Hello I have built several buildings and installed Miniatronics 12v and 14v incandescent lamps. I have all the lighting connected to an old Tyco power supply transformer.
Is this good or should I use a better power supply? I noticed that by adding more lighted buildings the lamps start to be less bright probably because the power supply is not strong enough.
Switching over to LED is out of the question because it would involve to much work to re-wire all of my buildings.
Thank you.
Serge
I use their 16-volt bulbs, and drive them with a 12-volt supply. Running bulbs below their rated voltage significantly improves bulb life. When they're built in, that's important. I bought a 12-volt, 4-amp supply from All Electronics (on line.)
Each of these bulbs draws about 30 milliamps, so count them up and compare that to the rating on the transformer. If adding more bulbs is making them dimmer, then yes, you are exceeding the rating of the transformer. Eventually you will trip the circuit breaker. If it doesn't have a breaker, then you may burn out the supply.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Serge,
I use 12V incandescents, wire them in parallel, and operate them on the DC side of an MRC 1370 Railpower transformer. I use the DC side instead of the AC side so that I can "dial it down" and operate the bulbs at ~9V; extending their life substantially.
Here's a freight depot that I've lit with two interior lights and four exterior lights:
The illumination @ 75% capacity is quite ample and I can bump it up or down as I choose.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Hello Mister Beasley and Tom thank you both for your replies and infos they are greatly appreciated.
Tom I'll remember to connect my lamps to the DC side thank you for that.
Mister Beasley you mentioned that each bulb draws about 30 ma.; my question is how many milliamps does it take to make 1 Amp?
Now the Tyco transformer has no mention of Amps; specs indicate: output of 6 VA. How do I transform this into Amps?
Sorry but electronics is not my "forté".
scribbelt my question is how many milliamps does it take to make 1 Amp?
my question is how many milliamps does it take to make 1 Amp?
1000 milliamps = 1 amp
So, 1 amp of power will supply 33 bulbs of 30 milliamps each.
Rich
Alton Junction
My guess is that your Tyco transformer or power pack puts out no more than 1A of power; given that it was only meant to run one (1) train. This is "amp"le for running 20-25 30mA incandescent bulbs. However, you may end up taxing your power pack if you tried powering a full 33 bulbs with it.
If you think you'll be powering that many lights (or more) on your layout, Serge, you may want to either pick up another cheap Tyco power pack (like the one you have) and split the load up between them...or look at a heftier power pack. It's better to have a cushion or buffer with a power source than to push it to its limit.
FWIW, my MRC 1370 Railpower has an output of 18VA (volt-amps). You can pick one up on eBay for as little as $20. Train shows are good source for new and used power packs, too.
As mentioned previously, I like using the DC-side of power packs (vs. wall transformers or fixed power supplies) because I can use the dial to down down the voltage to the bulbs; thereby extending their life substantially.
tstage FWIW, my MRC 1370 Railpower has an output of 18VA (volt-amps). You can pick one up on eBay for as little as $20. Train shows are good source for new and used power packs, too. As mentioned previously, I like using the DC-side of power packs (vs. wall transformers or fixed power supplies) because I can use the dial to down down the voltage to the bulbs; thereby extending their life substantially. Tom
Tom,
I will second that motion in favor of the MRC Railpower 1370 power pack.
About 8 years ago, I bought my first one, and I now have five of them spread across my layout to power everything from Tortoises to track side LED signals to control panel toggle switches and bi-polar LED's.
The MRC Railpower 1370 power pack has been around for awhile, and it is the workhorse of the MRC line of power packs. As you say, it has a total output of 18 volts. The spec sheet indicates that the AC output is 19 volts, and the DC output is 15 volts.
It is a stand alone unit (not a plug in wal wart) with an 80" AC power cord that plugs into a standard household wall outlet or extension cord. It has an On/Off switch, a power light indicator and a large dial to increase or decrease power. With my LED setup, I leave the dial set at full power. There are two DC screws and two AC screws on the side of the power pack for wiring.
Hello Tom and Rich thank you for the additional infos; right now I counted 50 Miniatronics Lamps on my layout and I'm not finished putting up more structures, street lamps etc. How many lamps can I put on the MRC Railpower 1370?
I still have one more question: most of the specs on these power transformers are in VA; so how do I convert them to Amps to find out how many lamps I can put on that transformer without blowing it up?
VA is basically what is looks like, volts times amps. So if the label says 17VA, at 12 volts that's about 1.4 amps. For the AC output side, it's a little different but for a purely resistive load like light bulbs it's effectivelt the same, volts time amps. The rating on the power pack is usualyl the TOTAL, so if you hook stuff to both the AC conenctiosn AND the DC output, the sum total goes towards the total VA capacity.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
The MRC Railpower 1370 has an automatic circuit breaker to protect against overloads.
I would start out with one MRC Railpower 1370 and see if it is sufficient to power all of your lamps.
If it is not, you can always buy a second one and divide the lamps equally on each power pack.
Hello Randy and Rich, thank you so much for the additional infos, this will really help me to make my choice on which power supply I need to light up all of my buildings.