CW 80

[lionelsoni]

I think Larry is right to suspect that your frequency is too low.  The CW-80 uses a phase-control technique to reduce the voltage that it puts out by literally turning the output voltage on and off in synchronism with the sinusoidal mains waveform, which, in your case is not the waveform that it was designed for, and which I would expect to play havoc with its operation.  I'm a little surprised that it works at all for you.

The phase-control technique also causes substantial errors when you try to read the voltage with a conventional meter rather than a more-expensive true-RMS meter.

If the numbers you gave for your transformer are correct, and if your mains voltage is not rather higher than it should be, you are also not giving the CW-80 enough voltage.  The usual American voltage hasn't been 110 since the middle of the 20th century, but is now 120 volts.  And the British voltage was dropped a few years ago to 230 to "harmonise" with the Continent.  The result is that your transformer's output voltage may be 110 * 230 / 240 = 105 volts, about 15 volts low.

[TrainLarry]

You may wish to upgrade to a more powerful transformer. The 1044 seems to be identical to the 4090 at 90 watts. Another good 90 watt transformer is the  1033. I would recommend stepping up to an LW at 125 watts to give you some spare power. The CW-80 owners manual says that the transformer is for 60Hz only. I do not know if your 50HZ power there has an effect on the transformer, or on any other train related electronics.

Larry

[overall]

I would think the CW 80 would have another capacity to run your GP-9. Have you tried your engine with another transformer? Are you sure your engine is in good working order? Could it be stuck in neutral? Could your GP-9 have a short in it (very rare, but it does happen)? Are you loading your CW 80 with accessories in addition to trying to run your engine? I have one of these that I use for lights. When I got to one boulevard lamp too many, it shut down, completely, right then.

[essex old man]

I now have 5 CW80 transformers all running from 240 volt -110 volt transformers

The only problem I had was one was not able to adjust the accessory voltage but it was an early model and needed to be connected to a load to measure the voltage output with a meter, the same was true with the track voltage. the others are later models and have been running fine.

I now have a problem with a GP 9 it will not run from the transformer it is an early diesel (1984) it has been suggested that this transformer is not powerful enough. The book suggests a model 4090??? no longer available?? can anyone confirm this please.

Ernie UK