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Thread ID: 101282	2009-07-08 05:31:00	50hz / 60hz question	Tony (4941)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
790057	2009-07-11 10:38:00	I've had a response from the supplier in the US (not the manufacturer): Non-Command control locomotive are based on sine-waves, which may be causing a frequency issue. <another customer in NZ> has several locomotives with bells and whistles, maybe he has some kind of a trick that he uses to make it work properly. You could try to either run a command equipped locomotive also since it doesn't use the sine-waves. I hope that helps. Does that shed any more light? I'm planning to talk to my friend on Sunday, and he knows the <other customer>, so something may come out of that. I have no idea whether my friend's kit is "command control" or not.	Tony (4941)
790058	2009-07-19 02:05:00	I thought I'd bring everyone up to date . My friend bought the inverter that was on TradeMe (thanks George12 for the link), and that seems to have pretty much fixed the problem . The bells and whistles all now work as advertised - which is great . So it looks like it was the frequency, as we speculated . So now the setup is: 240v/50hz -> step-down transformer -> 12v -> inverter -> 110v/60hz -> train controller -> 18v -> train . I don't know what the full spec of the step-down transformer is . The one minor problem we have left is that one of the locos doesn't produce smoke unless all the other functions are disabled - which makes me think there isn't quite enough power getting to the tracks to fire up the little element that heats the smoke oil . Does that mean we need to beef up the step-down transformer? Anyway, thanks to everyone for their input - it has been a most interesting thread .	Tony (4941)
790059	2009-08-29 23:47:00	Hello I am thinking of purchasing a Lionel train from the USA and I live in Australia and we have 50 hz here and the train set works on 60 hz did you eventually get the smoke and all the whistles to work what brand train set did your friend buy and also how did he hook up the pure sine inverter that he bought off trade me to the step down transformer to change the hz from 50 to 60 hz. If you want you can email me at [edited: email addy removed]	brakem01 (15078)
790060	2009-08-30 03:30:00	Very true . This is why all buildings with lifts have a great pile of used lifts at the top floor, since there is no way to get them down again . Zounds! I think y Hiya R2 - I just went back and re-read this post (nothing new is posted lately and I am bored so I went backwards for a bit) . Anywho - I worked in a large LA-hospital and we had six elevators (NZ=lifts) and they never stopped the motors to reverse direction of the elevators . These went up to 12 floors and one was an express that could make the whole 12-floor trip in about 2 . 4 seconds if you didn't mind losing yesterday's breakfast . I rode this one a lot - it was a real "E-ticket" ride . The other two elevators were hydraulic lifts with rams and hoses and motors that came on as needed and had a electro-magnetic valve to change the pump discharge . That was all they did, but these were just service elevators and didn't go more than three floors as the rams were short . The main 6 used a constant speed 3-phase motor of 120 horsepower each (don't know the KW) but they also never stopped since if they lost phase, they had to stop completely and be restarted from dead stopped or they'd rip off their pedestals and foundations . I saw that once - very nasty! What they did was change the transmission to reverse or forward as the need happened . Kinda simple, really .	SurferJoe46 (51)
790061	2009-08-30 04:30:00	I went up in a fairly quick lift in the Sears tower in Chicago a few years ago. Due it being the 3rd new years day in about 30 hours (Westward travel and a daylight saving stint thrown in) I was not overjoyed by the 19 floors of (Seemed like) high G acceleration. Alas, the top deceleration phase was worse and convinced me that weightlessness was not good for hung over people. I have no idea what they did to convince the elevator to go down again, but if someone had offered to throw me over the side I probably would have accepted it as being the lesser evil.	R2x1 (4628)
790062	2009-08-30 05:09:00	Your avatar - is that life-like? I mean - are you actually that short and want to blame it on the Sears elevators?	SurferJoe46 (51)
790063	2009-08-30 06:40:00	Yep - I am that height (we don't like to say short) but before the stop at the bottom of the Sears tower, I was less altitude challenged I suppose. I would have complained, but the difference between child and adult fares from Chicago to NZ made me to decide to hush for a while. ;) I am glad it was only a 115 volt lift, a 230 volt one would have probably had us in orbit.	R2x1 (4628)
790064	2009-08-30 21:30:00	They were 480/3Φ	SurferJoe46 (51)
790065	2009-08-31 02:03:00	Whoa - I only survived by a miracle then ;) I suppose with being in the inverted hemisphere, it needs more power to go down than up?	R2x1 (4628)
790066	2009-08-31 05:13:00	I thought I'd bring everyone up to date . My friend bought the inverter that was on TradeMe (thanks George12 for the link), and that seems to have pretty much fixed the problem . The bells and whistles all now work as advertised - which is great . So it looks like it was the frequency, as we speculated . Dunno about speculation, I actually suggested it because based on the technology used it was pretty much a dead cert . Your solution is slightly more complicated than necessary, a full time online UPS switched to 60Hz output would have been simpler but what the heck, any solution that works is a winner . Good to hear that the problem was solved though, and I agree that lack of power is probably the cause of the smoke problem, so check the ratings of the various components . Losses may be higher than predicted if the inverter output is a quasi-sinewave and you may have less than 18 volts RMS at the tracks on 'make smoke' load . Beg, steal, or borrow a true RMS multimeter and check the conversion voltages stage by stage . Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
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