carsntrains posted:I've been doing a lot of question asking and research on powering LC and LC+ engines over the past year. After hearing what I had from lionel techs, and techs at my local lionel repair shop, and other electronic folks, I say run them on DC. More than likely (#1 failure in LC-LC+) capacitor, which cleans up the DC after the bridge rectifier (#2 failure) converts it from AC to DC to run the DC motors, sound, and lights in the engine. Even the Lionel folks that run their displays are turning the voltage down to between 6 and 9 volts AC to run the LC-LC+ engines. Lionel also guided me NOT to buy a ZW to run them. To hold off and run them with a DC power source that at the time they didn't have. I just ordered 2 of the 72 watt DC power sources for my layout. I have two CW80s that I quit using, Had been using the 10.8 set power packs. 1 on each main of my 17x10 around the room layout. But they were getting warm. I think the 72s will do a great job seeing the 10.8s worked for me. The engines may be cheap to fix if you are talented enough to do it yourself. But if it aint broke you dont have to fix it!
Jim
While there is nothing wrong with running LC/LC+ engines on DC, or lower AC voltage, they should work fine on 18VAC without that causing any issues. While the main filter capacitor in the only LC+ engine I have on hand (NW2) is from a very suspect, low end supplier, Chong, it is still rated for 35 volts which means it shouldn't have any trouble filtering a 60Hz rectified power line. 18VAC only produces about 25.5 VDC, so that's what the cap in question is going to see.
In testing several years back I found that LC+ engines need at least 13VAC for the electro couplers to fire reliably, which equates to about 18VDC. Proper smoke operation took just a little less at 11-12 VAC. Without smoke or couplers, everything would work fine as low as 10VAC, however if the engine was under strain, ex pulling a heavy load, this voltage was not enough to reach maximum speed. Once again 12VAC was needed for full functionality. Additionally, running below 8VAC caused intermittent problems and blackouts and under 7VAC the engines would not turn on at all. All this said, I recommend running on 18VDC or 14-16VAC if you have those options, for the engines to fully function. 18VAC shouldn't hurt anything, but running a little lower may help that cheap Chong capacitor last a little longer. It's one of those things where they used a 35 cent part instead of a 99 cent one and it was a bad call. On the other hand, even that cheap cap should be up to the task for many years of run time. Remember this is a 60HZ signal it is filtering, not the tens or hundreds of kilohertz that cause failure of cheap caps in switching power supplies and computer motherboards.
As for the CW or ZW, The CW is perfectly suitable for running LC/+ engines. They don't care about its output waveform, though full power from one would actually be easier on the LC's electronics than a reduced throttle. The CW80 also has adequate short circuit protection. As for the ZW, this needs some add-ons to be a good choice for any modern trains. First, an inexpensive, quick tripping circuit breaker for each output as the internal breaker is designed only to protect the transformer from damaging its self and will easily melt the guts of anything on the track. Next is at least a TVS on each output to suppress any voltage spikes. Realistically these should also be added about your layout or inside your engines for maximum protection, but sticking them on the transformer outputs will make the ZW as safe as any other transformer. Finally, the ZW is rated to output up to 20VAC, and I've seen more than that. I wouldn't really recommend supplying LC/+ engines with more than 21 VAC for any sustained period as that will start pushing the edge of what the electronics can handle. So, if you use a ZW, put a meter on the output and set it for something like 14 to 16 VAC and you'll be good.
Linking this post to a similar thread as well.
