Is it the engine or transformer??

[SchemerBob]

Well, I was planning on running my trains this evening, but something just wrecked the mood. I can't really figure out what it is. I turned on my brand-new RailKing SW1500 diesel, moved it around on one track for a second, and then transferred it to another loop of track. This loop of track is powered by...guess who?...the Lionel CW-80. I haven't had any trouble with it, but when I placed the locomotive on the track and powered it up, the engine's horn started wailing and never stopped. The horn and bell buttons wern't doing anything. When the engine finally got into forward gear, it started out slow (like it should), but then the engine started flying down the track, even at a low voltage! I tried turning the voltage down even farther, but then the locomotive lurched to a stop and flipped to neutral. And while all this is happening, the horn is wailing and wailing, and I can't turn it off. When I placed the locomotive on the first loop again, this one powered by the older 80-watt #6-14003, the engine works perfectly. But, my older RailKing Genesis with ProtoSound 1 works fine on the CW-80 loop, too! I know, this is confusing, but since my SW can work on the other track fine, I suspect it's something wrong with the CW-80. What's your idea? I just want to make sure; I was already thinking of replacing it because I couldn't activate the engine's couplers or freight yard sounds, but now it doesn't seem to run the engine at all, even though it did a few days ago. Anyone have any thoughts?

[ChiefEagles]

Find you a good Post War transformer.  A good KW or ZW.  They will power both loops. 

[dougdagrump]

Being somewhat of a novice with the power systems this is somewhat of a wild guess but could there be some out of phase issues.

[phillyreading]

Like Chief says get a good transformer! The CW80's from what I can gather are mainly good as paper weights.  

If you like Lionel get a new ZW!   If you like MTH get a new Z4000!    MRC has transformers also.

Lee F.

[chuck]

the CW-80's putting out odd waveforms that the loco is interpreting as "commands".  This is a common problem with loco's that use the PS-1 style technology to eek out additional features.  A PS-2 loco that does not "see" a DCS command signal will revert to "conventional mode" which means PS-1 mode and PS-1 loco's do not like modified waveform transformers unless the power supply was designed to work with theses engines.  That usually means higher end units like a modern ZW or a TPC style controller.   Use a PW unit  or some other pure sine wave device or  a newer unit that is compatible with PS-1 commands.