I have a MRC Prodigy Advance 3.5 amps. I added a 75' branchline. I have over 520' of track and my trains seem to be running a little slower, do I need a booster? If so what kind would would you recommend? Thanks in advance, you have always helped me before.
If you have a good system of bus wires and you connect the base station somewhere close to the middle, you should not have an issue because of the distance nor the amount of track.
What gauge wire are you using for your track power bus, and what for feeders?
How many engines are you typically running?
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I have a 14 gauge buss and 18 gauge feeders. My son doesn't think I need a booster. I quite often run 4 at once but usually 2, 2 are consists of 2 engines, I only have 3 with sound.
williamsb I have a MRC Prodigy Advance 3.5 amps. I added a 75' branchline. I have over 520' of track and my trains seem to be running a little slower, do I need a booster? If so what kind would would you recommend? Thanks in advance, you have always helped me before.
I agree with Mr. B.
How are you 'feeding' the addition at present? Unless you are using a wire bus no thinner than 14 gauge, you may be experiencing a significant degradation in the voltage after only 30 feet or so of run, along which you are using several pairs of thinner feeder wires directly to the rails. It could very well be that you do need one more booster well along, say about 30' out, but it's hard to say without proper meter readings and a schematic.
How physically big is the layout? The key factor is the distance from the DCC system to the furthest piece of track. If it's over 15-20 feet but no more than 40-50 feet, you probably just need a heavier bus wire. If it's in that 40-50 foot range, you'll go broke buying really big wire and it can be easier to just add a booster to distribute the power sources.
An easy way to test is the good old quarter test. Set a quarter on the tracks at various locations all around the layout. Each time, the circuit breaker should cut out immediately. If it doesn't, you need to beef up the wiring in that area.
Other than that, 3.5 amps should be plenty adequate for the number of locos you run.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Just to make sure - your DCC system is ONLY for trains, right? Once in a while we have to remind people not to hook up structure illumination, street lights and the like to their DCC bus, as that will use up those precious amps.
How about passenger cars? Mostly those are LEDs these days, but I have some old ones with incandescent bulbs. These will take track power away from your locomotives, too.
I have a Lenz system which needs an external power supply to feed the DCC base station. That supply needs to be at least as large as the DCC system, or you'll run short of power at less output than the DCC system is rated for.
I added a second 5 amp booster to my layout, but it wasn't because trains were running slower.
On my layout, I have a few spots where trains run slower because i have inadequate feeders. So, I am adding feeders when i have time to do so.
Whenever trains are running slower, that tells me that the layout requires more feeders.
Rich
Alton Junction
Thanks for the replies. It is sort of an "L" shape about 30' x 25'. I have a double track mainline about 130' long each. (the grandkids like to see trains run). the control is in about the middle and it only runs the trains. It does pass the quarter test. I have the engines max speed programmed so the kids can't make them go too fast. I had recorded this and ran the engines at top speed and timed them, I had forgotten this, so I just ran 3 of them again to see how they compared. The Rapido FP9A made the loop in 1min 47 sec within 2 sec of before, the Athearne FP59 - 1min 30, about 5 sec slower, the Budd car 1'30 about 5 sec so I guess it really isn't much slower, more just me, hope I didn't take up too much of your time. The speeds are pretty close to the prototype except maybe the FP9A is a little slow.
Very good idea, and better record keeping. Short pencil is better than long memory.
Dave
What you might try before you buy a booster, maybe try this. Run more #14 wire out from your MRC unit in parallel with your existing #14 wire. Try to keep the wire lengths equal to the original wire. Run the new wire at least half the distance of the original run or to the new track. You can solder the ends of the new wire to the original wire. For the test, it won't be necessary to attach the drops from the track to the new wire. Then test your trains. If they still don't run properly way out on the extension, you probably need a booster.