180 watt brick to direct lockon for Lionel lionchief plus

Easy to do.....  check this out.

Obviously pay no attention to the Command base.

I use these when going directly to FasTrack from my 180w Bricks.  It works great.

Isn't the output on the brick 18v   Just like the maximum on the 80w??  I guess the question is can the brick be hooked directly to the track without that add on stuff???  I'd prefer to use a throttle so I could still run conventional engines. 

Jim 

carsntrains posted:

Isn't the output on the brick 18v   Just like the maximum on the 80w??  I guess the question is can the brick be hooked directly to the track without that add on stuff???  I'd prefer to use a throttle so I could still run conventional engines. 

Jim 

Now that I don't think so since its full power all the time.  I have looked at a 125watt trans on ebay and may go that route as I too some times run a conventional engine.  I have all the lights on smaller trans so I can keep the volts at 13.........just a thought

" I have a 180w brick and was wondering can I use a TMCC direct lockon to power the tracks.  The brick just has a male plug in it. Is there a adapter Lionel sell to just wire it to the track??"

Should work fine.  What type of track?  The TMCC direct lockon is designed for use with both Fastrack or O/O27 tubular track.  Can also be easily adaptable to other types of track but may need some soldering or transition connectors.

Dougie,

Just build an adapter cable for the Powerhouse 180. or get one eBay- same one the DCS guys use to connect to the TIU. Cut the banana plugs off.

email me if you want the molex part numbers to build your own.

yeah, you do lose the option of conventional running, but heck, you have a 180 w  transformer sitting there.

I would use the TMCC direct lockon for extra protection since it is a fast electronic CB.  PH180/direct lockon would be a good combination for LC+ engines.  In the future, you could add TMCC/Legacy via one wire to the track if you want.  As mentioned, if you want to run conventional you will need to get a transformer with a throttle or, if you upgrade to TMCC, replace the direct lockon with a Powermaster.

Two things to consider about the direct lockon. First, make sure you buy the newer version.  The original version was made to snap onto Lionel's old style tinplate track.  The new version connects to any track via wires.

Second, if you should ever want to add DCS to the layout, the direct lockon is a known disrupter of the DCS signal.

Thank you all for your advice...Since the brick has a CB, I think I will go with Moonmans and just get the wiring and wire direct to the track.....Doug

The PH180 has an excellent breaker, and the TMCC Direct Lockon is not at all necessary.  Since it doesn't really do much that the PH180 doesn't already do, why spend the money?  For one thing, they didn't include TVS protection in the Lockon, something that always mystified me.

I have finally decided to upgrade from 4 LW's powering 4 separate blocks  to 2 PH180's powering 2 blocks for fast ending breakers. Two questions come to mind: 1) is there a male plug that the female connector on the PH180  available that can then be wired directly to a terminal block that sends power to the track?? and 2) If not how does wire a TVS into the PH180 without cutting the end off?

modeltrainsparts posted:

...1) is there a male plug that the female connector on the PH180  available that can then be wired directly to a terminal block that sends power to the track?? and 2) If not how does wire a TVS into the PH180 without cutting the end off?

These plugs are available on eBay or you can make your own: