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Hi,
I have a bunch of 9V train wires that have the plastic rotted away and need replaced. They are the wires with the square black brick that snaps on top of the transformer and onto the tracks. Both sides have a black lego on both side.
I got one set apart, replaced the wires, and test them with a volt meter, but they would not work on the tracks. I have a brand new spool of wire to replace all I have.
I wanted to see if any here can help me repair these wires if so please reach out.
Thanks
DanI have replaced and repaired some LEGO 9v wires, the ones with the 2×2 black 2/3 bricks at the end. I used the type of wire in the attached image. It was really challenging to get the 2×2 black 2/3 bricks apart and it took some trial and error with each wire to ensure connectivity before snapping them back together. I think @laura has done train wires specifically with reasonable success.
Where are you located?
Yes that is them and I got them apart, into the V conduits, and back together, but then the train would not run.
I am north of Pittsburgh by Cranberry.
I would assume that you are using a train speed regulator with the big yellow dial … and you turned the dial away from the vertical position … and you have one end of the wire that is wedge shaped and is attached to the side of a 9V/metal track … and the 9V motor (with metal wheels) is on the same section of track that the cable is connected to.
Considering all of this, a photo or video of what you are doing might be helpful.
I guess then the question is whether the problem is with the wire or the train motor. Have you gotten the train motor to run using a different wire?
I can get the train to work with other wires, so it must be something I am doing wrong, but I put the meter up there and it seems to work, that is why I am hoping to find someone that has experience doing this and can help, it has me confused.
Thanks
Are you using wires that look like this?
And are the wires attached to opposite sides of the track?
And the wires are attached to 9V metal track not the newer plastic track?My wires have a 2X4 Black brick on both side that you can separate and there are prongs on the inside of the brick and metal sides that connect with at 9V transformer.
The bricks on both end look exactly the same.
Thanks for the question
>> My wires have a 2X4 Black brick on both side that you can separate and there are prongs on the inside of the brick and metal sides that connect with at 9V transformer.
Do you have a photo or a BrickLink number? I don’t know this piece, and I’m not able to find it on BL.
Yes mine are the same, there are metal on the inside of the brick once you pry it apart. There are little clips that hold the bottom plate in place, once you expose that the wire goes inside the brick and over some prongs that punch through the wire and make contact.
I’ve swapped out a lot of wires from the 9v track clip parts. I used to buy some off of Ebay for less because they were cracked and frayed wires. Now they’re expensive, even when so worn.
So what Lego did back in the day was a friction joint. The wires were held in place with pressure so when the 2×2 brick and track bricks are taken apart, we don’t necessarily achieve the same pressure to maintain electrical conductivity. Sometimes, they even come loose inside the part over time.
So a little drop of solder helps.
I’ve disassembled mine and removed the old wires. I then use a wire on each half of the 2×2 plate and solder into the metal of one stud from underneath to fix the wire permanently. Just a drop and very quickly because you don’t want to damage the plastic stud beyond the metal plate inside. Too long and you’ll warp the 2×2 studs. Also, don’t accidentally solder both wires to the same “half” as you’ll see there’s two metal plates.
Same thing for the bricks that connect to the track. At this point, you can either make the wires equal length or you can make uneven like the stock wire. Take a look at your 9v speed regulator placed between you and the track With the control dial facing you, as if you were using it right now. The right side of the 2×2 electrical plate contact goes to the farther rail, the left side goes to the rail closer to you. That’s how my wire clip parts worked before I replaced the wires and I kept that same “polarity” to avoid conflicting currents in my track layouts.
Solder the wires on the bricks that connect to the track and close the bricks back up. They should work. You can use a multimeter to check that current is going through.
As for wires, the 9v regulator cranks out something like 12 volts and 2 amps max. So a 36v 5amp wire would be more than sufficient and can be found on Amazon in spools of different colors if you want to color code your track layout.
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