I just bought a new engine for my son’s new track, and it specifies a 12 volt maximum operating voltage. My transformer pumps out at least 17 volts right now (without any real load on the transformer yet). How can I keep the voltage limited so my 4 year old son doesn’t overload the engine? Should I even really care?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
tell your son in the begginning not to turn up the power all the way
Must be one of the Kato breeds. You can put a voltmeter on line and as you throttle up see the volt read out and mark your pack according…
That 12 Volt Maximum rating is usually just to protect the manufacturer against being sued for damages if someone connects it to a 120 Volt AC main and burns it up. Nearly every power pack puts out more than 12 Volts with no load on it, and the voltage output will drop when the engine is on the track. Just try to find a way to keep your son from running the engine at full throttle, and you should have no problems with it.
Now, if you want a high-tech solution, you can put a power resistor in one of the wires between the power pack and track. A 10 Ohm 5 Watt Power Resistor should keep the power pack within the 12 Volt range.