I Have 4 180 Watt lionel Powerhouse power supplies i am planning to hookup to MTH TIU
i have an adapter to plug into the original Molex plug to convert to banana plug to go to the tiu
when i just bench test the powerhouse with the adapter plugged into it and turn it on put a volt meter accross the banana plug leads i dont get any voltage reading shouldn't i be getting 18 volt reading ?
Regards
Prentice
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The newer Powerhouse 180's have a switch in the plug's third position that must be depressed to keep the Powerhouse live.
You can stick a piece of rolled-up electrical tape or get a pin from Lionel customer service as described in this thread.
@Professor Chaos posted:The newer Powerhouse 180's have a switch in the plug's third position that must be depressed to keep the Powerhouse live.
You can stick a piece of rolled-up electrical tape or get a pin from Lionel customer service as described in this thread.
I Have 2 of the older 6-22983 and 2 of the newer 6-85226 and all 4 of them i get the same thing no voltage readings and the adapters i have for the newer ones have a pin in the third hole to push in on the switch that is built into that 3rd hole
Well it's unlikely all 4 have failed! Are you sure your voltmeter is working?
yes
i just checked it on a battery and checked with 2nd voltmeter they are both ok
Well, something is wrong, and I suspect it's a common failure. Four of those failing just ain't a statistical possibility I would imagine. 
Have you checked the outlet to make sure you have power there ?
@boomer0622 posted:Have you checked the outlet to make sure you have power there ?
yes
when i turn on the power switch the red led light on the switch goes on
Just have to ask - your volt meter is set to AC correct?
Jim
Good catch Jim, he was checking batteries.
@Jim Sandman posted:Just have to ask - your volt meter is set to AC correct?
Jim
Ok
i guess i had a senior monment the volt gauge was set on DC i set it to AC and now have 18 volts
thanks guys for bringing that to my attention
No problem, we all have our moments. Glad the problem was solved.
How did people run trains before this forum was available to troubleshoot problems? Things like this are simple, yet nearly impossible for one person to catch when only dealing with himself. I cannot tell you how many electrical issues I resolved with input from the forum, when all the options I could think of were exhausted.
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