the whistle to work all power to the track must be through the control button. So if additional track feeds are needed they must come from the output of the control button, not directly from the transformer. 
The whistle is so marginal it might not be worth the trouble to wire a large layout such that it will work anywhere. Just wire a couple of isolated blocks fed from the control button where the whistle can be used.


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## cramden (Oct 13, 2015)

Tom, is the 60 HZ A.C.? Maybe only the 314AW uses D.C. to trigger the whistle. Thanks for any light you can shed on this.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

There were three different whistle systems used by Gilbert in the early postwar era. The 336 uses one of these. The 314AW uses a completely different system that uses transformer power to run a tender whistle. It will only work with AC track power. The 324AC and 372 used a 120v powered whistle controller. 
I recommend you look at the site myflyertrains.org and go to the Factory Service Manual posted there. That manual has an entire section on these whistles.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

60 HZ is AC current as delivered to the transformer. It should not normally have any DC offset bias. Some whistle controllers work by putting a small DC offset on the 60HZ waveform. This DC component is used to close a relay. The 336 does not work like this. I do not recall if the 314AW uses a DC relay in the tender. I do not have one to look at, perhaps someone else can clarify this.


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## cramden (Oct 13, 2015)

Thanks, I know the site well. I also have Thomas Barker's book and he has a chapter about whistles. Looks like a little reading is in order. Thank you.


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