CW-80's, are they really that bad?

I think that any of the G variant (label on underside I believe) and beyond are just fine and should be a great fit with modern motive power.

As long as your child understands how the power "ramps up" after pressing the direction button, then you should be fine for traditional control.

If you go by the common wisdom of many folks that seem to know what they are talking about, the CW80 is about the worst choice you can make.  On the other hand, the actual design looks pretty good, and I don't know why it wouldn't work out just fine.  

I've been offering to pay the shipping to anyone that actually wants to throw away a CW80 for years now, and as yet no one has taken me up on the offer.  Email is in the profile for any takers.  

As for the breakers, the CW80 does not use a 'breaker' but rather has a circuit that detects when there is too much current draw and lowers the output.  As I understand it, this works very fast, but may be the source of some of the reported failures.  The most common thing to fail seems to be the cooling fan, which can be replaced somewhat easily.  

Over all, I have nothing against the CW80, however, unless you can get them dirt cheap,  you'll probably get more bang for your buck with other choices.  Properly reconditioned post-war transformers are good choices, especially the ZW and KW.  

JGL

I have a couple CW80.   Have had them for years.  They work just fine.  One powers a small conventional loop on my layout, and the other I use for some lighting things.  The loop mostly sees postwar locos, and my daughter's K-Line conventional Girls Train Set she got a long time ago when she was a kid.  I've had no problems running these items.

I was in my LHS the other day. Lady comes in with one, totally failed. It was a recent unit out of a RTR set.

I had one. Got it in a PRR Flyer set, Christmas 2004. It worked - sort of. I eventually transitioned to MTH Transformers (better quality IMO) but kept the CW80 for accessory and Bump and Go Trolley operation. It worked OK for that, I really liked the programmable accessory voltage options.

All buttons - direction, whistle, bell - failed on mine. The cooling fan also began making a horrific "chain saw" sound.

Last weekend I decided to upgrade my older MTH transformers with 2 new Z-4000s. In the process, I cut the cord off the CW80 and threw it in the trash.

Too many people criticize Chevy pickups for not being Ferraris. 

We have no problem with our CW-80s.

JD, The enclosed picture is of my layout transformers, they are used to control the trains only. I have been using these for over 8 years and have had NO problems whatsoever! I know a lot of people hate CW80's,  They work great for me! There are 8 and no failures, it works for me! I run postwar, and newer equipment to include Lionel, MTH, and Wiliams!

Old Uncle Al

I used them for a long time with no issues, mostly for auxiliary power.

I took one apart that was stuck on full power. Just for fun I'm attaching  a few of the pictures . 

I was  thinking someone  someday might want to know what's inside one.

And by the way Lionel replaced 3 for me at once from old ready to run sets that were all stuck full power.

I'm pretty sure you want the ones with the G on the serial number. All the ones that I had issues with did not have the G serial number. The replacements from Lionel did.

Larry

Interesting to see the "guts" of one of those things.

I had several of the earlier versions but tossed them a long time ago because they did not perform well with various makes or models of trains and trolleys that I have. The noise of the fan also was a bit annoying, at least for me.

I imagine more recent models would have had any problems corrected. I really liked the appearance of the CW-80.

I understand it can go either way with these but I had nothing but trouble with mine. I had 4-5 of them  through the years out of starter sets and a few I picked up standalone. 

As mentioned above, reconditioned and maintained PW transformers work great for me.

For what you are looking to use it for, I would think it should work. Remember, it is only 80 watts, so it is not really made to run multiple trains.

Also, if you ever plan to use command control, people have had problems with the chopped sine wave. However, I believe you can run it at full power in a command environment, and the sine wave is not as distorted at a full 18 volts. Don't use it with an MTH PS-1 engine. That is where I have heard the biggest issues. 

If you need more power, the Lionel GW is a very good option.

George

You only hear about the bad ones. there are thousands of them out there working just fine.

Remember older PW transformers do not have both whistle and bell controls.

I have 5 that do small tracks, conventional engines, trolly, lights, and a Lionel gantry crane, no problems with any of them.  I have one that you can hear the fan noise, but that eventually stops.

I've had a newer model starter-set CW-80 that died with hardly any usage, but of course past the warranty. You will find CW-80 accepters and haters here; I'm a hater                Invest in some MTH Z-1000s instead.

The controls/ motherboard are terrible. But! the actual internal transformer is pretty good. I usually just take them and bust them open and use them as a fixed 18v power supply and or step down the voltage for accessories.

Firewood

A suggestion. If you still have it.

Send Lionel a e-mail, tell them it died with the problem, after sending you a shipping  number bet ya they will tell you to cut the cord  and  mail it.

Then they will send you a recondition one.  Just saying.

I know things have changed recently, but you can test the waters to see.

Larry

PS. Just try it. All three of mine were out of warranty. I had a dozen or more RTR sets at the time and couldn't even tell them which set.

They were very nice about it.

Thanks guys.  I will be looking to pick up 2 here shortly once I get my benchwork started.  

Old Uncle Al posted:

JD, The enclosed picture is of my layout transformers, they are used to control the trains only. I have been using these for over 8 years and have had NO problems whatsoever! I know a lot of people hate CW80's,  They work great for me! There are 8 and no failures, it works for me! I run postwar, and newer equipment to include Lionel, MTH, and Wiliams!

Old Uncle Al

Nice line up; what's the large (white?) unit off to the right of this picture? I see what looks like a couple of MRC-looking knobs on it...

Mark in Oregon

I was going to use a cw80's accessory posts to power 41 switches on my layout.  Any thoughts about that usage?  

I have 4, all from RTR sets.  Other than a loud fan (Which can be addressed.) I have no issues with them.