Been collecting these things for awhile from phones, electric razors, etc. how do others use them and turn them on and off? How do you determine power output and safe usage?
My wall warts are plugged into outlets that are controlled by a ''bank'' of on/off switches and a number of WW can be turned on/off with one of those on/off switchs.
Each wall wart is checked with a multimeter to determined it's output. Then if the WW's listed output matches, we are good to go, if not then a lable is printed out and attached to that WW.
ndbprrHow do you determine power output and safe usage?
the output voltage and current rating are either printed on a label or embossed in the plastic shell. the label in the image below says the output is 5.4V DC and 2 A
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
gregc ndbprr How do you determine power output and safe usage?
ndbprr How do you determine power output and safe usage?
The problem is that many cheap power sources do not match their stated outputs.
For years, I assumed the output printed on the wart was accurate. Then, on a device with a digital readout, I noticed the input was not what I thought. I started testing my wall warts with a meter, and I was surprised that while most outputs were exactly what was printed, there were some that were all over the place.
Just to be safe, test the outputs with a meter. It only takes seconds to do, and could stop problems before they occur.
York1 John
I asked my doctor if I gave up delicious food and all alcohol, would I live longer? He said, "No, but it will seem longer."
York1Then, on a device with a digital readout, I noticed the input was not what I thought.
for unregulated supplies, the output voltage may be higher when the load current is less than the rated current.
gregc York1 Then, on a device with a digital readout, I noticed the input was not what I thought.
York1 Then, on a device with a digital readout, I noticed the input was not what I thought.
And that's why I urged caution in using untested wall warts. How many hobby LEDs does it take to get up to the rated current load?
I was a school principal with no electrical background, and I know you have an engineering background, so your knowledge of this is much better than mine.
I did find out that certain wall warts are called regulated, while many are not. Does that make the difference?
York1I did find out that certain wall warts are called regulated, while many are not. Does that make the difference?
unregulated typically means the output from a transformer thru a bridge rectifier and some filter caps. voltage will drop with load.
regulated means thru a circuit that limits the voltage to some specified value (e.g. 9V). i think some regulated supplies may measure higher with no load, but will regulate with even a small load
i can't imagine how an AC supply can be regulated
i believe all power supplies for laptops are switching supplies which are efficient and well regulated.
415
A train power transformer generally has a circuit breaker for protection. So does a DCC system. However, the short circuit protection for a wall wart is usually an internal fuse, non-replaceable and non-resetable. Once one of those goes, you are left with an ugly black paperweight.
I started collecting wall warts at first, plugging them into plug strips. Finally, I got sick of the oddball collection of outputs. I ordered a few 12 vdc supplies from ebay for under $10 each, including shipping from China. Two days from China to LA, then a week and a half from there to Boston.
I install one supply in one area of my layout. These supplies don’t have breakers either, so each circuit gets a fuse to protect it from overload. The circuit is a pair of small bus wires circling that region of the layout. I use the 12 volt bus for 16 volt bulbs to give them a softer glow and extend bulb life. For other voltages, I just throw in a resistor to get the voltage I want. I use 4 or 5 amp supplies. I still use a plug strip, but now I only need one supply for a big chunk of layout. I use a small toggle on my control panel to activate/deactivate each bus.
I don’t collect wall warts anymore.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
If it is not a regulated power supply, I don't use it.
Rich
Alton Junction
Personally I have never understood the wall wart power supply thing for layouts?
Why? REAL power supplies are reasonable to purchase or easy to build. Who wants all the clutter?
Power strips are sometimes a necessary evil, but I avoid them as well when possible - Oh, that's right, I'm an electrician and the son of a fire fighter.......
I just built a small entertainment system cabinet for my living room, easy enough to install two quad receptacles. Eight outlets, covered all the things that needed to be plugged in.
All my layouts have had multiple circuits of receptacles under the bench work with quad boxes every 10-12 feet, always some place to plug stuff in.
My main service panel has surge protection, so I don't worry about that either like some people do with "special" expensive power strips.
Electrical truth - surge protectors are voodoo science, sometimes they work, sometimes not. In designing them you have to "guess" the nature of the surge. A good one at the panel is way more likely to be effective than one in a power strip.
My big Queen Anne house which many of you remember from pictures I posted was completely rewired by me - it survived a lighting strike with only minimal damage, and no damage to the fixed wiring other than the surge protector in the panel and few solid state home automation switches - quess the proof is in the pudding.
