K-Line Power Chief Transformer

I have a couple.  Love 'em.

 

There is some history in these that lead to the final demise of K-Line. 

 

The basic architecture of the Power Chief 120 is based on(copied from) the Lionel CW(80), but with the flaws in the original CWs addressed and fixed(K-Line made the black / "U" terminals/posts common as they should be, gave it a 270° range on the throttle instead of the CW 90° , and allowed it to put out a full 7 amps as it's capable of, all without the annoying cooling fan, and put an actual power switch right on the unit).

 

When Lionel "called" them on it, it lead to(additional) litigation that took K-Line down.

It's a good unit when it works. Unfortunately there were a lot of production defects with the Power Chief. I bought one when it came out, returned it because of a problem, and there was another problem with the second one. About that time K-Line went out of business, so the warranty evaporated. Eventually I got some advice from forum member GGG and opened the thing up and fixed it. There are shunt resistors across the output terminals; one was loose at one end and the other one was entirely missing. The parts to fix it cost two or three dollars. I have another one of them that the auxiliary output works fine but the throttle doesn't. The shunts are there, so not that. Probably a bad throttle pot, but I haven't had time to unsolder the pot and test it. Again, the replacement part is cheap if that's what it is. 

 

One very nice feature of the Power Chief is that you can adjust the voltage on the auxiliary output by fiddling with the horn and bell buttons. That feature works great on both of mine, so I can still use the bad one to power lights and accessories. 

 

If you are contemplating getting a Power Chief, I would be sure that it has been tested. That means actually running it with a load, not just that the light comes on when you turn on the switch. It's  best if it is actually hooked up to a track and tested with a load; the unloaded voltage could check out OK with a VOM but give trouble under load. If the unit works OK, it probably will stay that way; the known defects in these things show up right away rather than appearing later. 

 

One other point. Since it is an electronically controlled transformer, it may have compatibility problems with certain locomotives, especially Proto-1 and QSI systems. Mine works OK with some Proto-1 engines but not others. I can't recall which ones worked and which didn't, but there were only a couple that gave problems. Most were fine. I'm not currently using it, but I'm planning to pull it out for use on a loop that only runs Standard Gauge tinplate, so no issues there because I don't own any Proto-1 tinplate. 

Also "borrowed" from the Lionel CW.

I didn't know that. I had a CW-80 once, but it came with the Harry Potter set and all I ever did with it was set it up under the Christmas tree. Now my grand-niece has it. Last time I saw it, it was under the Christmas tree at my niece's place in California.

I have one of the PowerChief accessory transformers and it has worked flawlessly.

The circuit breaker on mine opens a lot, and I have to reset it. I thought this would be my answer for accessories. I may have too much on it. I am going to replace it with a Lionel Z. If it works for you it is a great compact transformer.

I just picked up one of these for $28 plus $12 shipping today on the bay.  Did I pay too much?  They said it works, so hopefully this is the case.  I plan on using it to power a bunch of lights and accessories.  I don't think it will come with the manual, does anyone know where to find it?  I can't see it on the legacy k-line website.

I use the K-Line Power Chief constant voltage multi tap transformer. I've had no problems at all. It powers 42 Realtrax switches. It handled them fine with the incandescent bulbs but all those bulbs pulled quite a bit of power. The bulbs also got fairly hot. Between the contoler lights and the lights on the switches themselves there is a total of 42 bulbs.

I made my own LED replacement bulbs and that took a big load off the transformer and the heat issue is gone.

The multi tap feature allows me to run quite a few accessories at optimal voltage for how I like them to operate. They are not cheap in price for sure. I would not use it to power my command layout but i am comfortable using it for the switches and accessories.

Dale, You really have some PS-1 issues.

 

I love these transformers.  They run my PS-1 find.  Additionally it ran a PS-2 fine in conventional and was able to activate all the features via the Bell and Whistle buttons.

 

The instructions are on the bottom of the transformer.  It is a better version of a CW-80 in my opinion.

 

There can be issues with a broken feed back resistor on the output terminals.  So if it acts up that may be required.  They are not hard to fix.

 

$40 is a good price.  G

Sounds like the resistor across the output terminals might have come adrift, or some other small electronic component. These things are pretty good when they work, but notorious for sloppy assembly. One of K-Line's biggest dealers told me he was getting a return rate close to 50%. You will have to take the unit apart to figure out what is wrong - GGG is the expert. You have to drill out the rivets to get it apart; you can reassemble it either with rivets or sheet metal screws. 

 

I use my Power Chief to run an elevated track loop, and it works fine, including my MTH PS-1 and PS-2 engines. It has 3 control buttons for direction, whistle/horn, and bell. 

 

K-Line also made a fixed voltage version for accessories.

 

One "modern era" transformer that I use strictly for accessory power is the Lionel MW. The MW was created late in the MPC era, and it does not play well with modern electronics.  The MW was replaced by the RS-1.

 

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/g...4/lightbox/856305698

 

Ken

 

Gentlemen,

   Rob is absolutley correct on this one, the K-line PC-120 transformer is absolutely fantastic compaired to the CW-80, which I still maintain is a complete piece of junk, and Lionel had major fit over K-Lines PC 120 because the transformer was everything the Lionel CW-80 should have been, for a RTR set transformer.  Lionel got away with some real shady legal garbage, which undermined the entire K-line company.  Which is exactly what Lionel really wanted. We the consumer were the ones who really got hammered on this mess.  A rotten shame.

PCRR/Dave

  

$3 for 100 pieces HERE.

It is a capacitor, did you remove all the metal from drilling out the rivets?  Did you pinch any wires?   Need to clean the insides well with a soft brush and examine to ensure no metal left inside.  G

"Lionel got away with some real shady legal garbage, which undermined the entire K-line company. "

 

Lionel's chief engineer was allegedly moonlighting for K-Line and instead of designing them a new transformer, copied the CW80, and was caught red handed.  K-Line initially agreed to compensate Lionel when Lionel brought a civil action,  and then reneged on the agreement.  It was a judge, Maury Klein's bad business decisions and their accumulated debt that likely put K-Line out of business, not Lionel.

I will make sure to clean everything out. I already replaced the capacitor and now the pot is still acting up. I am pretty sure the pot needs replaced. I ordered a new one and it's on I ts way.