New powerhouse 180 brick

Keith:
It may be a good idea not to cut the cable but rather purchase ($16?) the Lionel adapter cable set 6-14194.
PS - looks like there are only 2 wires coming out of the adapter.

Joe's right on target here.

The extra wire/pin is an added safety feature found in this newest version.  Rendering it useless by bypassing it is probably not a good idea.

Using the adapter cable is a much better way to handle the situation.

Mike

Thanks for the info I will just get the adapter cable- looks like the better way to go.

@Joe Fauty posted:

Keith:
It may be a good idea not to cut the cable but rather purchase ($16?) the Lionel adapter cable set 6-14194.
PS - looks like there are only 2 wires coming out of the adapter.

The PowerHouse won't power up with these cables alone. A bypass pin must be used as well.

I did exactly what Joe suggested when I hooked up my power brick. Simple AND safe

@ADCX Rob posted:

The PowerHouse won't power up with these cables alone. A bypass pin must be used as well.

Rob's also right on the money.  You'll need an extra pin to fill in the missing 3rd position on the connector housing.  This new pin will have no wire attached to it because it's simply used mechanically to push on the socket contact that it plugs into on the end of the PH-180's output cable.  If I'm not mistaken this is done in order to signal to the PH-180 that it's safe to turn on its output power:

Here's the part needed:

You can get these from Mouser, or Digi-Key.

Mike

If my reading between the lines of this is correct, Lionel was at one point providing the 3rd pin (implied free of charge) to anyone needing to use one of their 2 pin connector adapter cables with with the newer 3-pin PH180.

Link here

Dave Olson in the same reply said that essentially all the pin does is depress a switch inside the PH connector that turns on the output power.  @StevefromPA  and others have inserted a stiff piece of rolled up electrical tape to depress the switch (scroll down a few replies in that thread for an example picture).

If that doesn't appeal to you, maybe call Lionel Customer service to ask if they're providing the 3rd pin for free.

The thread @SteveH linked to is one I made. I got another PH-180 a few months later, same issue with the shorting. Just cut cut about 2" to 2.5" of electrical tape, roll it tight like such:

Then stuck it into that top pin of the plug and press it down as shown below. Connect it to the "adapter cable"plug(TPC cable  set) and you're good to go! 4

You might have to cut just a bit off the top of the roll of tape before you press it in to the slot, I don't remember if I did. Anyway, No need to buy the the pin or contact Lionel, almost a year and a half since that post and both of my powerhouse 180s are working fine. There have been literally only 3 or 4 instances when I've unplugged the 180 plug from the connector and the tape "dislodged" enough that it wasn't depressing the the switch inside the that slot. Just had to press it back down and good as new.

@StevefromPA Thank you for the follow-up and additional details on your method.  It's good to know your fix is working long term.

Just make an adapter. The parts cost peanuts…

3 pins and a shell, 2 wires and just stuff a bare pin in the 3rd port in the shell  

https://www.mouser.com/Product...4HoIdenlzGgTeA%3D%3D

https://www.mouser.com/Product...Vb%2FFd3LWsjcA%3D%3D

Molex 02-09-2103 pins are out of stock at Mouser and Digi-Key

Both parts are in stock at Newark:

02-09-2103

03-09-2032

Estimated total for 3 pins and one housing with shipping = $11

Ctt McCormick Hardware in Zenople Pa has adapters for the 180 Powerhouse Brick i purchased them and they work great he is a lionel and mth/atlas dealer

A guy named Fred on Ebay makes and sells these cables.

Joe Gozzo

Thanks Steve for the link to Newark to make the plug. I want to connect my powerhouse to my dcs tiu. My question is do you use the ribbed wire (on the square edge of the plug)  as the red lead and the middle wire port for the black lead. My older style powerhouse is wired this way to banana jacks and works fine in my tiu fixed channel input

Wire it with the same polarity as all the other PH180's.  As long as they all match, you're good.

@Joe Fauty posted:

Keith:
It may be a good idea not to cut the cable but rather purchase ($16?) the Lionel adapter cable set 6-14194.
PS - looks like there are only 2 wires coming out of the adapter.

I’ve got two available free just pay postage.  E-mail in profile.

Thanks everyone for the info, I decided not to cut the cable and found some molex pins in an old computer and built an adapter cable.
It is working well.

I have a new question. My father ordered a new Lionel 180 brick a few days ago and I told him not to cut off the white plug because I ordered plug parts from Newark. I go down to his house today to discover that he got his new brick yesterday and cut the plug off about a 1/16" away from the white jack. Is he out of luck now or is there a work around to make the transformer work. Worst cause scenario I try to solder just the wire on the safety switch side back on, but he already has the banana plugs attached to the other two wires.

Well, given that the switch is right there, obviously the safety switch connects the 3rd wire to one of the leads, my bet would be to the common.  I don't know for sure which lead is used, but if you still have the plug he cut off, you can test continuity by pressing the button and see which wire gets connected.

I just checked the plug for continuity. I find that if the switch port is held in then there is continuity to the middle wire. I know this sounds stupid John so should I just wrap the safety plug wire and the middle wire together and attach a banana plug. Also from your earlier post john, if I get the red and black banana plugs on the wrong wires will it hurt the TIU ?Basicly I have a hard time wrapping my head around the concept of which wire is the common lead  (the ribbed one) and is the common wire the red or black in the electric world.

Swapping the plugs won't hurt the TIU if there's no other transformers in the picture, it's only with multiple transformers that phasing becomes an issue.  However, connecting the safety wire to the wrong wire in the cable could have bad consequences, I don't know what the circuitry inside that one looks like.  You want to make sure you're connecting the right two wires together.

I have the safety wire connected with the smooth wire. I have a solid 18 volts with theses two wires together. Thank you for the advise. Now my dad is coming over for another lesson on DCS WIFI. He is having a hard time wrapping his head around WIFI, but he does not do bad for 84 years old.

One step at a time.  Just take his wire cutters away if you get another transformer!