Is there any reason why designers and manufacturers of DCC equipment do not include and on-off switch on thier units? I have the NCE Power Cab and just installed a NCE SB5 booster and having to unplug the booster is a bit of an irritation when I have to work on my layout and dont want the tracks powered.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
bearman Is there any reason why designers and manufacturers of DCC equipment do not include and on-off switch on thier units? I have the NCE Power Cab and just installed a NCE SB5 booster and having to unplug the booster is a bit of an irritation when I have to work on my layout and dont want the tracks powered.
Not sure why there is not a switch on the SB5. You might consider having an electrician wire the electrical outlet it is plugged into through a new lightswitch on the wall, possibly near the room entrance, so that you can shut the layout off with the room lights when you leave. I have heard of other modelers doing this. I plan to make this modification to my train room.
BMMECNYC, I already have that situation, but it still means that when I am in my train room I still have to unplug the booster because I need the lights. I use a surge protector for the booster and some other equipment, like a vacuum.
Val
The 5A NCE P515 that powers my SB5 does come with an on/off toggle at the top of the enclosure:
What power supply did you get with yours?
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
That is not the power supply that I got. There is no identification on the unit that I can see, and the power supply appears to be a lot smaller than yours. There is a picture of the SB5 with the power supply on the NCE site and in the manual.
According to the NCE website the power supply is an "internationally approved 12/13.8 volt 5 amp power supply".
I assume it's the one pictured here:
Yes, that is the one. It is an "internationally approved 12/13.8 volt 5 amp power supply". Whatever that means.
I have a Digitrax, but it's the same story. No switch. I plug everything into a 6-place power strip (what in the old days we would have called a surge protector, but I doubt it really protects from surges). I plug in the command station and three PS-14 power supplies. It has an on-off switch and I power up everything at once. At the other end of the layout is the booster, and it is plugged into another power strip along with another PS-14. The setup works, but there are a lot of wasted plugs in the power strips that I can't use for other things such as a vacuum or a soldering iron. It's really a nuisance.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
I had this problem with the "Hogger" memory throttles I used on the "Dream House" STRATTON AND GILLETTE layout. I had six of these.
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The solution was not too bad. An electrician ran a power supply from the wall outlet for the throttles. He mounted a 10 amp breaker and a master throttle on/off switch in a fascia panel. This gave me a protected circuit that could be powered off for all six throttle packs.
The cost was under $300.00, but that was over 20 years ago.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Mel, my point is that there are any number of situations when I do not want my layout powered up, but I need the power for another reason, e.g. soldering, vacuuming, etc.
Not just the power strip or any other fancy answer. Just use a regular surge protector plugged into the wall. Then use a power strip that has an on/off switch into the surge protector. Now, plug only the layout/railroad plugs in the power strip. When ready to quit playing with trains, after making sure everything is off, then you can turn off the power strip and you don't have to worry about each device. This is assuming you have a bunch of thingys that need a 120 volt receptacle. Those simple surge protectors are inexpensive and I use them for lot's of stuff. PC's. TV's. etc. And you can buy power strips with surge protectors in them, but that can be expensive in comparison to a plain power strip and separate little surge protector. And the p.s. I use has a 4' cord that reaches from the wall/s p to where I can reach it to turn things off without having to bend over - or go around turning each thingy off. And when in doubt, keep your wheels on the rails.
The simple solution seems to be isolating the boosters and command station on its own power strip. Then it's just a matter of turning that one off.
Or...
Make an extension cord that terminates into a double gang box, which has a switch and an outlet. Utilize this to power the booster and command station so you can turn it off independently.
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Now there is an idea Pennsy. buit it does not get to my issue of why there is no on/off switch to begin with.
It could be the manufacturer doesn't want the extra cost of a switch, wire and labor to install it. I work in manufacturing and if the engineers can find a way to cut costs, especially labor, they are going to do it. At one assembly line in my plant, they produce about 1200 items a day, imagine the money saved if they didn't have to install and wire $2.99 switch and the time it would take may drop the output to 1100 items a day. It all adds up.
Its a tech thing. I've noticed a trend since we've migrated from analog to digital that simply turning things off is not easy.
Culturally, the industry wants you to leave everything on all the time because its suits their needs, not yours.
I assume NCE just went with the trend and never considered a switch.
I plug mine into a power strip.
- Douglas
Power bar with surge protector. And, since at my increasingly addled age I occasionally forget to unplug things like soldering pencils, I plug EVERYTHING into them. Before I leave the room for any length of time, I rock da rocker and the little lights all go out.
I initially did this because I figured the tiny toggle on the front of the Digitrax command station (DB150) would not stand up to more than maybe 2000 flips. Power bars are cheap with the apparently 'better' ones reaching up to $40 or more. It would cost me almost that in shipping to get the DB150 back to Digitrax for repair. Plus their service charge.
bearman Mel, my point is that there are any number of situations when I do not want my layout powered up, but I need the power for another reason, e.g. soldering, vacuuming, etc.