Sheldon
I have a "REAL" power supply sitting in my desk for work. It's 14V, 30A DC. I wonder how many fires would be caused by modellers trying to use that thing.
Wall warts are far safer for those who are not electricians.
ATLANTIC CENTRALElectrical truth - surge protectors are voodoo science, sometimes they work, sometimes not. In designing them you have to "guess" the nature of the surge. A good one at the panel is way more likely to be effective than one in a power strip. My big Queen Anne house which many of you remember from pictures I posted was completely rewired by me - it survived a lighting strike with only minimal damage, and no damage to the fixed wiring other than the surge protector in the panel and few solid state home automation switches - quess the proof is in the pudding. Sheldon
Sheldon,
In my case, my APC surge protector did work and worked VERY well after a transformer blew near my home a few years back. The resultant spike was so severe that it completely took out the surge protector. (I could smell it as soon as I walked into the room.) My router, modem, computer, and DCC test track setup were thankfully all spared the jolt.
Maybe a "necessary evil"...but it was a worthwhile and relatively inexpensive insurance policy for me at the time, given the potential of charred circuitry to more expensive investments I had and that would be more difficult to replace.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
ndbprr turn them on and off?
turn them on and off?
I had this come up this week myself.
My turnouts are thrown by the Walthers turnout servo motors. There's a bunch of ways you can power and operate them, but I went with the out of the box solution of servo motor -> push button -> power distribution hub -> wall wart. Each hub can service eight turnout servos. Eventually I'll have six hubs running about 40 turnouts. The distribution hubs have a terminal block on them, so you can run them off a DCC accessory bus or some other power bus.
I didn't want to power them off of a bus for two reasons: 1) added complexity of the underground wiring when I have two parallel buses between the track power bus and the turnout bus. Plus, I would like to do signals in the future and would have to add yet another bus under there. I'd rather not have that much of a rat's nest under there if I can avoid it. And 2) I would like to be able to kill power to different hubs for maintenance and troubleshooting. The downside is that I didn't want to have to plug and unplug six wall warts under the layout all the time.
I was grappling with this issue for several hours, trying to design a system that would allow me to have a power switch between the wall wart and the hub and what parts I'd need. I came up from the basement to get a drink and my wife heard me sigh. She asked me what I was thinking about. I explained what I was trying to figure out and without a second's hesitation she said "can you just use those Alexa plugs?" Yes. It isn't any different than if I'd wired the outlets to a regular old rocker switch.
Each power hub is plugged into a smartplug named for the turnout hub (West Staging, East Staging, etc.) and the smartplugs are in a group called simply "layout." I can toggle each hub on and off manually with a command like "Alexa, turn West Staging off" or the whole layout with "Alexa, turn off layout." Alexa doesn't give you direct confirmation of the instruction, it just executes the order. I'd prefer to get confirmation, which meant setting up a routine. The thing will say whatever you want it to, so I put in an instruction to give me a readback. After asking it to turn on the layout group, it would just say "power on."
My wife then pointed out that was boring. A modified routine changed the on/off commands and the confirmation verbage: "Alexa, All Aboard" confirms "Norfolk Southern Pittsburgh Line is in service." "Alexa, Last Stop" confirms "Norfolk Southern Pittsburgh Line is out of service."
Sounds like a lot of work, but this was about 15 to 20 minutes of effort and most of that time is waiting for individual plugs to connect to the wifi.
Alexa Plugs..... Now why didn't I think of that? We have three Alexas in the house and I will never be without one. We also have Alexa plugs for a few things and that makes life a lot easier.
I am temporarily powering my building lights with wall warts from my vast collection, plugging them into a power bar with a switch. Once I have things placed permanently I will put in a proper power supply. I do like the Alexa idea, I already have one in the train room and she gets a lot of work when I am in there. I also have a bunch of Alexa Plugs I use for the Christmas lights.
It would be great to be able to operate a turnout by voice command.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
BATMAN It would be great to be able to operate a turnout by voice command.
I dunno about that. The GF always uses the voice control on the TV, which is designed to do that. Half the time it doesn't work, usually because she's got the volume up too loud and it interferes with her voice commands.
I have a few turnouts on DCC throttle control. They work fine, but I really prefer an old school control panel with toggles. I don’t really need to control turnouts from the next room.