Williams 150w transformer: pro or con?

There's one on eBay right now. From the description, output voltage is 0-16VAC. I would think you can run command control with it, but typically we run 20V in Command Control.

 

The two answers that I do not have are how good the circuit breaker is and if this is a pure or chopped sine wave.

 

If there's a "Con" to it, I'd say that it is an older transformer. I hate to say "rare" but this is the first I've heard of this transformer. If I were shopping for a new transformer I would be looking at the Lionel 6-37947.

 

Gilly

There is a review of this transformer in the December 2006 issue of OGR (Run 218).

 

They ran it with just about every type of engine (Lionel postwar, Lionel modern TMCC, MTH PS 1.0 and PS 2.0, Williams, K-Line, and Weaver and it had no issues running any of them.

 

Max. track voltage is 16 VAC and 12 Vac accessory.

Thanks, everyone. I actually have the 80 watt Williams unit from my old layout, but my in-progress layout is enough bigger that I'd like to upgrade.

 

I checked out the new $120 MRC 100 watt unit at Ro the other day. It's nice and compact, though not really enough of a power boost from what I have now.

According to another older thread here it is just the ticket for running Williams engines at appropriate slow speeds.

 

https://ogrforum.com/t...illiams-engine-speed

I have always needed more power or speed from my Williams engines so I use two powered units together or double head the engines.

From my experience the MTH Z-1000 starts at a slow enough speed with my Williams engines. My layout is about 8 ft. by 12 ft.

Another way to slow down an engine without doing anything to it is to go to track power under command control and adjust the voltage setting there.

 

Lee Fritz

Not so with me. My GS-4 ZOOMS using my Z-1000.

Another thing about my Williams engines, could it be the electric power where I live? I am in south Florida near West Palm Beach, does FPL have a lower rating in cycles or something?

I have never had to cut down a Williams engine's power, or to word it so you all understand, I never had to series wire a Williams engine. They run slow enough for me, even using a post war ZW by Lionel.

 

Lee Fritz

Not a chance that the line frequency is off. The 60Hz is a result of the mechanical configuration (number of poles) of the generators at the power plants. Voltage can vary 120 VAC +/- 10%.

 

Gilly

I know about line voltage plus or minus 10%. 

I ask this as most guys say they have to re-wire their Williams engines to run slower, or use some form of electronics to slow them down. If I re-wired my Williams engine for series wiring it would take an hour to do a small loop(8 ft. by 8 ft.) on my layout.

I have used three different transformers( a post war ZW 275 watt, an MTH Z-1000, and a post war KW 190 watt) with my Williams and have similar results.

My problem if it is a problem is that I need more pulling power for my trains. A six car set of Williams Santa Fe "El Capitan" passenger cars needs two powered F-7 A units or it just crawls along at about 10 scale MPH.

 

Lee Fritz

If you have an electric clock with a sweep second arm and it takes 1 minute to complete a revolution, you have 60 cycle electricity. Being off in frequency for a power company is a serious matter.

 

Dick

I get 122 to 129.5 volts with a digital volt meter, on the first floor near the breaker box, so the voltage is fine. My layout is upstairs so maybe one of the outlets is bad or my transformers have a problem. However I measured my ZW's output a month ago and got around 24 volts with handle A or D fully opened, and another 5 volts for the whistle relay function. The Z-1000 put out around 22 volts, didn't measure the whistle or bell feature output.

The tracks are like new and very clean, so I don't think that is it. Also using new wire 16 AWG or larger for long runs. 

Maybe it's just the Williams engines I have.

 

Lee Fritz

The Kill-A-Watt devices have frequency detection too.

Lee, do you get jackrabbit starts and hard stops with your PW ZW? I think they start around 6 volts or so. I use a KW with the C terminal as common, this gives a range of 0-14 volts and allows nice smooth train handling.

Mike,

I don't get anything like a quick start! Never had that kind of a problem!! The only thing I can come up with is that you don't know how to do a slow start with your transformer handles. If I were to suddenly shut power off when near full throttle, then yes I would get a hard & abrupt stop.

I use the post war ZW with my SD-45's and the KW with my GP-9.

 

Lee Fritz

I don't personally have a ZW, only a KW. My point is that if the voltage starts and drops out at 6 volts, some engines are going to start/stop abruptly no matter how carefully you handle the throttle. My Lionel SD9, with a vertical can motor and no flywheel, will lock its wheels and slam to a stop if the voltage drops out after 6 volts. The flywheels on Williams units help somewhat.

I have noticed that the GP-9 stops faster with the ZW then the KW.

The SD-45's start closer to 9 volts and the ZW don't effect them much for starting or stopping. The F-7's take a lot of power, almost 11 volts, to get going and the ZW works very well with them too.

 

Lee Fritz