Best power upgrade for Lionchief?

Perfect solution. You hit all the right points.

If you use the accessory posts of the CW, set the(programmable) output to max(will be 17.8-18 volts) and you will have a foolproof 5 amp setup. No monkeying around with the throttle or buttons will affect the LionChief set if curious fingers somehow make their way to the CW.

You should be able to find a set break-up CW on eBay for $40-$50.

Thank you both!

The manual suggests the wall-wart is 18V DC, 3A (54 Watts) output with coaxial-barrel connector:

On eBay, you can get a 90 Watt universal laptop charger for about $10 shipped (from US seller).  DC voltage output settable - one choice being 18V.  Comes with a set of coaxial-barrel connectors, one of which ought to match whatever you have.

I have a similar question.  I'm new to the hobby and about to start my first layout.  I will have almost 75 feet in track.  Will the CW 80, be okay?  I'm concerned about the power.  I don't want to have too much power (Tim Allen would be disappointed), and accidentally blowing up stuff, but not have too little either.

  You won't blow things with a big unit alone. 

You would more likely cook a small supply with overworking it.

Your items need a mininum of amps at X volts. More amps availible is almost always a good thing. (too much voltage is a worry, not amps)(except at a component level; like leds alone without regulation)

  Nobody complains much on "bought too big"; just too small. I think your pushing the edge of the minimum size if any post war is running.

To be more precise, open frame vs can motors, both got used with command. Can motors dont usually use as many amps.

For LC alone, it's near double what it came with and would likely be ok, but buying with expandability in mind is the standard suggestion .

pops3301 posted:

 

To much power without a FAST ACTING circuit breaker is bad. The CW80 has all that...

This is one of the drawbacks of the CW80. It doesn't have a circuit breaker.

Come on...  Mr Pops 3301 does not know what he is talking about.  As a service center for Lionel and MTH, the Lionel CW-80 has a very fast acting electronic circuit breaker!  I would have no problem using a CW-80, which delivers 4 Amp to run a LionChief engine.  The issue that needs to be addressed is the amount of track, 48' is a lot.  Is one connection point to 48' of  FasTrack going to work.  48' is 576" of track.  Based on a straight run (which is not going to be the case) would be over 57 pieces of straight track.  There WILL BE A VERY Good chance of a voltage drop at the other end due to the 57 mechanical connections.  Use additional feed wires.

I view track as multiple pieces of wire.  Within common sense, current draw is based on what one is putting on the track.  If a LionChief engine draws 1.5 Amp at the start of the 576" of straight track, it will still pull 1.5 amps at the other end.  The question is "how good are the 57 connection points inbetween?

Thanks everyone, this is an amazing amount of good info. Here’s another question: if i connect the tracks with wire underneath, does it matter which ground I use? Or should the wire criss cross from one outer track to another?

Silly posted:

Come on...  Mr Pops 3301 does not know what he is talking about.  As a service center for Lionel and MTH, the Lionel CW-80 has a very fast acting electronic circuit breaker!  I would have no problem using a CW-80, which delivers 4 Amp to run a LionChief engine.  The issue that needs to be addressed is the amount of track, 48' is a lot.  Is one connection point to 48' of  FasTrack going to work.  48' is 576" of track.  Based on a straight run (which is not going to be the case) would be over 57 pieces of straight track.  There WILL BE A VERY Good chance of a voltage drop at the other end due to the 57 mechanical connections.  Use additional feed wires.

I view track as multiple pieces of wire.  Within common sense, current draw is based on what one is putting on the track.  If a LionChief engine draws 1.5 Amp at the start of the 576" of straight track, it will still pull 1.5 amps at the other end.  The question is "how good are the 57 connection points inbetween?

Thank you!  I do have a power pack that came with a ready to run set.  If I remember correctly, my manual said to never use both at the same time. Is that true? Otherwise, I could plug a power pack into the far end.  I'm not good at electrical, as you can probably tell, so I'm honestly asking because I don't know.

RobRiehn posted:

I do have a power pack that came with a ready to run set.  If I remember correctly, my manual said to never use both at the same time. Is that true? Otherwise, I could plug a power pack into the far end.  I'm not good at electrical, as you can probably tell, so I'm honestly asking because I don't know.

You can use two LionChief wall/DC packs, but you can't mix types or AC with DC.

Silly posted:

Come on...  Mr Pops 3301 does not know what he is talking about.  As a service center for Lionel and MTH, the Lionel CW-80 has a very fast acting electronic circuit breaker!  I would have no problem using a CW-80, which delivers 4 Amp to run a LionChief engine...

I'm not sure what you are saying here, as I generally agree with you that "Mr Pops 3301 does not know what he is talking about with the circuit breaker"(I wouldn't have said it that way, though), but disagree  that "as a service center for Lionel and MTH, the Lionel CW-80 has a very fast acting electronic circuit breaker". The service centers should have no influence over the CW features.

Additionally, the CW80 has an electronic "fold-back" current limiting circuit - and will deliver 5 amps, not 4. If you have a short with a CW, it will put out 5 amps for some time before cutting power to the layout. You can test this with an ammeter and a large train with lots of lights at full throttle.

So if I'm reading this correctly, the Hogwarts and PE sets are basically the same. They both use the same18 volt DC power pack. The CW-80 is a 18 volt AC transformer. Are these two sets designed to operate on AC as well as DC? Cause I'd like to use my CW-80 to power my PE set. I'm pulling all 7 cars.

Jayhawk500 posted:

...Are these two sets designed to operate on AC as well as DC? Cause I'd like to use my CW-80 to power my PE set. I'm pulling all 7 cars.

Yes.

The CW will work great for that consist.

Thanks for the reply Rob. We'll see what happens.