Each power district differs depending on where I put the insulated rail joiners. However The longest straight section of a power district is about 7 feet 4inches. So I would say that each power district is about 7ft long. I have a 22 inch radius track loop that is a reversing section of the power districts. I model a Philadelphia-New York commuter passenger and freight scenario of all eras, high speed with electrified catenary poles thus no wires installed yet . One section of my line has an elevated section of six tracks of through traffic! and another 5 on ground level. As many as 11 trains can run through a power district simultaneously. My power district s are divided by 7ft segments that can contain as many as 6-11 tracks, meaning that all of those 6-11 tracks belong to the same district. My loop is about 5' x 10'. In my 10' x 10' room.
Thanks Randy, I'll let you know how I get on.
Cheers
Nige'
I have my main loop broken in half, and my yard and the staging yard are the other two channels on the PM42. I left it at the default, other than the actual board address, and as a test I put 5 sounds locos plus another two with motor only decoders in one section and shorted it to see if it would recover, and it did. Only the PM42 tripped, the DB150 powering it did not. When the short was removed, everything powered back on. When running trains around, I often have 2-3 sound units sitting on one track while another pair, one with and one without sound, rolls through pulling a train, and it handles this with no issues. In HO, so the current draws are a probably a bit higher, although other than the lighted cars, you'd probably be suprised how low the draw really is - I've had 8 locos, mix of sound and non, running on just the Zephyr, at 2.5 amps, without overload, and again that's HO locos. The 3 amp setting should be fine - it's the trip speed, not the actual current, for the most part. You might get away with lowering the trip current, but the lighted cars might be the problem. That's a realtively large layout for N scale, you might consider breaking each loop up more, maybe make each ladder another power district to use up all 4 on the PM42, in which case you almost certainly could get away with the lower trip current.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
jrbernier How about 'None' - Our club has three 8 amp boosters, 16 PM42's(64 power districts),and fills a 27' by 27' room(double decked).
How about 'None' - Our club has three 8 amp boosters, 16 PM42's(64 power districts),and fills a 27' by 27' room(double decked).
Hi Jim,
I know I'm drifiting off topic a little, but you've piqued my interest here. How long is each power district? How many consists would be running in a single power district at a time?
I'm just wiring up a double loop N-gauge layout now. I'm only using a single PM42, and only 2 of the four channels: one for each loop. Each loop is approx. 5' x 10'. Ie: 30' of track. Each has a ladder capable of storing 3 consists. Sidings in each ladder are around 7' long each. So the total length of a loop, including the sidings, is around 50-52'.
Thus, I could have 5 consists on each loop, each up to 8-cars long, with interior lighting. I've calculated that each consist might draw up to 0.3A peak. Thus, either loop could conceivably draw up to 1.5A.
I was going to leave the trip current set at the default 3A and possibly experiment with dropping it to 1A.
Does all of these sound fine to you?
Thanks I will take your advice. I won't buy any then.
I'm with the others on this. From what you have described, you shouldn't need one.
Where you would see a benefit from an LNRP would be if you had a number of non-powered UP5 (or the older UP3) panels around your layout. The UP panels are the most likely things on LocoNet to cause issues, since plugging in throttles that don't have batteries installed can pull down Loconet voltage, if you plug in enough of them.
In that case, you'd plug all of your UP3s/5s into a single bus that would plug into one of the "unprotected" outputs on the LNRP and plug everything else into the "protected" side. That way, anything that happened on the UP panel leg of LocoNet wouldn't affect the ability of the SE8c, PR3, Locobuffer, DS64, BDL168 or SRC16 to keep functioning.
-Fritz Milhaupt, Publications Editor, Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc.http://www.pmhistsoc.org
None are needed.
If you really want to put one in the best place would be between the Command station and the rest of your loconet. A cable from the command station to the LNRP side jack. Everything else connected to the rear jacks. That gives you two legs out the back for all the extra board and cables.
Martin Myers
How about 'None' - Our club has three 8 amp boosters, 16 PM42's(64 power districts),and fills a 27' by 27' room(double decked). The reason for the repeater is if you have very long LocoNet cable lengths and want to break up the LocoNet into manageable sections for problem determination or lots of LocoNet devices(more than 20). You are not even close to loading down the LocoNet at this point.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Don't think you need any, actually. Our club layout has a lot more equipment than that connected, and no LNRP's.
I intend to add a LocoNet Repeater Module to my system in order to safe proof my LocoNet system. How many will I need. I only have a Digitrax SE8C, PR3, Locobuffer USB, DS64, BDL168 and a Team Digital SRC16. I have a Digitrax UP5 between my Digitrax DB150 command station and the PR3. I have another UP5 that is shared between my PM42, SE8C and DS64. Where would there be a good spot in my layout for a LocoNet Repeater Module and how many will I need?