Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

I know I'm posting this very late, but since April 2010, one of my regulars sent me a Safetran mechanical bell.

He did say I could mention his name, but I won't, in case more people try to get bells from this person. If he wants to identify himself, go ahead.

Anyways, I got this bell in April 2010. It's an older Safetran bell, and weighs 24 pounds.

I've tried to get it working, but nothing I've tried works. I have tried a car battery charger, rated at 12 volts, and nothing happened. I've also tried one of my power packs for HO scale rated at 14 volts DC, and nothing has worked. I have asked two people for help, and I've either been ignored, or given advice that has lead nowhere.

I've enclosed some pictures (without a webpage) here of the bell, and the insides of it. If there's anyone who's got any ideas on how to make it work, I'd rather get emailed, or sent a PM, instead of replying to this post, because I have literally zero knowledge of what you'd be talking about.

Anyways, the pictures can be found here: http://www.rxrsignals.net/Collections/Smjh1979/Safetran

[quote="Smjh1979"][/quote]
needs to be cleaned and oiled badly from the looks of those photos
safetran m bells from my point of view are just a pile of junk thou, soo.. if it were on my line id junk it

I think the biggest problem is the power supply.

I tried running the bell off of it, and it didn't work.

Here's a picture of what it can do: http://www.rxrsignals.net/Collections/S ... C00244.JPG

Yes, I do use the DC, not the AC connectors. The wires on the AC part are for the HO scale signal I have wired up.

Smjh1979 wrote:I think the biggest problem is the power supply.

I tried running the bell off of it, and it didn't work.

Here's a picture of what it can do: http://www.rxrsignals.net/Collections/S ... C00244.JPG

Yes, I do use the DC, not the AC connectors. The wires on the AC part are for the HO scale signal I have wired up.

YEP
thats it right there, that little toy doesn't have enough power. need a good car battery

I have 3 Safetran bells, 2 mechanical and a hybrid. I love them, but I haven't hooked them up yet. They do die more quickly I notice than Western stuff, but I love the sound of them.

I have no trouble ringing it manually. I may get some clips later on though, but the question is when?

TommyBNSF wrote:I have 3 Safetran bells, 2 mechanical and a hybrid. I love them, but I haven't hooked them up yet. They do die more quickly I notice than Western stuff, but I love the sound of them.

i never said i didn't like the sound of them i really do like the sound, its the performance that sucks. There very high maintenance

Thanks to RRxingrick, I've finally gotten the bell working!

Here's a huge tip for future people with bells. When I was trying to make it run, I was doing it while the bell was laying on its back. It must be standing upward. Now that I've done that, the bell works fine now.

Use a car battery.
Have the bell upright as though mounted on a signal.
Clean corrosion or dirt fromoving parts - if any.

I will eventually. I have a charger I'm using now that's doing a pretty good job.