I have the Lionel 135w power pack and transformer and was wondering if I could upgrade my 135w power pack to a 180w power pack. Thanks
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You can, but the controller will still only be limited to a 7 amp output.
Well I don't really wanna modify it, my question is would it make a huge difference in the performance of my layout to upgrade just to the power pack instead of spending a lot of money on a zw. Yes I do have the powerhouse 135w set!
This one, right?
That controller was designed with a 135W maximum input in mind. I don't think it's a real good idea to try to use the 180W brick with it. In any case, I'm guessing the internal current limiting in the controller would probably either cut out when you get much past 135W or you may cook the controller.
My suggestion is to stick with the 135W brick.
Even if you were to connect the controller to a 10,000 watts supply, it will still trip the electronic breaker at a 7 amp load. It doesn't really matter what it's plugged into. Postwar ZW's are plugged into 1,800 watt(and larger) supplies all the time even though they only draw 2-3 amps(rated at 275 watts on the mains).
The one advantage to using a larger supply would be to have a lower voltage drop at the upper throttle settings compared to using just a 7 amp supply brick.
