# Lionel 1033 circuit breaker



## carinofranco (Aug 1, 2012)

I have a 1033 on my test bench that I use for normal checking of locomotives, whistles, accessories, etc while restoring or repairing. It has worked fine for years, but I normally use it only for a short time—just enough for a quick test. The other day, I hooked it up to my test track and let a locomotive run for an extended test time for which I normally use a different transformer. It ran for about 2-3 minutes and then the circuit breaker began rapid cycling and sparking from the rivet that holds the leaf element. The rivet was loose. I had never seen this before. Apparently the breaker did not trip when using it for shorter times under load but builds enough heat from the bad connection to trip under longer times under load. Not knowing any better, I took off the top plate and reset the rivet with a center punch and light hammer tap. It now works great. Has anyone else seen this? BTW is there an easy to drop in replacement circuit breaker for this application that anyone knows about?


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I use the 6A automotive cartridge breakers as replacements for the 1033, 8A ones for the KW, and the 10A ones for the ZW. They work great and don't have any adjustments to go south.


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## Dave Sams (Nov 24, 2010)

I have a few 1033's and have never had a rivet go bad.

2 of the transformers have bad circuit breakers. One was bad when the package arrived, the other breaker wouldn't last more than 2 minutes with a PW loco pulling 4 cars.


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## Dave Farquhar (Feb 20, 2013)

I have a 1033 that I think has a bad breaker. Where do you place a jumper wire to bypass the breaker to test? My 1033 would be an upgrade over the 75w Marx transformer on my bench so I wouldn't mind fixing it up, if i was certain the breaker was the problem.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

There's only two wires coming to the breaker, you just short it out. I don't recommend this as a permanent solution!


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## Dave Farquhar (Feb 20, 2013)

Oh absolutely, just long enough to test, and if it starts working, I'll be getting an automotive breaker. Thanks!


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## Dave Farquhar (Feb 20, 2013)

Well, here's an oddity. The transformer was dead. I shorted the breaker, plugged it in, and measured appropriate voltage on all the post combinations with a voltmeter. So I unplugged it, removed the wire, plugged it back in, and it still worked.

Does that seem odd to anyone else?


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## Dave Sams (Nov 24, 2010)

It sounds like the breaker made contact, or you have a loose connection. Perhaps a bad solder joint.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

The breaker is probably flaky, I'd consider a replacement for it.


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## Dave Farquhar (Feb 20, 2013)

Seems that way. I'm going to order a replacement. Thanks for the help!


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