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 Posted - March 03 2018 : 3:13:43 PM
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Since I've seen many a gold Tyco pack, both good and bad, I got the idea to take a couple apart to see why they fail. I retrieved two from my train shop's trash a few weeks ago, they had stopped working, perfect candidates for an autopsy  . I took them to my regular job where I have access to a drill press, and drilled out the rivets and began the dismantling of the defective units.
After removing the shells, I began examining the guts and wiring to see what went wrong. One obviously had overheated, but the strands of conductive wire was still intact, if burnt. the other one was in better shape, but had some discoloration as well. I took pics of the worst one. The reeason they BOTH failed shocked me. I was surprised at how Tyco did this, and it now makes sense why they fail. 
But, I'll get to that later.  On with the slideshow...
Above the standard single gold pack.
Above, the main components of the pack.
Above, as you can see the overheating that has turned the windings black.
above, a close-up.
Above, under the power windings, the terminal block wiring.
Above, the heart of the trouble...not what I would have suspected.
Above, the real reason both power packs failed. If you look at both terminals , they both have single strands of the power cord wire hanging loose. I thought at first it was a poor quality install...then I looked closer. These strands used to hook up the transformer wiring on the input side. The right side wire has a ball of copper on the end, it got hot enough to melt the copper wire. This strand is a smaller diameter than the actual windings on the transformer itself. I had to look at the 2nd power pack, I was in disbelieve...did Tyco ACTUUALLY use only a single strand of wire to hook up to the windings?!    apparently so. I could see using 2 or 3 twisted together to allow more amperage through, but a SINGLE STRAND? Wow. No wonder they fail . I thought that the main big terminal solder connections would go to the windings, but apparently not.
At any rate, this explains the poor long-term viability of the small gold packs, as that single tiny strand of copper will not hold up to the power pulled through it forever. A rather sad commentary on the poor quality construction, again I would think they would have used more than a single strand to hook up to the windings, it couldn't be THAT hard to pull a few extra loose. 
Well, at least I now know why they fail so frequently, and usually run hotter than most other power packs. And now you know, too.
Jerry in Virginia
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - March 03 2018 : 4:53:40 PM
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They get hot enough to melt copper? That in a nutshell is why the better packs have circuit breakers. If it gets THAT hot, it can cause a fire. It really surprises me that UL would approve something as shoddy as this.
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Posted - March 03 2018 : 6:41:08 PM
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Whoa - amazing exploration of the inside of a Tyco Golden PowerPack, Jerry! Also, that is fascinating.....
The golden powerpack that I installed on my layout to power the inner line is still going strong..since January....
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." - Matthew 5:16
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Posted - March 04 2018 : 03:11:46 AM
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Well now that you've made the discovery, the next logical step is for some foolhardy individual to go about rescuing gold powerpacks from hobby shop trash bins, disassembling them, altering the terminal connections so that more than one strand feeds into the windings, and putting them back together, just to avoid spending money on actual nice transformers!
--CRC
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Posted - March 04 2018 : 03:34:13 AM
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quote:Well now that you've made the discovery, the next logical step is for some foolhardy individual to go about rescuing gold powerpacks from hobby shop trash bins, disassembling them, altering the terminal connections so that more than one strand feeds into the windings, and putting them back together, just to avoid spending money on actual nice transformers!
Originally posted by PRR 4800Â -Â March 04 2018Â :Â 03:11:46 AM
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Well, isn't that exactly why this forum exists? To pull old chooch stuffs out of the junk bin and repair them to avoid spending money on the fancy new stuff?
My Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/weekendrailroader?blend=1&ob=video-mustangbase
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Posted - March 04 2018 : 10:07:21 AM
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quote:Well now that you've made the discovery, the next logical step is for some foolhardy individual to go about rescuing gold powerpacks from hobby shop trash bins, disassembling them, altering the terminal connections so that more than one strand feeds into the windings, and putting them back together, just to avoid spending money on actual nice transformers!
Originally posted by PRR 4800Â -Â March 04 2018Â :Â 03:11:46 AM
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Sadly, the whole transformer core would have to be taken apart. the wiring to the core goes down between the plastic where those notches are, and of course the wires are burnt through DOWN inside...it would take a major effort to try to re-wire those transformer cores, might could cut the plastic to reach the winding connections again....but hardly worth the effort. I will probably save the gold shells, and the insulator pads inside, but the rest is pretty much garbage. Other than the copper windings, nothing else of value inside now.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - March 16 2018 : 11:11:56 PM
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I wonder what it would take to upgrade it?
I think it would be cool to have some "solid state" stuff in a classic shell
just me Ray... and just because I have Tyco doesn't mean I am not a model railroader
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Posted - March 17 2018 : 06:37:17 AM
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Oh let's see.. A 120 to 14 volt step-down transformer, a bridge rectifier, a filter capcitor and
a linear potentiometer should just about do it.
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Posted - March 19 2018 : 10:44:51 PM
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quote:I wonder what it would take to upgrade it?
