I was digging through some boxes and found a MRC TechII AC transformer. I had bought it some time back and put up for safe keeping that I forgot all about it. Anyway, I tested a couple of engines with it today. One was a Railking SW1500, which did ok but the speaker sounded like, well not so good. My other engine was a Weaver C628 which did better but in nuetral it continuesly sounded the horn. It sounded not so good also. Anyway, I got to thinking, but haven't taken the time to look up the info. Is the Trainpower O27 from MRC one of the recommended transformers for MTH? At the time I bought it, it was to run my son's Williams basic dependable AC engines. I should dig out one of my old Lionel Alco FA2's to see how it does with them. Those old girls ran on just about anything. Greg
If you look in the manual for you SW it should say. I think that you speaker trouble might be related to being a low battery. I would get a multi meter and check your out put... im not sure of how to test ac or dc but it sounds like something its tripping the DC output on when you in nuetral.
Thanks LehmanNWMS, I'll dig out the SW1500 instructions. I was going to search the web site, which I don't enjoy but the instructions are close by. I'm wondering if the Weaver engine has a battery also. Cheers, Greg
The MRC AC pack will work with MTH locomotives, IF it's a small one! And without sound. It ran a few of my MTH locomotives withou too much trouble. Needed the second horn/bell button though, but I had a few problems with that set up. Bigger locomotives or several lighted cars, forget it! Not enough power! Most of my MTH instructions no longer list the MRC as being a usable power source. As my collection kept getting bigger, and more and more sounds from the PS2 sound system, I bit the bullet and got the MTH Z-4000 and later, the DCS remote system, to run my collection!! Now, I can run anything I have without trouble! Even the few locomotives I have that use the Lionel TMCC stuff. Either with the DCS remote, or by a simple wiring of the TMCC base into the Z-4000 variable power output. Last train show, I ran a combination of MTH DCS stuff, and a few Atlas O(TMCC) stuff without problems. Bad sound from locomotives, as mentioned, may be the result of low battery power. As MTH suggests, sewt locomotive on track, smoke etc off,and crank track power to 16-18 volts and let sit for 15 minutes. If sound improves, it's a low battery. If not, you'll have to replace the battery. I've used a few of the Energizer NIMH 9V batts with excellent results. Still have 2 locomotives that don't run right, but I think that's more because of electronics failing, rather than battery. If you plan on running your equipment a bit more often, I'd strongly suggest looking into either the MTH Z-750 or the Z-1000 power supplies. Both should provide the needed power for whatever you're running. For now! Hope this helps! Good luck!
13 SEPT 2003 Good morning all. I'm here in Broken Arrow, Ok - just ckecking in on the lap top. Greg. Should it be possible, go for the MTH Z-4000. I finally broke down and changed out the prime power source for the SCRS and now have two Z-4000. They are very good, Larry @ SCRS.
