Kato Power Pack S - high voltage output?

[mageus]

I have a Japanese Kato Power Pack S using the Japanese wall wart (transformer) connected to a US outlet.  The maximum throttle output is 18V, and the DC accessory output is 18V.  The transformer puts out ~21 V.

 

Even accounting for the 10% difference between Japan & US voltage/frequency, this is quite high output from the transformer.  Is this typical?

 

I'm using the accessory DC output to power switches and crossovers.  Will the 18V will be too high for the switch coils?

[kvp]

The input is 16V AC for 100V. For 110V, 18V AC seems ok. Its a bit high, but should be ok for kato switches. For tomix, i would not go above 12V. This is also true for the trains, so i would mark the 12V settings on the throttle as an absolute max.

[brill27mcb]

Hi mageus,

 

I have a voltmeter/ammeter box I use with our club setups, and it shows that a U.S. Kato S power pack with the U.S. wall wart produces a maximum of 15 V DC for the train. 12 V happens where the throttle scale changes from black to red. So it appears there really is a reason for that "red zone" being marked on the power pack! It's a bit of extra voltage. I try not to run a train constantly in the red zone for this reason.

 

We tend to call U.S. commercial power 110 V AC, but years ago that was changed to 120 V. So, if there really is a 20 volt difference in 100 V Japanese power and U.S power, that would add about 20 percent to the normal 15 volt train output, which is 3 volts. 15 (normal top voltage) + 3 (added from Japanese wall wart on 120 V AC) = 18 volts (your throttle reading).

 

Rich K.

Edited December 29, 2013 by brill27mcb