My Aussie friends can correct me on this. Of course! Australian house current 220 volts; US house current 110 volts. Australian three prong receptacle is different from the US three prong receptacle. This requires a small, inexpensive plastic adapter (unless you buy one at a hotel). If you plug your 110 volt appliance into the 220 volt current, the appliance is a goner, believe me on that! But, and I think this is your question, do the above mentioned DCC products have a transformer to change the 220v to 110v, or do you need an external transformer to do this? I do not know the specifics of these DCC products. My Sony laptop computer would take either voltage; the power cord had a built in system that recognized the different voltages. I would think that products made for export would have the same converter or at least a big warning about plugging a 110v into a 220v receptacle. Hope this helps.
My Zphyr does not come with a univeral AC adapter so you will need the correct one to get the AC voltage specific to the country down to 15V DC. I suspect the other systems are like that too as I don't see the DCC industry to be using univeral AC adapters like most battery chargers for laptops, digital cameras, camcorders, etc.
Australia has a 240 volt electrical supply with a 3 pin plug as Flash stated. I guess it would mean purchasing a local power supply which are cheap enough. Gats just recently purchased a DCC system which I think is a Zephyr so maybe he can let us know.
DCC is do-able down under, except eveything runs counterclockwise :shade: so you have to compensate by adjusting the southern hemisphere CV value MAN, I CAN't BELIEVE NOBODY ELSE CAUGHT THAT! :no:
You merely swap the motor direction, Mike. Saves having to account for longitudinal magnetic offset and latitudinal sunlight indexing used in the Southern Hemisphere CV's, especially when you don't have a PC to do the calculations for you. :shade: I have the NCE PowerCab and it came with a localised power supply, in as much as it had our angled pins. The supply itself is a 110-240V 50/60Hz universal 15V 1200mA (read switchmode) unit. I will have to ask whether it was packed with the system at the factory with the supply or it was added here*. As long as the power supply's input voltage is in the specified range and the output provides the correct voltage at the required rating (mA/A), and has the correct pin arrangement, then it will work. I've even twisted the straight US pins to use here on switchmode supplies and specific power leads in the past, so provided the power supply is rated to 240V input it will be fine (note - a travel adaptor would be easier to use in this case). In the example of a 110V power supply being used here it will do as Flash has warned and sometimes quite spectacularly! *I haven't needed to look into it, but I am certain there is a local supplier here in Oz that can provide a localised power supply suitable for any system. At worst, it's a kit from one of the electronics chains. Hope this answers your question.
The NCE PH PRO (not the PowerCab, see Gats above) comes without mains supply device. You can buy a local unit as required (IIRC it is just a mains to 18V transformer with the required current rating, but don't buy one without checking the exact voltage).
I'm with Mike, Gats and Colonel on this one. In NZ, we use the same plugs, and about the same voltages as over the ditch; so half of what electronic stuff I buy (not just trains) either comes 110-240V happy, or with the wrong power pack. But that's easy, look at the output voltage and amperage of the American model supply, and go to the local electronics store and buy a power supply that will do the job. When I bought my NCE Powerpro, it didn't come with a power supply; and for the amperage I wanted, I just built my own. I believe there's some sort of rule involving thumbs which states entry level systems are more likely to include a power supply; and that "advanced" systems tend to assume you have a power supply already. FWIW, a lot of European countries are 220-240V, so if you import from .eu and not .us, you might be as simple as getting an adapter / cutting the plug off and wiring on a .au one. At any rate, a little flexibility and / or an additional purchase, and you'll be up and steaming in no time; with smoke only coming out of stacks and not power packs! N_S_L: the Southern Hemisphere CV would be fine, it's just that it's inadvertantly turned off from the factory. I just don't understand that? (must say something about hemispheres of sales?)
NCE system. Keith/Gary I think you'll find that 'Gary' (at MRC,Blacktown) where you bought your NCE P/Cab has had the correct power supply locally made to suit the NCE requirements & supplied it with the NCE system. I'm also now looking at the 5 amp NCE system for myself.
Thanks, Jason, that does make sense though, on the otherhand, it is rated 110-240V as that supplied with the US model. It's not hard to have the molding for each market's pin arrangement available for the same supply. It could be assumed that the higher rated supplies for the PHPro and boosters, etc. will be locally sourced as there is no other supply other than 110V noted any other NCE item. At least that would make replacement of a defective power supply a relatively painless task.
Just dug out my PH Pro book to check what I said. It can accept either 12-18V AC (16V recommended) or 18-28V DC. So you don't need to acquire/build a DC power supply, just a transformer is sufficient. (It obviously has its own AC to DC circuitry inside.) But be warned; and probably applies to other makes as well. My friend bought one about six months ago and while waiting for a proper supply to come he 'tried it out' with an old transformer he had that put out just a little over 18V AC. It fried his command station. If you look on NCE website it gives the price for fixing this ("Common" ) problem, and that is what it cost him. Credit to NCE, he had it back in a couple of weeks (UK-US-UK) and the $60 included the return carriage.
Looking inside the PhPro, (had to change track voltage, and drool on the circuit design. Not bad IMO) yes, the first thing you meet is a bridge rectifier, followed by some storage/filter caps and linear regulators. Most command stations are very iffy about voltage tolerant, and most will die very quickly if overvolted Just to keep you on your toes, many power supply companies like to overvolt their mains supply (usually right before they black it out). So I'd recommend staying a volt or two under the stated maximum, just to be safe. To summarise: DCC does work in Australian Beware of systems that have the Southern Hemisphere CV set wrong by default Volts and amps required are printed on the command station, the box, in the manual, on the website, or maybe all four Stay under the maximum voltage Have fun and run steam!
Also keep in mind the rated current output of the power supply. No use having a 5 Amp booster with a 2 Amp transformer supplying it.
Thanks for the info. So does anyone run a zephyr or a powercab and what did you use for a power supply?
I've got the PowerCab and it came with a local (angled pins) 110-240V 50/60 Hz plug pack that's rated 15VDC@1200mA.
? I assure you this is solely from not grabbing the 240V side of the transformer! The not feeding 2A into a 5A booster is a good point - it can stop the automatic short-circuit detection from working too! causes fires and melts things Deploy The Quarter Test: (0.20AUD should work just as well)
Buying in the US and living in the 240v UK I have found that good travel shops in the US sell converters,240v --110v for small appliances, which have worked for years for me, however for my dcc I bought a transformer with outputs to match the the Digitrax quoted system requirements. cheers Bill
