Booster or not

[Roadie]

I Have a 12x12  DCC HO Layout in which I have two  main tracks around in a bent dog-bone with a reverse loop on one end.

I usually run three to four trans with as many as eight Loco mued together  in groups of two to four so sound some not but as many as four sound at one time

I have a Zephyr with 2.5 Amps I first through I need a booster but now not sure.

I  have found that if I take one certain loco off the track I don't have this  problem only once in a while. 

The problems is this:

It is a Atlas GP 40 no  sound it makes my Zephyr stop and go when I have six to seven loco on at one time with "o" going across the zephyr led as I try to start the trains.I have two other loco exactly the same no problem.

The other loco is a Broadway Limited sd 40-2 with sound which I have to of them if I remove one from the track it stops making the zero stop on mt Zephyr and the trains will start without stopping and going. Even if I have more loco as many as eight with as many as five with sound the trains will start with these two loco off the track. I through I needed a Booster but now not sure maybe something wrong with these two loco's anybody have any ideas what could be going wrong with the system or Loco's??

I have set both loco's back to default  DCC settings

 

[rrinker]

0's on the Zephyr are overload. Sounds like you are probably running right at the limit, and an additional load or one extra loco tips it over the top.

 There are several ways to add power. The tricky part is matching the Zephyr, because the voltage output is slightly different from other Digitrax boosters. Or simply do not use the Zephyr track power at all.

 You cna use the inexpensive simple boosters from Tam Valley - probbaly need 2 of them, and break the layout into two sections . They get fed with the Zephyr track outputs, then the booster connections go to the rails.

 Or you could get a DB150 and power supply. Or if you wpould like a walkaround throttle, get a Super Empire Builder set. The DB150 is 5 amps, plenty of power if the Zephyr is just barely tripping. It is best to break up that much power with circuit breakers like the PM42 os PSX. The Zephyr track power can be left for accessory decoders (which is exactly how my system is set up - Zephyr command station, DB150 providing track power via a PM42, Zepkyr track output runs my Tam Valley servo controllers). Or the Zephyr can be used to power say a yard area where the speed dsifference won't matter - the DB150 on N scale will put a lower track voltage than the Zephyr, on the HO setting it will put out a higher voltage. It's noticeable if you cross gaps between track powered by the DB150 and the Zephyr. So I just reserved the Zephyr output for the stationary decoders.

 

                --Randy

 

[Roadie]

I through that 'o' on the Zephyr meant a short and "L" mean it is at the amp limit am I wrong? do I have it backwards

just wondering 

[rrinker]

That's what the instructions say but never got L's ever. Seems like it treats over current the same as short, most of the time.

 * plus locos, many with sound, it probably pushing it. I ran 8, 4 sound, 4 non sound, at the same time with mine and ran out of hands to prevent crashes before it overloaded, but those were all free running locos, no MU, no trains being pulled. And at least one was a ringer - Stewart Baldwin switcher, that thing only draws .25 amp stalled.

       --Randy

 

[narrow gauge nuclear]

My layout, while long in run and with but a single track main, is not one to ever have more than 2 or 3 loco's on it running at once, thus, the Zephyr Extra can handle it all, forever.  However, they make and recommend boosters and power districts for a reason and I think that reason has now landed on your doorstep.  Good luck in expanding your empire.

Richard