Hello, I am a newbie and i was given recently a Lima N scale TGV train set and I was told it was made in Europe. I need some help: can I run this train with my current power supply made for USA, or would I need some kind of adapter, or a different power supply? Your help greatly appreciated. Thanks!
It is the OUTPUT voltage from the power supply that is significant. Whilst the INPUT voltages may differ between Europe and the USA, the OUTPUT voltages are probably the same if the power supplies are intended for the same purpose of powering "ordinary" model trains. So if your current power supply will drive US N scale, then it will also drive European N scale.
Not clear what you want: are you asking if you can use your Lima power supply on US household current? or whether you can use another type of power supply (presumably one that runs on US household current) with that train set?
If the latter, the answer is probably yes, but here's how to find out. Look at the Lima power pack and see with the output is. Is it DC or AC? What voltage?
Now check your other (US-type) power pack and see if it has the same type of output. If the voltage is close (doesn't have to be exact) and of the same type (AC or DC), then it'll work.
Additional information follows, if you really want to know. ;-)
Lima N is standard international N scale, which means it runs on DC, 9V nominal maximum. Any N. American power pack that runs a N. American N Scale train will run Lima N scale, too. Matter of fact, all N scale trains, no matter who makes them, run on direct current, with 9v nominal maximum. All N scale trains I've ever run tolerate 12V DC with no problems.
If the train set has a European power pack, you can't use that power pack. For one thing, it won't plug into our N. American wall sockets - different plugs. For another, it expects 240 V AC input, not our 120V AC.
Lima N scale was sold in N. America. IIRC, Walthers offered it in their catalog. Lima did not have a good reputation, though, and went broke. It made lots of different models in both HO and N (and O, too, I think), some of which were quite good visually, but they suffered from cheap and nasty mechanisms and poor wheels. The marque passed through several, but it will not run very well.
I had a couple of Lima N scale Sharknoses, they were horrible running things, but looked good. One had a slightly smudged paintjob on the one side, and after it got scratched, out came the airbrush, and I painted it PC black, and parked them on a siding and I don't think I moved them from that point on. They were by far, the worst running N scale locos I ever had, even worse than the first Con Cor Hudson I had where the motor wouldn't attach correctly..
Yes you can use a normal 0-12 volt DC output transformer controller (AKA "power-pack") as Lima N gauge conforms to international standards. The only real difference is that HO and N scale transformer controllers may have different values of rheostat so the slow speed running of N models using HO controllers my not go down to slower speeds. A European sourced transformer controller might well be made for a different mains voltage.
Err, I've got the same voltage in my house, my garage, my sleepout and in my workshop. (ohh, and on my outside pump and the scurity lights) My new house will be wired from one phase of my new garage/workshop wiring, so I'd assume _you'd_ call my new household current my "garage current", or is that too logical for you.
Well, whaddya know, mine does say "mains" inside it. Odd, since I've never heard any living person involved with electricity or wiring use that word here.
And you never will INSIDE your HOUSE, whereas Brits and their scattered seed refer to any ld wall socket as "the mains".
PS - the latest revelations of BP's continuing reckless conduct at their Texas City refinery makes me wonder if we could hire some laid off IRA or something. BRITS OUT!!
Ah, but Greg, in his infinite NZ wisdom, knows better than us poor N. Americans. Like that old Firesign Theater line: "That's metaphysically absurd! How can *I* know what *you* hear?".
what we have here is an international difference in usage of terms. David was trying to show me up as arrogant for not using the US term, one I've never heard before.
In my book, that make David the person who is arrogant.
I used the term commonly used in much of the English speaking world - YOU made the term an issue in an attempt to make me look arrogant - In doing so you have shown yourself to be the arrogant person here.
I really wasn't following it (the thread) at the beginning. I just looked at it the first time just before I posted, and so I didn't realize it had gone so far. I think the first time I saw it was when I went to Chicago when I was 14 or so, and bought a couple of UK radio magazines. There were several terms I had never seen or heard before in them.
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