Help with attaching accessories to fastrack

[Anonymous]

I am new to model railroading and I have a question I am hoping someone can help me with. I have some accessories that say they should be between 11-15 V and others 15-18V. I am trying to attach them to the underside of lionel fastrack instead of using a seperate accessory power source, however, won't this change the volts as I move the trains? Does anyone know if the fastrack connectors on the track are the same as the connectors for regular track...if so why can you attach accessories to those...or is it the same problem? I appreciate any help or input to help me, thanks a lot.

[laz 57]

TRACKBURR[#welcome]
On your CW80 transformer you have two accessory post you can run wires right to the transformer for accessory power. If in fact it is a CW80 if you have the 40 watt transformer then I don't think it can be done because you won't have enough power to run your engine.
Laz57

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your response, but what if you have many accessories that need to be operated at different voltages, do you have to get many different accessory transformers? When can I attach accessories to the track?

[laz 57]

TRACKBURR,
Yes you are going to have a voltage drop that way even if you solder the wires to the tracks. My suggestion is to buy another power source and run that for accessories. I started out just with a beginers set and after some 27 engines later I have lots of different transformers doing different things. I would suggest getting the largest transformer you can afford and doing it that way. Or you could get another one the same size you have to run the accessories. But don't go into the tracks because you will rob your engines preformance.
Laz57

[tomtaras]

hi,
use a separate power source to power and activate your accessories-this way you will not hinder or lower the voltage to your engine especially if in the future you decide to use the dcs or tmcc system

[spankybird]

Glad you found us.

Not really knowing how many accessories you are planning on adding, but if it is a lot, then you will be needing a larger power supply. Some of the larger PW Lionel transformer have more than one voltage tap on them, such as a KW has 6 volt and 14 volt taps.

MRC make a good transformer also.

Some people prefer to use a completely different power supply for there accessories. They pick up a fix power supply from Radio Shack or Home depot.


Hope this helps
tom

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the input...it sounds as if the best bet is to look into different power supplies.

[lionelsoni]

If one is worried about the voltage drop through the rails getting to the accessories (I wouldn't), one can power the accessories through a separate wire from a fixed voltage out of phase with the track voltage and return the accessories through the outside rails. This will actually tend to cancel any voltage drop in the rails.

[Anonymous]

lionelsoni
"one can power the accessories through a separate wire from a fixed voltage out of phase with the track voltage and return the accessories through the outside rails.

This will actually tend to cancel any voltage drop in the rails."

Is there somewhere on the Internet where a wiring diagram of your suggestion can be viewed?

Various accessories use different wiring configurations.

Like they say... "A picture is worth a thousand words." [:)]

Thanks.

[lionelsoni]

I found a diagram that illustrates the principle with respect to power wiring:
http://www.mikeholt.com/codeforum/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=001607

To use this idea, you would wire the layout in a very conventional way, with the outside rails connected together and to the return side of each accessory. The only difference is that the wire(s) carrying the fixed accessory voltage(s) to the accessorys would come from a transformer deliberately wired to be out of phase with the track voltage. The accessories and the trains can't tell the difference, even if you use control rails to operate some of them and replace the track voltage with accessory voltage on the switches like the 022.

The outside rails have the same function as the neutral in the power wiring. They carry both the train currents and the accessory currents. Since the voltages are out of phase, so are these currents. Because of this, their magnitudes subtract rather than add, reducing the current that the rails carry and therefore the voltage drop due to that current.

To find whether the voltages are out of phase, you can measure between them, with the track voltage turned up. If that voltage is greater than either one alone, measured to the outside rails, they are out of phase. If not, reverse the plug to the accessory transformer or, if you are using only two terminals from it for a single accessory voltage, swap them.