G'day, guys.I have a Toller Autopulse Transcab 2000 hand-help controller. It's American and I have no instructions for its connection. There are 4 wires, in two pairs. One pair is green and red the other pair red and white. The question is which is input and which is output! I don't want to risk frying the transistors by connecting them the wrong way around, however I did take a risk based on the info in the post mentioned below and got power to the track. The loco was slower than glue going uphill and would only run in one direction. I was using 13.5v DC @ 3.5A.
I did a search before posting and found only one referrence to a similar controller. The wire colours were different. http://cs.trains.com/forums/8778/ShowPost.aspx
Any ideas/experiences?Cheers.
Troller has been out of business for many years and finding information about them is very difficult, if not impossible.
Just as a guess, considering the usual color coding of wires, I would say that the red and white wires are the input side.
cacole wrote: Troller has been out of business for many years and finding information about them is very difficult, if not impossible.
Yes, I from my reading I know this to be true, however this controller has all of the features I need for my analogue trains. I'd like to get it working, but it's hard to believe that nobody out there is still using one or at least remembers which way the wires go! Even if I knew the input voltage and whether it's AC or DC would be a help.
I'll give the red and white another go.... In the meantime...Anybody else got ideas?
Thanks, mate.
I will try to find my old Troller and it's instructions later, but I do know that the INPUT is 16 volts AC. It uses the AC for the pulse feature. Output is 12V DC.
Phil
Timber Head Eastern Railroad "THE Railroad Through the Sierras"
Cheers, Phil. Knowing that it's AC is a start. If I couple that with red and white as the input wires I might get somewhere. Those instructions would be very useful to me.
Peter
Jay
C-415 Build: https://imageshack.com/a/tShC/1
Other builds: https://imageshack.com/my/albums
Wire confusion!!
Being a hand-held the wires are packaged together in a grey outer insulted sheath. There are 4 wires, in two pairs. One pair is green and red the other pair red and white. There aren't 2 green wires.
As one pair is red and white, would it be a fair bet to use them as output to the track?
Peter.
I had one of those years ago. I used a 12vac transformer from Radio Shack to power it. The AC terminals on the transformer connect to the red wires and the green and white are the variable track power.
I used mine strictly for yard control, so the 12vac source worked fine. For mainline use, you may want to use a 16-18vac transformer as the rectified 12vac may be a bit too slow for you.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Well, I dug and dug and dug. The throttle has only been packed away for about 5 years and a 2000 mile move. I found the throttle first, and then the Troller Autopulse 2000 TransCab box. Very nicely packed away 2 decades with the boxes for the volt and amp meter. And no instructions!! I vaguely remember having to expriment with the wiring when I first got it.
So I went back to the throttle, and to the piece of the layout with the control panel, standing on it's side, leaning against the wall behind the other section. At least the panel was face up and high enough I could see behind it.
And the answer to your BIG question is - -
RED and RED are A/C. Somewhere around 16V. The box says to use the accessory output on your power pack. I just hooked it up to a 1A transformer with an output fuse.
GREEN and WHITE are the DC output. You will have to test to see which goes to which rail so the direction switch faces the right way.
Good luck. Mine did work for several years before the move, and did work as a test on the new and larger layout before I went in another control direction. Trollers had a reputation for good control, but also for letting the magic smoke out without much warning. That is probably why they are out of business.
THE.RR wrote: Well, I dug and dug and dug. The throttle has only been packed away for about 5 years and a 2000 mile move. I found the throttle first, and then the Troller Autopulse 2000 TransCab box. Very nicely packed away 2 decades with the boxes for the volt and amp meter. And no instructions!! I vaguely remember having to expriment with the wiring when I first got it. So I went back to the throttle, and to the piece of the layout with the control panel, standing on it's side, leaning against the wall behind the other section. At least the panel was face up and high enough I could see behind it.
Phil... You're a LEGEND! Thanks for going to all of that trouble. It hasn't done trans-Pacific relations any harm at all!
And the answer to your BIG question is - - RED and RED are A/C. Somewhere around 16V. The box says to use the accessory output on your power pack. I just hooked it up to a 1A transformer with an output fuse. GREEN and WHITE are the DC output. You will have to test to see which goes to which rail so the direction switch faces the right way. Good luck. Mine did work for several years before the move, and did work as a test on the new and larger layout before I went in another control direction. Trollers had a reputation for good control, but also for letting the magic smoke out without much warning. That is probably why they are out of business. Phil
Mmmm. I read that they had a reputation for burning motors out, however these things tend to get exaggerated sometimes. I notice there is an "Overload" light. Does this give some warning of impending doom? I wonder if it's possible to modify the circuitry to buffer against this??
tassietrains wrote: Mmmm. I read that they had a reputation for burning motors out, however these things tend to get exaggerated sometimes. I notice there is an "Overload" light. Does this give some warning of impending doom? I wonder if it's possible to modify the circuitry to buffer against this??