Originally posted by rgcw5Â -Â March 16 2018Â :Â 11:11:56 PM
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Heh, find a small MRC power pack and swap the outer shell?
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - May 09 2018 : 1:03:54 PM
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I don't think the wiring design of the Tyco power pack is a bug but rather a feature. I suspect that the Tyco power packs are designed to self destruct if they are overloaded thereby preventing a fire hazard and forcing the customer to buy a new transformer. As I recall from my youth, I went through several of these disposable Tyco power packs before my father invested in a high quality "Powermaster 1000" transformer with an overload reset circuit breaker.
Note the manually operated circuit breaker reset button on this example, Tyco lost a ton of money in power pack sales when we bought one of these units!
PS: Also note the faux wood grain finish, this transformer is clasic 1970's tech!
PPS: Notice that they used the wrong word when they labeled the "Pilot LIGHT".
Proudly keeping Tyco Pluggers out of landfills since 2016
Edited by - Srenchin on May 10 2018 11:02:04 AM
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 Posted - May 09 2018 : 1:15:23 PM
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quote: quote:Well now that you've made the discovery, the next logical step is for some foolhardy individual to go about rescuing gold powerpacks from hobby shop trash bins, disassembling them, altering the terminal connections so that more than one strand feeds into the windings, and putting them back together, just to avoid spending money on actual nice transformers!
Originally posted by PRR 4800Â -Â March 04 2018Â :Â 03:11:46 AM
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Well, isn't that exactly why this forum exists? To pull old chooch stuffs out of the junk bin and repair them to avoid spending money on the fancy new stuff?
Originally posted by weekendrailroader - March 04 2018 : 03:34:13 AM
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 All kidding aside, DON'T DO THIS, house current is dangerous! Messing with the design of any household electrical appliance could lead to electrical fires or electrocution!! Unless you are trained to work with high voltage equipment please DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FIX OR MODIFY ANY CHEAP POWER PACK.
Proudly keeping Tyco Pluggers out of landfills since 2016
Edited by - Srenchin on May 09 2018 1:19:51 PM
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Posted - May 09 2018 : 5:18:15 PM
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quote: All kidding aside, DON'T DO THIS, house current is dangerous! Messing with the design of any household electrical appliance could lead to electrical fires or electrocution!! Unless you are trained to work with high voltage equipment please DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FIX OR MODIFY ANY CHEAP POWER PACK.
Originally posted by Srenchin - May 09 2018 : 1:15:23 PM
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I am trained for that sort of thing and I'll add that three things can get you:
1: A hot chassis - Don't let any of your bare wires or connections touch the housing.
2: A loose connection - This is what starts fires. Unlike a short, this won't blow a fuse. It'll just heat up until something melts or burns. Keep all connections tight. Soldered is even better.
3: A short circuit - Usually, this'll just blow a fuse or trip a breaker, but if it's intermittent or not that dead of a short, it can start a fire like the loose connection can. Keep opposites apart, or better yet, insulated from each other.
Carpe Manana!
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Posted - May 09 2018 : 7:43:55 PM
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| Very informative post.
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Posted - May 10 2018 : 12:53:23 AM
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Shocking!
https://youtu.be/fm-oHCuqhDE
But truly, I do get the point. I hate these cheap little power packs,
my Tyco gold packs overheat pretty quickly and fail at inoportune
moments, like at exhibits. I think I'll just get rid of the lot of them
and hook up MRC packs.
Edited by - Chops124 on May 10 2018 12:56:31 AM
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Posted - May 10 2018 : 10:28:06 PM
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I've been in the electronics business for over 30 years, and I am used to high voltage power. And RESPECT it. That said, if you don't know what you're doing, you shouldn't be poking around LIVE power supplies. Unplugged ones, have at it. Unless there are huge electrolytic caps inside that will hold some hefty current, and most power supplies aren't designed that way anymore, it's fairly safe to take them apart ( UNPLUGGED!!! ) and poke around, but don't be putting them back together if you don't know what you are doing. Darwin can sneak up on you and bite you hard!
I just despise poorly designed equipment, I realize that Tyco may have had a reason to make that power input wire so tiny, so it would burn through if it got too over-heated, but I just can't help but think that poor quality is never a good seller, and once you get that reputation, it's hard to overcome it. I don't think it's a good business model. Then again, Wal-mart has had huge success with selling el cheapo products, and people buy them rather than higher quality items. So I guess it works. I just don't LIKE it.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - May 11 2018 : 06:29:02 AM
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quote:
I have a twin to your Powermaster, and it is a very high quality pack. I found mine at a junk store and it works beautifully.
The wire in the Gold Tycopack is basically a fuse link as was stated, not a built in fail. Remember that Tyco did not build powerpacks, they were vendor-supplied just like most all train mfrs. used.
If you want a GOOD Tyco powerpack look for the big ones made by MRC, they are Throttlepacks or Twinpowers with Tyco branding on the cases.
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