The wall packs are easily topped out with any additional draw. Such as extra cars with lighting.
For me it became obvious of the wall packs limitations when I purchased an LC+ GP7 and it wouldn't even fire the electro couplers when the smoke was on.
I emailed Lionel and this was their reply.
Hello,
Although you have enough power to go around the track you do not have quite enough to run the engine fully with the smoke on and fire the couplers. The transformer you are using only puts out about 2 amps and you are hitting that threshold with everything on. We suggest you change the power supply to a CW-80. One of the first things to go out when you are exceeding or reaching the max amperage is the sounds and you will see the light flicker like it is. Here is a video that should help: http://www.lionel.com/Customer....cfm?documentID=6486 . The wall packs on the lionchief sets are not designed for expansion. We would not suggest adding any additional accessories or lighted cars to this set because you will exceed the available amperage.
Thank You,
I bought myself a 180 Powerhouse Brick and haven't had a power problem since.
One would think that a power supply with enough "beef" to provide for basic operations plus a little extra load would be supplied.
I can't think of anything more discouraging to a first-time, non-experienced purchaser that things stop working when an extra lighted car or two brings everything to a grinding halt.
Rusty
