Do I have a hook up problem??

That must make my 2002-09 brick really old.   I don't think your PH is a problem, they should last a long time.

Running three locomotives on 180 watts is normally not an issue, but if you have a bunch of lighted passenger cars, you may find you're tripping the breaker a lot.

Yes, you can use a new transformer with the brick, all you have to do is phase them correctly and you'll be fine.  Personally, I really like the Lionel 180 watt bricks, excellent circuit breaker and plenty of power.

I do not see that you got a Legacy Powermaster in the sales items.

I think you need one to run from the power brick with a legacy 990 control system..

If he has all TMCC and Legacy locomotives, where does the PowerMaster fit in?  I run lots of Legacy and TMCC locomotives, no Powermaster in sight here.

On my 180watt brick I only have a outlet power with a molex type connector that has to go in to the powermaster , then I connect the A & U terminals to the track, with the second U going to the 990 base..

here is what I have to power my Legacy system.

The PowerMaster is not necessary or even compatible with the CAB2/Legacy command base.  If you're actually using it with Legacy, you have to have a PowerMaster Bridge.

Again, it's not needed or even useful in this scenario.

This is the cable set Lionel sells to connect the PowerHouse to your track, etc.

The picture did not show on my computer, please send me a part number, I am sure I am not using type of cable between my 180 amd track.  My Brick is wired directly to the track. (the plug that was on the brick was cur off and the ends connected to the track.

Thanks for the information, looks like i am OK.

I guess if the plug was cut off you can wire it straight to the track. My brick has a plug (shown in my photo above) so I could of used the Power adapter cable that John told me about.

looking in the volume 2 catalog 2012 page 129 item A part # 6-12893 $16.99.

it looks like it has a in line fuse built in ?

I guess that cable set is NOT in the catalog I have...so cancel what I said above.

The Lionel 6-14194 TPC Cable Set has the connectors you need to connect to the Powerhouse and then to whatever you'd like to power with the TIU.  Personally, I don't use that cable, I bought the Molex connector directly and just make my own cables, much cheaper.

I do not recommend cutting the plug off the Powerhouse, I'd just use the correct mating connector to wire it to the layout.

Thanks for all the information, before posting I was considering tossing the Brick and buying a new one and use proper connections, I assume a circuit  breaker of sorts will be in the cables, I have never had a problem, when a derail happens, I put all back on the track and turn the brick off and back on (is the circuit breaker inside the brick?)

A new brick will be somewhat less expensive than a new Vision line Hudson

thanks for all the help.

Brent

I'd use a TVS protection diode across the track feed, but IMO you don't need an extra circuit breaker with the Powerhouse 180, that one has an excellent and fast electronic breaker.  If this were the Powerhouse 135, I'd recommend a better circuit breaker or fuse, but the 180 is quite good.

The TVS diode is certainly recommended in any case.

gunrunnerjohn,

Thanks a heap. I am taking your advice and because the power cord to my Brick is already cut, (has been for a couple of years), I am going to buy a new Brick and go from there

Thanks

Brent

You don't need a new brick if the cord is already cut, just use it as is.  I just like to keep them original and use a mating connector, but it's not mandatory.

Truthfully, I got rid of the TMCC Direct Lock-on, they were tripping all the time for no reason for specific locomotives.  I never did figure what set them off, but for me I was not impressed.  With the 180W brick, IMO you don't need the TMCC Direct Lock-on as the brick has a good breaker.

My only addition would be a TVS diode across the track feeds for transient protection.

Note that my advice for no additional protection was specific to the Powerhouse 180 which has a very good breaker, other transformers would warrant extra circuit protection.

I use the 180 bricks.  I did have the TMCC direct lockon in use at one point. Not only overkill but a general pain. I removed it over a year ago. The breakers in the 180 are very fast and work well.

I did follow Gunrunner's advice and added TVS protection in key places. I have never had a problem.

One thing I did not like about the TMCC Lockon was the breaker would automatically reset. In derailment cases I prefer to manually reset a breaker when train back on track as opposed to the automatic reset breaker keep clicking on and off on its own.

Jeff, that's yet another reason I don't like the TMCC Direct Lock-on, I also like to reset the breaker manually if there's a problem.  However, my primary reason was that it triggered on certain locomotives, even though they had no issues.  I even installed a TVS in a couple of the problem locomotives in case they were generating noise spikes and triggering it, no change.  Since this happened with three different TMCC Direct Lock-on devices, I decided it was a design thing and not simply a device failure.