it's certainly very nice that the PowerCab detect faults and automatically shutdown when it detect a short, rather than damage itself. But because it takes many secs to restart, this delay makes it time consuming to find the cause of the short. I believe putting an auto buld (1156) in series is one approach for both protecting equipment from shorts, as well as indicating when/where a short is present.
Is there a benefit to putting an auto-bulb in series with the powerCab? Will it limit the voltage/current to prevent the PowerCab from shutting down and glow sufficiently to indicate a short, or still allow too much current and the PowerCab will still shutdown?
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
http://members.optusnet.com.au/nswmn/1156.htm
NCE sells a device that does essentially the same thing. Has six bulbs. You can do six districts.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
I tried the bulb idea and didn't like it. There is a discussion of the bulb idea here: http://www.wiringfordcc.com/track.htm Another discussion here: http://www.rr-cirkits.com/Notebook/short.html You can form your own opinion.
Regardless of one's opinion on the viability of the bulb idea, I don't think it will work with the PowerCab. If you read the second discussion, it mentions that the 1156 bulb draws 2.5 amps when fully lit. I don't know at what value it starts to light. However, since the PowerCab puts out (I think) less than 2 amps, the PowerCab will probably trip before you notice the bulb.
Forgot about the current draw for that auto bulb.
The NCE CP6 has bulbs good for 1.0 amp. and bulbs for 1.75 amp.
Yahoo has a active NCE Group which is usually specific to NCE products. Not run by NCE but by experienced NCE users.
Yahoo DCC groups have loads of Files and photos posted by users. I find it useful to belong to more than one forum which has helped me a lot.
maxmanIf you read the second discussion, it mentions that the 1156 bulb draws 2.5 amps when fully lit. I don't know at what value it starts to light.
this is what i was concerned about
1156 won;t work with a PowerCab. The bulbs used in the NCE device will. With an 1156, you migth get a bried flash of the bulb before the PowerCab's breaker cuts out, and it won't recover any better than it does with just the locos - the slow recovery is likely due to inrush current on sound locos. Light bulbs also have an inrush current since the filament changes resistence when it heats up. Since the PowerCab does recover on its own, there doesn;t seem to be much reason to use light bulbs. Just always remember to line switches properly so it doesn;t short in the first place
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
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