I have just transferred to Germany which is a 220V country. What do I need to know, or do, in order to use my 110V engines and DCC here???
Check the power supply for your DCC system. Many switching power supplies are universal input 100-240V and you would jsut need a plug adapter. Otherwise, you would need to locally source a power supply with the appropriate output voltage and current capacity to feed the DCC system. ANything past the power supply does not matter what the voltage is at the outlet.
–Randy
As Randy said, look carefully at the power pack. I have a few for different items and most say 110 to 240. Frequency there is 50 Hz. Sixty Hz here but not an issue. If only 120, buy a transformer or proper power pack. Been many years. I suspect a power pack will be cheaper.
Which DCC system?
Rich
Your DCC pack ( and anything else that has a wall wart powering it) will have a plate or imprint on the case which says what the input is. Simply find a wall wart in Germany to suit that rating. The critical figures are the maximum voltage and the current rating. You should not exceed the voltage rating and make sure the current rating is at least what you want.
Alternatively, you can get a 220/110 step down transformer to power everything you are taking with you.
Good luck with the move
Cheers from Australia
Trevor
Since Germany is a modern country you should have no problem sourcing a 220 wall wart to serve your needs.
Heck 30 years ago when I was la student living in Israel, I had no problem visiting a local hardware store for a wall wart to operate my tape recorder.
Your engines do neither run on 110V, nor on 220V. That was back in 1900+, but using household AC for toy trains was outlawed in the 1920.
Your DCC system runs on 14V - 16V DC, which is transformed from 110V AC via a transformator and rectifier. Both are incorporated into a wallwart these days.
Amazon in Germany sells about any type of wallwart you may require to connect your DCC station to the 230V AC in Germany. The things you have to look out for are:
- correct size plug
- correct voltage
- correct ampere rating
The manual of your DCC command station should tell you this.
Maybe outlawed in some countries - that didn;t stop the guy who was in the first or one of the first issues of MR who ran an outdoor trolley layout, complete with operating overhead - said overhead wire being energized with 110VAC house current. The article included a comment along the lines of “no idea what the effect was on the local squirrel population”.
Seems insane by today’s standards, but I doubt it seemed too odd at the time - the oddest thing was probably that an adult was “playing with toy trains” not that he ran exposed live 110V wiring around his yard.
–Randy
I am little leery of those things Last year I took my CPAP machine with that type of power pack (110 to 240 rated) overseas and upon plugging it in it blew the circuit breaker. Fortunately not my CPAP.
As luck would have it I was staying with an ex-pat who also had 110v wiring.
What I will never understand is why they use 230 volts in Europe and the UK for general outlets?
200 volts is the threshold of “deadly much of the time”, whereas 115/120 volts is well within the “seldom deadly, and seldom even harmful” range.
As an electrician in an earlier part of my life, who still does some electrical work now and then, I have been “bit” by 120 volts more times than I can remember - after a while, the reaction is simply “oh, I shoud not have touched that”. Only once was I bit with 208 volts - knocked me off a ladder and burned a hole in my finger that took months to heal.
Sure, 115/120 volts can be dangerous, but not anywhere near the danger of 230, another reason to stay right here…
Sheldon
US houses get 240 volts at the panel. If wall outlets all were fed with 240V you’d have the lower current and higher power advantage of the European system and it would be safer too, since each “hot” would still be only 120V from ground (not 240V) which keeps the reduced shock hazard advantage. Of course it is still possible to touch the two hots.
It was Thomas Edison who promoted the use of (then) 100 volts as some tragic experiences in the early days of power distribution showed that 100 volts was not usually lethal for a shock. Remember that in the early days, bare wires were strung though ceramic insulators, both exterior and interior, and so there were many more shock hazards present. As technology advanced, good, long life insulation was wrapped on conductors.
Most HO engines are not 110V, but rather the 12-16V or something in that neighborhood. it’s the power packs. If you can find a power pack in Germany that is compatible with standard HO engines, it should work. Or if you are using DCC, all you need is a power converter that drops the voltage from 220 to 16 rather tan from 110 to 16.
[quote user=“Graffen”]
ATLANTIC CENTRAL
What I will never understand is why they use 230 volts in Europe and the UK for general outlets?
200 volts is the threshold of “deadly much of the time”, whereas 115/120 volts is well within the “seldom deadly, and seldom even harmful” range.
As an electrician in an earlier part of my life, who still does some electrical work now and then, I have been “bit” by 120 volts more times than I can remember - after a while, the reaction is simply “oh, I shoud not have touched that”. Only once was I bit with 208 volts - knocked me off a ladder and burned a hole in my finger that took months to heal.
Sure, 115/120 volts can be dangerous, but not anywhere near the danger of 230, another reason to stay right here…
Sheldon
US houses get 240 volts at the panel. If wall outlets all were fed with 240V you’d have the lower current and higher power advantage of the European system and it would be safer too, since each “hot” would still be only 120V from ground (not 240V) which keeps the reduced shock hazard advantage. Of course it is still possible to touch the two hots.
It was Thomas Edison who promoted the use of (then) 100 volts as some tragic experiences in the early days of power distribution showed that 100 volts was not usually lethal for a shock. Remember that in the early days, bare wires were strung though ceram
ROAR… Lion Knows of 110v AC; 220v AC and more. Our establishment is 3 phase AC, wired wye. We used to have Delta which is more complicated.
Our bigger motors are three phase motors.
Many buiildings use 277 volt AC for lighting circuits. I think it has to do with 440 volt service.
LION is NOT an electrician, nor does he play one on TV.
We just installed new service to the south wing. The electricians ran new conduits from the local distribution panel, and when they removed the old service, it was some sort of a rubber line, like a very heavy extension cord. The electrician said that it was only approved for temporary outdoor service such as at carnivals.
ROAR
277 is Line to Neutral for a 480V L-L three phase 4 wire service.
Households use split phase 240V, which comes from a 240V ceter tapped transformer, so you have 120V legs L-N and 240 L-L, single phase 3 wire
The other common commercial building service in the US is 120/208 4 wire three phase A lot of data center equipment is built for 208V, with ther 120V L-N lines being used for the lighting and power to the office desks. 208 for the HVAC as well.
–Randy
A simple travel adapter bought at the next international airport is fine if your equipment can handle 110 and 220 Volt. The German power outlet will look like this:
Needing a plug like this
or this
Otherwise a transformer is needed to get 110 Volt from our 220 Volt power line.
Two examples: