# kato transformer



## silver69 (Dec 20, 2013)

My wife brought a dog home and it promptly chewed through the cord on my Kato transformer.
I soldered the wires back together but it doesn't work.
The bare ends of the wires were in contact when I flipped the switch on the power strip.
It stayed like this for several minutes while I was running my trains.

When I couldn't get the switches to operate I searched and found the problem.
It seems like I've cooked the transformer.

What I know about electricity and electronics would fit on the end of a pin so I'm hoping you all can help me.

The transformer says:
class 2
input 120V ac 60 hz 40w
output 15v ac 1.5A

Do I need to find a transformer with exactly the same input and output to work or could one close be used?

Thanks
Steve


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

silver69 said:


> My wife brought a dog home and it promptly chewed through the cord on my Kato transformer.
> I soldered the wires back together but it doesn't work.
> The bare ends of the wires were in contact when I flipped the switch on the power strip.
> It stayed like this for several minutes while I was running my trains.
> ...


I don't know Silver but I will bump this back up to the top for you.
Someone will know. Maybe there is a fuse inside? 

I do know that your lucky that you don't have a burned HOT DOG right now.
Or worse, just a shell of a house remaining.

Make your wife buy you a new one!


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## drbnc (Oct 18, 2014)

silver69 said:


> My wife brought a dog home and it promptly chewed through the cord on my Kato transformer.
> The transformer says:
> class 2
> input 120V ac 60 hz 40w
> ...


You could contact Kato and see if they have spares available. The AC part is the kicker, since most wall warts are DC. If you find one that outputs AC, as long as it's 12-15v and up to 1.5 amps, it will work with the right plug attached to the controller end. Wouldn't recommend you go below 1 amp for N, 1.5 amps for HO.

Hope this helps.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Did the dog chew the power cord that plugs into the wall?

Did it chew any other wires or the power pack itself?
If it chewed more than the power cord what was damaged?

If it only chewed the power cord wires, you would want
to cut the chewed section out completely. Strip the two or three
wires, probably one will have white insulation another
would have black, and possibly a third would be green.

You would twist the two White wires together, (or solder)
and wrap with electricians tape. You would do the same for
the black and the green. 

If you did as above, your power pack should operate. I don't
see what could 'fry' it unless there was other damage done
by the dog.

Don


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## Bone1977 (Jan 17, 2014)

If you cannot find a replacement, get a transformer which outputs the same and cut the plug and to fit. I've had to do that a few times with one off connectors.

Personally I'd view this as a chance to upgrade your power pack  Though if you need to power switches and what not I can see the need.


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## silver69 (Dec 20, 2013)

Guys,
Thanks for the replies and tips.

The dog chewed the two wires that run from the wall plug to the blue controller.
I cut out the bad spot, soldered the wires, taped it up securely and plugged it in.
The controller will not light.
I used the transformer from my lap top and the controller lights up and the switches throw but the amperage is a little higher and the turnouts really snap when the switch is thrown.

I found a Kato replacement transformer but with shipping it was almost as much as the transformer/controller set.

After lamenting over what to do I decided to purchase a Kato DC converter.
I'll attach it to the accessory lugs on my MRC-1370.







The switches will gang on just like they did on the controller.

This is the cheapest solution, it was $7.65 including shipping.
I should be up again in a few days

Thanks again
Steve


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

I'm still musing about what happened.

Is the wall plug an ordinary 2 or 3 prong
plug, or is it a Wall wart that is a complete
power supply and sends a low voltage
to the blue controller? I could understand that
the wall wart could be shorted by the
dog damage, since that would have been
on the secondary side. My first understanding
was that the damaged cord was the 120 V cord.

Don


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## silver69 (Dec 20, 2013)

Don
The two pronged wall wart is what shorted out,
I kept the MRC-1370 and Kato units plugged into a power strip.

The dog chewed through the wall wart cord that supplies power to the blue Kato controller, not the power strip cord.

The controller is fine but the wall wart is toast.

The DC converter I ordered should do the trick. I only used the Kato unit to power the turnouts.

Steve


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## silver69 (Dec 20, 2013)

problem solved!
It works perfectly.







I temporarily wired it to my MRC transformer and it works like a champ.


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