I finally dedicated a room in my home in North Carolina to begin building my railroad when I was offered the opportunity to work in France on an extended assignment. To keep my modeling skills up, and to experiment with other scenery techniques, I packed up a bunch of stuff, including short locomotives and rolling stock and had them shipped to my apartment. My hope is to build a small, portable, multi level layout. The problem is electrical. US power supplies accept 110v at 60hz, but in France, the power is 220v at 50hz. I assume if the power supply does the job of converting AC to DC and proving the necessary power for the engines, then the problem is the input to the power supply (transformer). Is there such a thing as a European transformer that takes 220v and safely supplies the DC power my engines need? Does anyone have experience with using a US transformer with a power converter? My power supplies are all at least 20 years old, but still work great. Have power supplies evolved since then to accept inputs of either 110 or 220v like those for laptops?
When you are saying power supplies, I assume a DC model railroad power pack since you say twenty years old.
Many wall warts say 110 to 220 50 to 60 hz but the two pins might be different.
Transformers are sold that reduce 220 to 120. Generally, 50 hz into a 60 hz power pack will not be an issue.
Amazon.com sells them I just checked. I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon.
Not sure all countries have the same wall outlet design, pins.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Hi,
you can buy used but very good power pack on ebay, like this one:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Fleischmann-H0-N-6755-Gleichstrom-MSF-Trafo-31-VA-TOP-Transformator-Transformer-/190944793085?pt=DE_Modellbau_Modelleisenbahnen&hash=item2c753251fd
Fleischmann is a high quality manufacturer - when I was a kid, I had two Fleischmann powerpacks, one is 6755, it is very good powerpack.
After you retun to US, you can put it on ebay again:)
Regards,
Hrvoje
Your trains should have no problem at all operating on 50 Hz power. I spent six years in Germany when I was in the U.S. Army, and 220 to 110 Volt step-down transformers were easy to find among the U.S. military community.
Practically all electronics made for U.S. 110 Volt 60 Hz power will operate okay on 220 Volt 50 Hz systems with a simple step-down transformer, since nearly all these devices actually convert the AC power to DC.
One thing that we were warned to never take to Europe was a refrigerator or air conditioner made for U.S. 60 Hz power. U.S. washing machines and dryers worked okay on 50 Hz.
A U.S. television set will not operate in Europe due to the difference in broadcast technology (NTSC in the U.S. and PAL in Europe), but computers should be okay. AM and FM radio is the same as in the U.S.
Hallo,
The person who suggested Fleishmann was on the right track. You should go to the nearest model railroad swap meet or local used sale items market in France. These are offered several times a month in and around most major cities. The stuff is generally cheaper than Ebay. Most model railroaders understand AC, DC and DCC and will suffer with your language skills so that you buy the good stuff. Plus you can find what others are doing. While at one of these jumbles, they will provide a table of flyers of all such upcoming events for months and months. If really at a loss, go into the internet and find the nearest club and visit them as they will get you headed in the right direction-who knows? As they always want new members to join their clubs and maybe you will?
If you have other 110 appliances as well, buy the step down transformer in the US as they are hard to find here in Europe and are expensive to have shipped over later. Language deficient-Joel-Berlin
I would suggest just trying to pick up a European power pack / transformer. The output on the European transformer will be DC for track power just the same as in the US.
Michael, I am a U.S. Gov't employee living/working in Germany. I have many American electrical items I use here. We use small transformers to 220 to 120. They vary in wattage capacity. My trains however are Marklin digital. I just love the Marklin digital system. If i can help let me know...living in Germany on the Fance/Germany border.
Brian M