UK 50Hz saga solution

[dwiemer]

Nick,
Glad this has finally worked out for you and your son. I too look forward to seeing your posts on the Sunday photo fun. You might get a good deal at auction in the UK on some TMCC engines from others who have not been able to fix the problems. Just a thought. Now that you have it figured out, I hope that others with similar problems will be able to fully enjoy the hobby with the kids.
Dennis

[Nick12DMC]

Hi All,
The Amperor AC to DC power supply arrived today connected it up to
the inverter as a replacement for the car battery.
I have tested all our equipment as I did when running from the battery.
Good news everything works, CW-80 and Trainsounds work perfectly.
As I said I would like to test TMCC but so far the 50Hz issue seams
to have been solved for under £200. [:)]

The Amperor unit is a very compact unit but looksand feel's well made.
So it should stand some long term usage.

Best Regards

Nick

[Nick12DMC]

Hi all,
I got the inverter from Inverters R Us.
http://www.invertersrus.com/inv300ps.html

Its a 300 watt Pure Sine Wave unit, total cost with shipping and import tax
here in the UK £142.

The 12 volt power supply is from Amperor in Scotland for £39.
http://www.amperordirect.co.uk/prod_app_300p.asp

Note that You need a high Amp DC source as even a CW-80 on full draws around 7 amps from the DC supply.
Be careful using a battery charger as they can produce to much voltage for the inverter.
The nice thing about the Amperor supply is you can set it to act like a fully
charged battery (around 13.8V) as it is custom designed for running car battery equipment from the mains.

Whats made all this possible at reasonable cost is how much the price of
pure sine inverters has dropped.

Quiet a few people want to follow this route in the UK club because hopefully
we should have full compatibility with all Lionel and others electronics.
Although I would like to do some testing with a TMCC equiped loco to
check that the command system will all work correctly (We only have the berk from the set at the moment). I don't see why it should not work though,
as the inverter provides 60Hz power that is as good or better than you get
from a wall outlet.

Best Regards
Nick

[wrmcclellan]

You can get a sine wave inverter for under $200.

http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/puresine.html

Then you also need a battery and a charger. Not too bad.

I read the famous model railroader Frank Ellison ran his entire Delta Lines layout from salvaged 24 volt batteries from old passenger cars.

I am glad you got this sorted out.

Be aware of cheap inverters. They can put out a really nasty square wave. Great for your electric vibrating razor.

[andregg1]

Hi
I ran my trains using an Marklin transformer, after the marklin I used the battery inverter,work greate but not perfect, the wave is not pure, so you can see and hear the motor vibrating. I don't know what happend with dc motor , may be work better than AC.
The solution was a 1232 lionel transformer.
this one is for 220 volts 50 hrz. Now I live in USA so I don't have more troubles.
The only problem with markling tranformes is that they are designed for 34VA and this is enough for One postwar engine (not inclued F3 double motor).

Andre.

[More to restore]

I am glad that this worked out. Looks like you are having a lot fun. I am looking forward to your pictures.

But for further reference (for myself, but possibly other EU citizens with the same problem): were did you the equipment and how much does it cost all together?

[Nick12DMC]

Hi All,

Just a note to say that Charlie and I finally got to run the Lionel Santa Fe
Fast Freight set he got for Christmas. Here in the UK today with everything running correctly!
The solution was a 300w 110V 60Hz Pure sine wave inverter running from a battery (borrowed from my 81' DeLorean).
I have sourced a 25 amp 13.8V DC power supply to replace the battery from a UK supplier. But wanted to test the inverter before we spent any more money!
Everything works great including the CW-80 and the Trainsounds system.

Charlie had one of his friends round and they enjoyed playing with the log loader and the egg nog car. They soon got the hang of the CAB 1as well.

Many thanks to all those who have helped in over 2 months of trying to get
this set to work correctly. Including Chris and members of the Lionel Collectors Club UK and the long suffering Rob at Tennents Trains. And of course the members of this forum.
Best Regards

Nick
(Sunday Photo fun here we come[:)])