I'm not sure about burning out motors, but early can and coreless motors came out about the same time as the pulse throttles, and I think the coreless were hard to control on pulse.
The overload light is protection from doom -- an indicator of a short on the track that has tripped the internal breaker. Unplug the Troller ASAP, correct the short, and the throttle should automaticly reset. I guess it could trip with too many power units on the throttle going uphill, but I only had 1 motor at a time on mine. And as I said, I had protection on the transformer output to limit what the throttle received.
I think the Troller burn out reputation was more on their powerpacks than on the handhelds, but I never had experience with the former.
enjoy
The 2 reds to DC acc 18V, the green and white to the track.
I know it's 3 years later...
THE.RR I think the Troller burn out reputation was more on their powerpacks than on the handhelds, but I never had experience with the former. enjoy Phil
As I recall it was the transistors in the Troller power packs that were notorious for frying. That said, I have two Troller Autopulse power-packs that still work fine.
Its long past time for you to move on and get a quality controller. Sorry.
WOW.
Is this is your way of helping someone, or you just want to be heard?
And what is a good quality controller to you?
I used a Troller Autopulse Momentum one for years on my old layout wihout any issues. Pulse power of any kind is almost instant death to a coreless motor, espicaly the early ones. Pulse power helped the early non skewed armature motors get moving at slow speeds. The MRC Tech series power packs work about the same as a Troller where the pulse is "phased out" as you increase the throttle setting. The older MRC packs had a switch to turn off the pulse feature. I still use my Troller for DC control on my layout when running my non DCC engines. I use a DPDT toggle to switch from my Troller pack to the NCE Powercab system. My old MRC Golden Throttle pack has a bad dead spot at the bottom end of the dial, so its regulated to the workbench power supply. If the Troller still works, use it till it doesnt or you upgrade to DCC. If not and you want to stay with DC, look for a good older MRC power pack, I prefer the ones in the golden metal case. The new Tech series feel cheap and I dont care for thier look. Good luck Mike
LHS mechanic and geniune train and antique garden tractor nut case!
Just watch with the older gold-cased ones. The rheostat models will have trouble with some of the better low current motors available today, as in, they will be uncontrollable, full speed as soon as you crack the throttle. There were different models for HO and N. The earliest MRC transistor throttles were also in the gold cases, those would be fine. The Tech II series was very good, very solid. The newer ones do look cheap and toylike in comparison.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
A wee bit off topic, sorry.
Is it OK to use my old Troller Momentum One packs as jump throttles with a Digitrax Zephyr?
Probably, if there is a switch to turn off the pulse. It's not that pulse power will damage the Zephyr, it's that your train will run very erratically. If there's no way to disable pulse, you can make a very simple jump throttle with about $10 worth of parts from Radio Shack - look in the files section of the DIgitrax group on Yahoo. Instead of a battery you can use fixed DC outputs if that power pack has them (not AC - you'll have to add a few more parts to power the jump throttle on AC).
Thanks Randy.
Not sure about a switch to turn of the pulse...seems to me it can run without momentum effects which is where I thought the PWM came into play...I'll check out the Digitrax forum for sure.
Pretty sure the pulse is there with or withotu momentum. I guess maybe there wouldn;t be a switch since it's an "Autopulse" meaning the pusles are there at low speed and fade out at full throttle - this may be where they got the reputation for burnign up locos, as this would NOT be good for a coreless motor - although at the time the only time you had a loco with a coreless motor is if you followed one of the articles on replacing the factory motor with a Micro-Mo and gearhead.
You can smooth the pulse out with a large filter capacitor, but large electrolytic capacitors are polarized, so you'd have to add a new reversing switch between the capacitor and the jump connections. Plus adding the filter capacitor will raise the voltage, so you may need to drop it some to get decent control.
Eventually, it becomes easier to just build a DIY jump throttle.
rrinker Eventually, it becomes easier to just build a DIY jump throttle. --Randy
I think we have already arrived at that point. :)
I know the thread is a bit old, but no harm in trying. Does anbody have a Troller Autopulse Transcab exactly as shown in the picture? I would love to have a matchng pair, and if anoybody have one they might be willing to sell, please send me an email at hhouenXgmail.com
Best regards,
Hauk
Hauk,
I have one of these Troller Transcabs that's in mint condition. I sent you a message yesterday via the "Start a Conversation" link here and to the E-mail address you listed in your post above. I assume you meant: hhouen@gmail.com. Since I've not heard anything back from you, I decided to send this message through this forum thread. You can contact me through the "Start a Conversation" link at the bottom of this post.
Where are you located?
Bob