I understand that when you add another 5 amp power supply you essentially lose the Power Cab's 3 amps and but does it still work as a seperate throttle and can it be converted to wireless in any way?
When you add the Smart Booster to a PowerCab, you now have the track powered from the Smart Booster's 5 amp output. You do not use the panel that came with the PowerCab, or its power supply. For plu in locations, you would add some UTP panels.
But the Smart Booster can only do programming on the main, which has no readback. To do that, you set up a dedicated test/program track with your PowerCab panel and power supply, and plug in there to do programming.
Yes, there actually is enough room in the PowerCab to upgrade it to wireless. Add an RB02 to the SB5 and you have a wireless system. Wireless of course only works with the SB5, when the PowerCab is acting as a ProCab. In PowerCab mode, it has to be plugged in.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Llenroc fanwhen you add another 5 amp power supply
presumably you do mean smartbooster, not a booster or power supply for such
i think of the PowerCab as 3 things: a cab, command station and booster.
you can plug a PowerCab into a layout that has a command station and it will act as a cab if given a unique cab address
it is a command station. you can extend the cabbus bus with additional UTP and use additional cabs.
and it is a booster because it powers the track. as far as i know, you can't add extra boosters to a power cab, but you can to a smartbooster which is a command station/booster
Llenroc fancan it be converted to wireless in any way?
NCE can modify a PowerCab to make it wireless
but you can use an RB02 with a PowerCab and use wireless cabs
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
I never thought that NCE should have introduced the Power Cab. Sure the Power Cab is a good starter system for a small layout, but as the layout grows and the locomotive roster increases in size, the Power Pro is really the only way to go.
Edit Note: As Randy subsequently notes, though, initially, there is a nearly $400 difference between the Power Cab and the PH-Pro 5 amp system. So, if you never anticipate expanding to the full features or power supply of the PH-Pro, I suppose an argument can be made for the Power Cab on smaller layouts.
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrainI never thought that NCE should have introduced the Power Cab.
certainly there's a market for it
while some may wish they had bought the larger system from the beggining, it's commonplace to buy the starter and then move up.
for me, and i assume many others with small layouts, it's more than adequate. And it supports extra cabs
even for basement and very large layouts with many boosters, programming is often done at a work area with a separate track where the PowerCab is appropriate.
The price difference is a LOT more than $200. It's more than $400. PowerCab MSRP is $229, includes everything you need. Wired PowerPro MSRP is $619 plus you also need a power supply.
Even buying a PowerCab plus Smart Booster, it's $418 msrp, including power supply. PowerPro is $619 plus cost of a power supply.
If anything doesn't make sense, it's the DCC Twin, out of the box it works like a double Bachmann EZ Command, at 4x the price.
I bought the Power Cab some years ago over the Digitrax starter because I had found out a club nearby had just bought the Power Pro. I could bring my Cab. The club was going to DCC the same time as I was.
I found out I could run three HO sound locos at home. It could program any decoder with no issues.
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
rrinker The price difference is a LOT more than $200.
The price difference is a LOT more than $200.
Even if you DO expand later - you then have a second cab, PLUS a device that will program all decoders without a program track booster, which the PH Pro needs for many sound decoders.
Though there are 'rumors' of some new stuff coming from NCE - one would hope, as the PH Pro command station is a bit long in the tooth. An integrated USB or network port instead of a DB9 serial port would be a good improvement, as well as the ability to program CVs greater than 255 on the program track.
richhotrainSo, if you never anticipate expanding to the full features or power supply of the PH-Pro, I suppose an argument can be made for the Power Cab on smaller layouts.
Rich, that's me!
I started my N Scale layout when I retired. I have a small corner of a room, and the layout will not get any larger in my lifetime. The NCE Powercab was just what I needed, and I didn't want to pay for a lot more that I would never use.
York1 John
I asked my doctor if I gave up delicious food and all alcohol, would I live longer? He said, "No, but it will seem longer."
York1 richhotrain So, if you never anticipate expanding to the full features or power supply of the PH-Pro, I suppose an argument can be made for the Power Cab on smaller layouts. Rich, that's me! I started my N Scale layout when I retired. I have a small corner of a room, and the layout will not get any larger in my lifetime. The NCE Powercab was just what I needed, and I didn't want to pay for a lot more that I would never use.
richhotrain So, if you never anticipate expanding to the full features or power supply of the PH-Pro, I suppose an argument can be made for the Power Cab on smaller layouts.
i'm curious, how do you program using the PH-Pro?
gregc i'm curious, how do you program using the PH-Pro?
ANd it shuts down the layout when you do so, so you can;t program using the main system during an op session. After getting more into the weeds on how the cab bus actually works, I think I see why it has to do that.
ANother good reason why buying a PowerCab and then later upgrading to a full PH Pro isn't such a bad idea. Or else buying a third party programmer like a PR4 or SPROG.
rrinker ANd it shuts down the layout when you do so, so you can;t program using the main system during an op session. After getting more into the weeds on how the cab bus actually works, I think I see why it has to do that. ANother good reason why buying a PowerCab and then later upgrading to a full PH Pro isn't such a bad idea.
ANother good reason why buying a PowerCab and then later upgrading to a full PH Pro isn't such a bad idea.
Nah, since you already have the PH Pro, you would get a standalone programemr like SPROG (which can also test run the loco). No point in buying a PowerCab now, unless you need another full size throttle.
THe discussion was about going the other way - buying a PowerCab first, and then moving to a bigger layout and buying the PH Pro.
richhotrainthe PH-Pro shutting down the main layout while using the programming track.
Rich, how often do you run trains and program them at the same time?
gregc richhotrain the PH-Pro shutting down the main layout while using the programming track. Rich, how often do you run trains and program them at the same time?
richhotrain the PH-Pro shutting down the main layout while using the programming track.
thanks for understanding my poorly phrased question
i assume NCE thought it would be no big deal either and if it was, there is an option.
gregc i'm curious, how do you program using the PH-Pro? The Power Pro at our club and terminals for a program track we set up at the end of a yard ladder When we went to program a loco, the mainline was shut down automaticaly. Nothing sitting there would be proghrammed. Rich
The Power Pro at our club and terminals for a program track we set up at the end of a yard ladder When we went to program a loco, the mainline was shut down automaticaly. Nothing sitting there would be proghrammed.
See, when I first got my Zephyr, there were two of us playing with trains at the same time. It would haven been inconvenient to make my father in law stop running his trains so I could program mine. A computer interface and JMRI wouldn't help, as that's no different than using a throttle to program, and standalone programmers like the SPROG were not around yet.
It has been some years since I ran trains at home but I ran HO and some times 3/4 amp Micos so I could run maybe five locos at times. The Power Cab and DIY DCC amp meter showed me DCC current.
I have a couple of cheap Bachmann decoders whose address reverts to 3 if the loco encounters a short circuit & I use my NCE ProCab to reprogram the loco on the main while the rest of the crew keep running. Using it on the program track does shut down the layout.