Power on a Lionel only layout

[Dannyboy6]

Greetings all! I need some help [dont' ask my wife, please],

I have a Lionel only layout with Fastrack, and the main is 110 ft long with feeds every 4 ft., and 15 switches. I have been running 2 Legacy engines with no problems.

Tonight I became the proud owner of the Dash9 CN Legacy loco, woohoo!. When I power it all up, all engines work fine, but the Dash 9 doesn't have any sound. I suspect that I have a power problem.

Does anyone know how much power you need to run 3-5 legacy engines at the same time? I do have the recently released Lionel Lighthouse on that circuit too...okay, perhaps I'm answering my own question...any input?

I'm now laughing at myself....

[balidas]

How many of what kind of transformers are you using?

[Dannyboy6]

180-Watt PowerHouse™ Power Supply

6-22983

Thanks!

[dougdagrump]

Have you tried the new engine with the others removed from the tracks ?

Does it add to the Legacy Controler w/no problem ?

Other than no sound does the engine operate normally ? 

[Seayakbill]

180-Watt PowerHouse™ Power Supply

6-22983

 

I run up to 3 dual motored locomotives on the same main line with a 135 watt powerhouse with no problems. The main line is not quite as long as yours, about 80 feet, with only 4 power connections. Seems like if you were overloading the 180 watt powermaster it would kick in the circuit breaker, I don;t see where it would cause the sound to quit in just one of the locos.

[Roger Bielen]

As previously stated, try the engine by itself.  If still no sounds: 1. double check the volume is turned up; 2. Do a reset, eng #, AUX 1, 0; 3. Do a reprogram per the instruction book.  If all that fails return it to the seller who is hopefully a Lionel dealer/service center.  We've had a number of engines new out of the box that had no sound that we returned to our wholesaler or directly to Lionel.

[gunrunnerjohn]

I've run 5 trains on a 190W KW using TMCC, all had sound, at least half are dual-motored, typical length of the train was 6-7 cars.  This was all on the level using tubular O31 track.  Most of my stuff is DC motored with TMCC and cruise control, the AC motors may pull a bit more juice.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

I'll add to my previous response, if you have a bunch of passenger cars with standard incandescent lighting, you will probably only get more like 2-3 trains running on a KW or similar.  I have six passenger cars sitting along on the track now, four have dual lights and two only have a single lamp.  They're drawing about 1.5 amps from the transformer with nothing else powered through it!  They're as power hungry as the locomotive, when I add the TMCC/Railsounds equipped locomotive and tender and run it around, the usage goes up to slightly less than 3 amps.  This is all at 18 volts on the track, which is what the lighting in the cars are rated for.

[Dannyboy6]

You guys are great!  Thanks for all of your tips and suggestions.

One thing I did tonight was remove the Lionel lighthouse from the track circuit. That was dumb to begin with...it really sucks some power.

I ran all 3 legacy locos tonight pulling 4-12 cars each, with no problems. Unfortunately, my new CN Dash 9 has developed a whine in it's smoke fan and will have to go into the shop as soon as the part comes in...bummer. 

I would really like to put the whole power thing to bed, and don't really want to set up blocks. I had occasion to go to Charles Ro this summer and talked to one of their technicians. I asked him if there was a bonifide way to daisy-chain multiple 180wt powerhouse bricks, and he said no. Does anyone have any intelligence on this? I have 1 powerhouse wired to my layout with power leads every 4 ft. I have 2 80wt transformers for lights and accys.

Any more ideas?

[Buckeye Riveter]

I have 200' of track with 12 switches and I run up to six locomotive at once using two 180 watt Power House Power Supply units connected with a TMCC TPC Cable Set 6-14194 to a TPC 300.   I do have most of my accessories connected to other power supplies.  My track feeds are about 6-8 feet alternating outside rails.   

This power set up has worked perfect for at least six to seven years.  Plenty of power to operate locomotives and lighted passenger cars in the cruise setting.  The TPC Cable Set is described in the Lionel catalog.  It has been in the catalog for years. 

[Dannyboy6]

You guys are great!  Thanks for all of your tips and suggestions.

One thing I did tonight was remove the Lionel lighthouse from the track circuit. That was dumb to begin with...it really sucks some power.

I ran all 3 legacy locos tonight pulling 4-12 cars each, with no problems. Unfortunately, my new CN Dash 9 has developed a whine in it's smoke fan and will have to go into the shop as soon as the part comes in...bummer. 

I would really like to put the whole power thing to bed, and don't really want to set up blocks. I had occasion to go to Charles Ro this summer and talked to one of their technicians. I asked him if there was a bonifide way to daisy-chain multiple 180wt powerhouse bricks, and he said no. Does anyone have any intelligence on this? I have 1 powerhouse wired to my layout with power leads every 4 ft. I have 2 80wt transformers for lights and accys.

Any more ideas?

[rtraincollector]

I may be wrong but how about getting a used zw that can take up to 4 bricks ( not the newest one that has legacy init but that would work also I guess) just an idea because to me somehow lionel is basicly daisy chaining them together you other option would be call lionel and ask to talk to a tech rep I'm sure they know how.

[gunrunnerjohn]

You can use a TPC-400 and combine two 180W PowerHouse supplies, and you get the added benefit of the better circuit protection in the TPC-400.

 

I have the ZW Controller with four bricks, but I don't think it's a good idea to try to tie those outputs together.