I finally got around to building the short alarm I've seen mentioned here and elsewhere. I expect it to be especially useful when hooking up tortoises to power frogs.
I used a 5.8 VDC wall wart. I cut the plug off the end, replaced it with alligator clips, spliced the buzzer into one side of the cord, applied heat shrink to the splice and glued the buzzer to the wart.
My question... With my command station switched off, do I need to disconnect it from the track when using the buzzer? If it matters, the command station is a DCS200. It is driving 4 power districts via PSX breakers.
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Yes. DO not feed power back in to any DCC device. You need to disconenct the output of the PSX breakers before applying any power to the rails.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Sounds kind of complicated.
I set my multimeter to its Continuity Check position, then prop the probes under the opposite rails. Then I start hooking up. If the multimeter buzzes, I know I have it backwards.
Another way to check your polarities as you hook up things is to use a sound engine in the same power district. Let it sit there steaming or idling. If the sound goes dead up above as you connect, you also know things are backwards down below.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
mlehmanSounds kind of complicated.
I put it together in 20 minutes while I listened to a boring conference call. It's also way louder than my meter's buzzer. Besides, I have a box full of old wall warts and a weird aversion to using batteries where house current is available.
I also made a wall-wart based tortoise tester.
That conference call was then time well spent, instead of wasted.
I suspect your buzzer also works on dead track, while my loco solution depends on track power being on. Some folks aren't comfortable with that, which I can see, but that's what circuit breakers are for.