MRC Transformers

[Anonymous]

Has anyone ever tried or owned by chance the MRC Pure Power Dual transformer which according to their website lists for $359. Could be a possible cost alternative to the Z-4000 and though the 4000 has more watts, it costs a bit more too, especially with the latest price increases. The MRC is also listed as having advanced sine wave so I would assume that it would be a pure sinewave as well. Any thoughts would be great.

Chris

[Anonymous]

Chris
The the 270 watt MRC Pure Power Dual is a pure sine wave transformer and compatible with supplying any Conventional or Command railpower system.

The list price you quote is very high and should be ignored. Just Trains advertises them for $225 in January OGR, which is less than $1 per watt of capacity ---$1 per watt being a pretty good benchmark for buying transformers.
Each throttle is rated at 135 watts or about 7.5 amps for 270 watts or 15 amp total capacity.

Just Trains advertises the 360 watt Z-4k for $355 --180 watts (10 amps) per throttle.

[Birds]

You can find it as low as $209 online plus shipping (try Charles Ro).

Unlike the old vintage post war transformers (KW, ZW, etc.) the Pure Power Dual will not add voltage to the track, when you use the bell or whistle button, to compensate for the drop in power when using the bell or whistle buttons. This is done on purpose to protect newer engine sound boards from getting fried. A way to compensate for that, if you run older older engines, should be to purchase or build a sound activation button with the ability raise the voltage when activated.

I called MTH a bit ago and asked if the Pure Power Dual would work with DCS and Protosound 2.0. The technician I spoke with said that as far as he knows it should work just fine with both.

I was told that at this time MTH has no technical bulletins to issue regarding the Pure Power Dual, and that he has not heard of any reasons or issues with DCS and/or Protosound 2 and the Pure Power Dual.

I was told by the MTH technician not to use MRC's older 80 watt transformer with DCS and Protosound 2.

There are people on the OGR forum who use it in both conventional and to power both DCS and TMCC.

Hope this helps,
Birds

[Anonymous]

The Dual Power will work fine with DCS but at 7.5 amps per throttle cannot utilize the 10 amp capacity of the TIU Channels---not that doing so is essential.

[Birds]

Leonard,

Good to know. For those of us without DCS, and still trying to come up to speed on it, could you expand on why this 10 amp level is important?

[Anonymous]

Having 10 amps [180 watts] per Power District simply increases the number of engines/lighted cars one can run on that track or "block". Each of the four TIU Channels is sized for 10 amps or 180s watts which will enable supplying and controlling trains in four separate power districts.
[if so inclined one could supply each TIU channel/district with a 180 watt (10 amp) PowerHouse or "brick" to utilize the DCS systems maximum capacity. Or one could use a pair of dual throttle-equipped transformers to supply]

For example, I run two long lighted passenger trains simeltaneously on my elevated track which is a single power district and was originally supplied by a 135 watt [7.5 amp] PowerHouse which would not handle the load . When I had 21 lighted cars on the two trains plus a "J" and Ps-4, it showed nearly 9 amps on the panel ammeter when both were running at moderate speed. I changed to a 180 watt [10 amp] PowerHouse to handle the load [if I changed out those incandescent bulbs in the cars for LEDs I could lower the load significantly--so a bigger transformer is not always essential].

Of course,the great advantage of Command Control, it enables us to run multiple engines/trains in the same district and it is easy to load up or overload a single district. [in a demo video Lou Kovach, inventor of the TPCs, showed a 12 Diesel lash-up on the same track oval or district. Lou had a pair of paralleled 135 watt PoHos (15 amp capacity) linked thru a TPC supplying power ].

[waltrapp]

have one.

At first I used it with my PW F3 but I have since made better use of it.

My Christmas layout is 14'x15' and I used it to power 2 mainlines - not some little circle around a tree. Each mainline had 2 PS2 engines on it, each pulling 9 Railking cars including lighted cabooses, running under DCS control.

I used the acc port to power 12 K-Line switches.

I always recommend it when one of the zillion "what transformer should I get?" threads come up. Yes, the Z4000 and the ZW bricks are good, but so is this MRC Dual 270 (at least the new version).

I love the ammeters - I don't own one. I was really shocked, pleasantly, at the low readings for PS2 engines. I front end my TIU with fast blow fuses and there are times that the MRC breaker pops before the fuse does. I like that protection.

- walt

[Poppa_Zit]

QUOTE: Originally posted by waltrapp

I love the ammeters - I don't own one. I was really shocked, pleasantly, at the low readings for PS2 engines. I front end my TIU with fast blow fuses and there are times that the MRC breaker pops before the fuse does. I like that protection. -- walt

I bought one just because of the ammeters -- great for testing. However, if you are anal about EXACT readings, make sure you take a dynamic reading off the track with a high-quality multitester and adjust the MRC's ammeter (and voltmeter, too) so they match the reading on the multitester.

At slower speeds, using the whistle and bell buttons slows down the locomotive. I run American Flyer, S-Helper Service and American Models S-gauge locos on my four-loop layout. I'm thinking about buying another one to replace one of my 30Bs.

[ChiefEagles]

Jaabat can give you the coverage on those. He bought one. There is a quirk with it. Seems like it has a problem blowing the older whistles or something like that. He is not on the computer during the weekend. Send him an email or kick this back up late Sunday night so he will see it early Monday AM [he goes to work around 6 AM [:0]].

[Anonymous]

I'm bumping this back up in hopes of Jaabat to see this thread. Would love more info on the Pure Power Dual....might work on getting one soon. Saw some good deals on it too with some online vendors.

Chris

[Jumijo]

The weekend is over, and here I am. My wife bought me an MRC Pure Power Dual for Christmas. $209 + $6.00 S&H from Charles Ro. After asking a lot of knowledgable people which transformer to buy, only the MRC was given consistent thumbs up. No one had a bad thing to say about them. Lionel's and MTH's all had negative things said about them, and they cost significantly more.

Anything I'd have to offer has already been covered. I think one of the previous posters noted that this transformer is designed with the newer locomotives in mind, which is what I was told by an MRC tech. The sound activation buttons work very well with electronic sounds, but won't trigger a simple mechanical air whistle. If hooking up a Lionel sound activation button works, I'd like to know. Believe it or not, I like the sound of those air whistles.

Jim

[Anonymous]

This transformer does an excellent job of running high load trains without any problem. I run multi-engined trains with up to thirty freight cars or eleven scale passenger cars. I have had no problems whatsoever with the track power output, however I too have had no luck with the old style electronic horns. I bought a Lionel 6-5906 sound activation button for this very reason. There was NO difference in horn performance. There is a three volt drop in track voltage when the button was depressed, same as the horn button built into the transformer.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info guys...may lean towards the MRC since my first transformer was an MRC Tech II (which I gave to my brother) and has been very reliable. Much cheaper option compared to MTH and Lionel's transformers, and just as reliable.

Chris

[Jumijo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mike DeSandro

This transformer does an excellent job of running high load trains without any problem. I run multi-engined trains with up to thirty freight cars or eleven scale passenger cars. I have had no problems whatsoever with the track power output, however I too have had no luck with the old style electronic horns. I bought a Lionel 6-5906 sound activation button for this very reason. There was NO difference in horn performance. There is a three volt drop in track voltage when the button was depressed, same as the horn button built into the transformer.

My solution was to buy an MRC Sound Station. Now we have horns, bells, whistles, as well as a lot of other cool railroad sounds, like coupling, conductor, engine revving, crossing gates, etc. So now, even our Beep has a horn! The Sound Station was $45.00.

Jim