LGB Porter Power Draw

[Anonymous]

I just bought an LGB porter loco and it seems to be drawing a huge amount of power. I have to crank up my 18v starter set power pack to full to get it running at a reasonable speed and about thrree quarters of the way to get it to start.
Is this OK?
Scott

[SandyR]

Scott, I have two Porters, and have seen others running. They all seem to be geared to run much slower than other engines. I don't know about current draw in terms of amperage, as I have neither a voltmeter nor an ammeter. But the high setting/slow speed is normal for the LGB Porters.
SandyR

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the Info.
Tried a higher amp power pack today and it worked just right, though still somewhat high.
Thanks again
Scott

[SandyR]

Scott, I've been told that while it uses more voltage to get to a decent speed, it actually draws about one amp. Is there anyone out there reading this post who could verify or disprove this? I'd like to know, too!
SandyR

[bman36]

Hey there,
I find it interesting that such a small loco would have a high draw. Is the loco running noisy at all? No binding or anything? I take it that it has been geared to run slow. Sandy: Will it pull a fair bit for it's size? Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

Bman,
the loco makes a little noise when the power has not gotten to a level where the it will move the loco, a kind of an electronic buzzing that i think comes from the circuitry inside it. It also has some motor noise, but it sounds like it isn't a problem. It is a very smooth runner (no binding) and can take a steep grade.
Scott

[bman36]

Scott,
We bought the kids a Playmobil set a few years back. The 0-4-0 that came with it is definately an LGB drive unit. It takes off very quickly and runs extremely well. It too has a faint buzz to it while it takes very little throttle to get it moving. Later eh...Brian.

[jebouck]

I have two LGB Porters (1 with decoder and 1 without).
The one with the factory decoder takes a little more power to start up, but settles down and runs perfectly.
I use an LGB Jumbo for my power supply, and both of these units don't even move the Amp gauge needle. They draw quite a bit less than 1 Amp.
jb

[SandyR]

Brian, you asked how many cars one of the LGB Porters would pull. My experience is limited on that one, as I prefer trains of 4 or 5 LGB shorty cars. However, I did try a longer train once, on my garden railroad. It was 13 shorty cars, and the Porter had no trouble with it. But it looked really stupid on such a small railroad, and I never did it again. BTW the wheels did not slip, nor did the loco stall.
SandyR

[SandyR]

For whatever it's worth, when my Porter (Helena) was still fairly new (about three years old), I did an experiment with it. I ran it as slowly as it would go, and timed it. It took over one full minute to cover one straight section of LGB track. That's a tad under 12". And it never stalled! Now folks, that is really slow! And I was very impressed.
SandyR

[bman36]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SandyR

For whatever it's worth, when my Porter (Helena) was still fairly new (about three years old), I did an experiment with it. I ran it as slowly as it would go, and timed it. It took over one full minute to cover one straight section of LGB track. That's a tad under 12". And it never stalled! Now folks, that is really slow! And I was very impressed.
SandyR

Sandy,
Toooooo much time on your hands??? [:D] Was curious more than anything on the pulling power the Porter had. A long train behind such a small loco would look a little silly anyways. Then again it's still fun to try. Reminds me of my HO days as a kid when I would put everything I had behind my little Tyco diesel switcher...get the wheels spinning and just be a kid. [;)] Kinda' never grew out of that! Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

Gentlemen;

Don't get confused with voltage and current. The current draw would be less than the Stainz, a direct product of the micro horsepower of the loco and the voltage involved, say about 250 ma which is very little. But some locos have a higher starting voltage than others and i understend with MTS this can be set from withingn the loco but I don't know about DC running.


I woulkd think that this is a deliberate thing on the part of LGB, for what reason I don't know?


Rgds Ian

[grandpopswalt]

The starting voltage is usually a result of the motor's internal resistence. The higher the resistence, the higher the voltage required to produce sufficient current to develope running torque.

walt