13 Volts to rails

Are you sure your volt meter is correct?  If from Harbor Freight it may be suspect.  What does it read for your house voltage?  Just a thought.

I got almost the same findings. I tested my CW-80 a year or so ago and was getting a reading of 14 volts with Fastback. My ZW-C was just under 18 volts for all 4 handles.

Thanks for the reply Bob. That volt meter is a decent one. Not harbor Freight. I get consistent 119 from my wall outlets.

Your meter is probably NOT a true RMS meter. The CW-80 output waveform is not a "pure" sine wave-- unlike the wall outlet(that's why you read 119 V). So what it is showing is an average reading-- that's why you got "13" volts. 

Randy,

There's one easy answer to your problem. Accept it as is...It is that easy.

I assure you that your TMCC choo-choos will operate just fine.If you are uncomfortable with 14 volts you can purchase another transformer. One thing that I have learned in all my years is that very few if any transformers perform as advertised . 

When running TMCC at home with the grand kids, I always set the track voltage to a setting that would keep the trains from running off the track on the curves at full throttle. That was 12-14 volts on the Z-4000 meter.

You can use a lower voltage if you want. It doesn't absolutely have to be 18 volts.

can you fire the couplers?

I'm with FEC. Did you check the voltage with a load on the transformer?I.E. while the train was running. CW -80 will give a more accurate reading with a "load".

It appears your CW-80 transformer is working just fine. 

Here is the "correction chart" for measuring the CW-80 output:

Thank you gentlemen. I appreciate all of the replies. I doubt my meter is a true RMS meter. I think I bought it at Lowes for testing house wiring when I was doing a little rewiring. I didn't check voltage with the engine under a load. just the track hooked to the volt meter. I can live with the 13 volts. Both of my engines seem to run just fine as it is. I was asking because the smoke unit on my one engine I had just added the new board to wasn't heating up and I had read that some engines may require as much as 14 volts before making smoke as they should. I probably burned the smoke unit out from lack of oil. It was my first loco and I wasn't schooled on how important it was not to let the unit go dry.

Thank you all again.