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Power Choices

raising4daughtersraising4daughtersOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER

Just finished part 1 of my bedroom layout, two separate loops around the ceiling. I plan to run lighted passenger trains on them. Each is 45-50' of track with 8 power feeds to 12 Ga bus wires, one to each center rail with a common/shared bus for the outer rails and the U-posts daisy-chained.

Wondering what transformers (of what I own) I should use for the ceiling loops? One passenger train has 7 cars O27 cars, and the others are shorter, 5-6 cars. I haven't run any of them yet.

I have 7 PW transformers:  2 RWs at 110W, 2 LWs at 125W, a TW at 175, and 2 1033s at 90w.  I also have 2 modern transformers: an 80W Lionel BW which has a separate brick and throttle and an 80W Williams/AtlasIR 1000080.  I also have a PW ZW but REALLY want to keep it for our carpet-central Christmas Layout because it takes up little floor space.

I really don't want to run more wires for blocks but will if that's the best option. I definitely don't want to buy a new transformer since I have plenty of them.

If I find the trains running sluggishly, I'm thinking the simplest thing is to replace the incandescents with LEDs.

Suggestions?

 

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raising4daughtersraising4daughtersOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER
ADCX Rob posted:

The LW and the Williams/Atlas are the best two choices for power hungry trains - about 80 watts each output.  The RW's would be at 70 watts, The TW and 1033s at ~60 watts each.

 

Thanks Rob. Did you mean the Lionel BW, not the LWs, and the Williams/Atlas would be best, or did you really mean the PW LWs?  Your note didn't comment on my modern Lionel 80W BW but I'm thinking you had a typo.

Meaning, put the modern transformers on the loops that'll run passenger trains?

The RWs say they are 110W, the LWs say 125W, and the 1033s say 90W, but my recollection is that output wattage published for PW transformers was overstated. I assume that's why you wrote lower numbers than what's on their casings, right?  The TW says 175W and I originally thought it was my highest output transformer, but I think I read that it's really just 2 1033s under the hood designed to provide 90W to a train and 90W to accessories.

R RLaHaieOGR Forum Member

Pulling a lot of power from any post war transformer is a good way to find out the condition of the built in circuit breaker.  I had this experience this week on a display layout.  After about 2 hours of running the breaker in the ZW's powering the layout got warm enough to start tripping at low (12-14) volts.  I was running 10 car passenger trains on each one with a PS1 steamer for each.  The transformers were not showing any signs of distress other than the weakened breakers.

Rolland

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