What is a good size resettable fuse to use for use with postwar Lionel? the power is from a 1033 transofrmer
The other is about 022 turnouts. Can they be wired to work off a seperate power supply or is track power the only way to do it?
Shane
The first question I’ll leave to someone else. the second question is yes. there should be a small opening on the outside side and there is a plug you can buy that a wire will be attached to it. part number on ttender.com is O22C-51
Five amperes. Is your circuit breaker not working?
I dont have a breaker installed yet
I am thinking powering the 022 off a differnt power supply, not the one providing power to the track
I used an appropriately sized door bell transformer to run the switches on a layout. Works well.
The 1033 (and other postwar transformers) have built-in circuit breakers. Unless yours has failed, you shouldn’t need any other overcurrent protection.
Bob’s absolutely right, If you’re concerned about accidentally burning out your transformer in cases of a short circuit, the transformer’s built in breaker has you covered.
The wiring inside of various trains and accessories may not be designed to carry as many amps as the transformer can take before its breaker trips, so it’s not unreasonable to want to buy an external breaker that you wire between the transformer and the track/accessory circuit(s). I think the most power-hungry Lionel loco should draw under 3 amps.
If you have fancy modern equipment with sounds and other electronic goodies, investing in TVS (transient voltage surpression) diodes is advice I often hear. I haven’t, since nothing I own or run has these features.
As for the 022 switches, if you want to power them from a seperate transformer entirely, then you’ll need to wire the “common” terminals of both the 1033, and whatever additional AC train transformer you use- otherwise you’ll run into issues with using the switches. For more info on joining the common terminals, look up “phasing” two Lionel train transformers.
-Ellie
It’s not necessary to have the switch supply (or any other accessory supply) in phase with the track voltage. In fact, there is a slight advantage in having them out of phase.
If you had multiple track voltages which can be connected together, as by running a train between blocks powered by different voltages, then having those blocks on different phases can cause fireworks.
TVSs are good, especially to provide overvoltage protection for electronics-heavy modern trains. They can be attached at the transformer, at the track, or inside the locomotive.
I have two 1033’ for the layout. one for the trains, the other one does everything else. All the trains there are postwar. except for one 1938 built 1666E. I should be good with fuses. just wanted to make sure.
As for the 022 switches, I will look up phasing lionel transformers.
Shane
I found a double AC motor locomotive pulling a full consist of lighted passenger cars would blow a fuse under 7A. If you are not running heavy wattage trains like that then a 5A fuse works. I reccomend slow-blow as postwar trains have these momentary surges. I also divided my layout into seperate fused power blocks. This emulates real world electric railroads.
As for 022 switches, you just need to pick up a few power plugs and plug your external transformer power into the jack on the side of the motor.