180 Watt PowerHouse Being Re-Designed

Did you ask them?

 

Doubt anyone here will know for sure.  And, you can power your Legacy with other transformers.

 

I like the individual bricks, have been buying them up when I find a good deal.  I have all I need but feel for others!

Maybe trying to boost ZW-L sales?

Not a popular decision here as that is by far the best power source that we have found.

 

Art

I believe the PH180 will still be available, but pricing may be different than in the past. Perhaps that is what she meant?

That's a big relief! I need a few more of them later this year or next.

 

Those are by far the best power supplies I have seen, used or heard of as well, Lionel has a real winner there! I would certainly hate to have to switch to something else, those are great pieces of equipment.

I can only speculate why, but I imagine it had something to do with "how do we increase income?"

They'll be cheaper?      Haha!

 

Somehow I doubt that! 

hi

how many do you want? 

email at ralph.salvato@gmail.com

Hi Jon

 

"...Perhaps that is what she meant?"

I was so shocked about this, that I asked her twice just to clarify. Angela specifically said the PH180 would not be sold separately anymore.

Why would you charge your customers $100 more for a feature (the "throttle box") they don't need if they're running Legacy?

- RICH

I think an email to Mike Reagan is in order. He Will know for sure.  Since Jon thinks they will still be offered,  I would have no reason to doubt him.

Well, somebody did in fact e-mail Mike because he just sent me one.

 

Apparently the PowerHouse 180 is being "re-designed" and won't be available until late 2015. So that's good news.

 

I wish they would have just told me that in the first place. It would have saved me a lot of time and confusion today.

 

- RICH

You could always buy a few of these

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331050...e=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Good news for sure.

 

Art

I wonder why a redesign, I have not seen or heard of any issues with them.  I think they are considered the gold standard for a Power Supply and fast acting circuit breaker.  G

More Power   Two PH 180's parallel.

Some thoughts on re-design.

(1.) UL compliance and acceptance.

(2.) Thermal/magnetic cut-out, IMO, these/this part tends to fail or not work properly.

(3.) Transformer sound issues, which never seemed to be the case. IMO

(4.) Plug and play compatibility with the new Lionel Handle control ZW???

(5.) Re-engineer the "Y" connection that allows for high power application when two transformers are paralleled as pictured.

(6.) Address phasing issues with multiple PH 180's or compatibility with non-Lionel transformers.

(7.) Looks and overall marketing design.  IMO very low on the list.

(8.) Safety concerns beyond the UL listing mention in #1.

(9.) Transformer inductance as related to the RF signal, TMCC/Legacy. Is or can there be improvement here??? 

 

 

 

CE marking?

Do not want to sound like a broken record but might have something to do with "how do we make this cheaper to produce?"

It could also be just a cosmetic change. Why do car models get tweaked every year? To make them look a little different and make the customer feel he or she is getting an updated version when most of the changes are purely cosmetic. It's a marketing strategy to regain people's interest. I'll guess we'll see in a few months.

If I recall correctly, Mike Regan did address this several months ago.  I don’t remember the reason he gave for the redesign but he did briefly explain it.  I believe it was on a Notch 6 podcast. 

Or even : "Oh, crud!  A part we need to make these is discontinued by the manufacturer.  While we bought whatever they had left of that part, we need to redesign for a substitute part if we want to be able to continue selling these."

 

(or maybe not.... could be lots of things)

 

-Dave

 

Whatever Lionel's motivation is for changing the 180 Powerhouse, it must be nefarious and all part of a dastardly plan to take advantage of their customers.  What other reason could they possibly have?

I'm not sure what I'd change about the PH180.  It has an excellent circuit breaker, the "best of breed" that I've seen in modern transformers, perhaps excepting the ZW-L.  Maybe they're changing the internal circuitry because of parts issues?

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Are there any commercially available cables you need to connect PH180's to your MTH TIU or do you need to fabricate you own?

 

- RICH

Oh no!  The secret is out!

All you need to do is cut off the elephant clip and attach banana clips to the two bare ends. then connect it to one of the two adjustable channels of the TIU. Use the DCS controller to adjust voltage.

If you want to keep the elephant end on the #180 wire, find Lionel part #6-14194 TMCC-TPC cable set if its still available and use it to make the connection without cutting the #180 wire..

Joe

The Fort Pitt High Railer layout operates the main loops (4) with (2) Z 4000's  The TT/RH modules had their own power, PH 180's paralleled.  The Z 4000's and PH 180's were out of phase, and the 110 volt wiring had to be changed on the PH 180's so that all (4) transformers would play nicely together.    Maybe they are going to fix that.

Even better, make your banana plug pigtails with the proper mating male Molex connector to preserve the integrity of the brick for use as designed.

Got a part # on that molex connector, Rob?

 

- RICH

That's exactly what I said to do by using the Lionel TMCC-TPC cable set. It comes with two female molex ends to do two 2 bricks.

Joe  

ebay has this http://www.ebay.com/itm/LIONEL...;hash=item33a0934e94

Well, what do you know. A cottage industry has beat me to the punch!

 

MOLEX-03-09-2032

C. T. McCormick Hardware also sells one under the part number PH-TIU. Theirs have excellent banana plugs, good fit and they stay tight, unlike several other banana plugs I have tried.

 

I also thought the PH-180's were about as good as it gets for powering our trains. Sure hope any re-design is an improvement and not the other way around.  

That's expensive, I think it's time for me to start making cables, looks like another profit center.

 

They are sold out, on ebay. 

I made a couple for the club. I think they cost me a total of about $8, plus a few feet of 2-conductor wire we had lying around. The hard part is finding the connector if you don't have a "real" electronics store nearby.

The McCormick adapters have increased in price (and I think a pretty good jump too) since I got mine a few years ago. These do have the best fitting banana plugs I have found so far. They fit exactly and don't loosen up or pull out or turn.

 

I have been experimenting with banana plugs, the inexpensive ones on ebay are no comparison to McCormick's. Some more expensive ones from other sources are slightly better, but still don't compare to McCormick's. However, I may have found some at Digi-Key that are comparable. They are Digi-Key #461-1214-ND. I am currently using some and switching some more cables out to these. So far the results are the best I have had next to the McCormick's.

Gentlemen,

   I do believe Lionel has figured out their 180 Brick is damaging their ZW-L sales in a pretty large way.  As most of you know I am not a big advocate of Bricks, however this particular PH 180 was about the best non-transformer deal Lionel had on the market,

if you plan on using them, better get them ASAP cause your cost on them just skyrocked/doubled, with the new package.  To bad too, I know a lot of you guys liked them, especially at such a reasonable cost.  As Guns says they have the best breaker on the market.

PCRR/Dave