This is slightly off topic, but maybe some posters here can provide useful info.
I have a Digitrax setup. I have a PR3 with a PS-14 power supply. As mentioned earlier, I turn off power to it simultaneously with the command station. The PR3 is connected to my laptop via USB cable. Even though the PR3 is off, it still gets some power through the computer connection (one of the red LEDs stays lit). Does this do any harm?
I don't know why your power supply doesn't have a switch. That seems to be common with low power plug in the wall power supplies - wall warts, computer laptops, etc.
You can buy an outlet switch that you plug your cord into and then plug it into the wall (or extension cord)
Paul
The solution I am going to use is to plug a power strip, smallest one I can find, into the surge protector and dedicate it to powering the layout. There are still enough outlets in the surge protector to use for anything else.
Cut the power cord and install a switch.
https://www.amazon.com/Pass-Seymour-5406BKCC10-Switch-120-volt/dp/B00826P0AO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517766518&sr=8-1&keywords=inline+switch+120v
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Not all power strips are surge protectors. Some of them are just power strips. The only thing that stops you from plugging a power strip into another power strip is $10 or what ever they cost these days. Here is what I do instead: I have a wall mounted surge protector that fits onto a regular wall receptacle. It has space for six plugs. I take a plastic or metal two gang box and mount it to the benchwork. In the box I install a 110 volt switch and a 110 volt duplex receptacle. I use a pigtail for a dishwasher/garbage disposal to plug into a wall receptacle. You could also use part of a heavy duty extension cord. I can then easily turn on and off the power to the layout with a flip of the switch. Don’t forget to put a cover plate on it. If you need to plug in more than two devices then get a three gang or four gang box. If you are not comfortable working with electricity then ask a friend who is or get professional help.
A number of reasons for no physical switch: the cost of the switch (and the membrane or button in the case), the cost to solder it into the circuit, any provisions for debouncing or spark at the terminals (turn-on of even those cheap Chinese 'aftermarket' power supplies being slower), the need to provide physical access in the case and perhaps complication in final assembly, the chance of switch failure causing the device to be returned, or bad word-of-mouth or reviews.
On top of that, with the unit being that small, how do you hold it when pushing a power button? You'd almost need two hands, and if you just poked it while sitting on a table you'd just make it move around. More work to glue it down or screw it to something than to provide an external switch...
The correct place for the switch, as noted, is probably at the line cord of the power supply.
None of the DCC companies is making that power supply they include. They are all bog standard Laptop power supplies or similar, produced in the millions, which keeps the cost down. Instead of heavy transformers, they are switching power supplies, which adds the ability to work on any input range from 100-250 volts, making them usable around the world. Used to be, you might get a DCC system that included a power supply in the US, but people in other countries who bought it wouldn't get the power supply, being told to "source one locally" since a transformer supply can't automatically adjust to the input voltage, and I doubt the DCC companies would want people to try to mess around with tranformer taps to adjust the input voltage.
These monolithic bricks they include now don't have a switch, and the DCC companies aren't going to custom order them with one. Overmod hit the main reason - safety approvals. Those power supplies don't even open up unless you take a dremel to the case, they are sealed shut. A switch introduces an opening intot he case. What happenes if it gets stepped on, or the switch is otherwise damaged? It could easily expose line voltage. Or short and start a fire.
Keep in mind that in several countries, all wall outlets are required to have switches. England and Australia are two, an wall outlet with 2 sockets will also have 2 switches.
Also, most other small power supplies we use don;t have switches either - wall warts especially. I will get around this in my base,emt by having more than one circuit. Anything layout-related will be on one, controlled by a master switch, and the rest of the outlets will similarly be operated by a second master switch. There will be a set of master switches in the basement, as well as another set at the top of the stairs. Plus another switch for the general room lights. That way, as long as I turn off both master switches, everything in the train room will be powered off - the layout itself, PLUS the other convenience outlets, so if I had a soldering iron plugged in or some other pwoer tool - it will be OFF, for sure.
I couldn;t do that for my last layout, which was in an apartment bedroom, so I used some of my old X10 gear to have 3 outlets controlled by a single switch. Two were for the layout equipment, and the third on a different channel powered everything at my work bench - lights, soldering iron, dremel, etc. I had the remote control, which had 2 buttons, by the door to the room. One button would turn the layout on and off, the other would turn my workbench on and off. Nothing was plugged right in to an uncontrolled outlet.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I've got 3 power strips, one along each wall where I've got sections of my layout. Each one has a switch, so 3 switches is all it takes to power my layout off and on.
My Lenz throttle has a button to stop all the trains. At that point, pressing one of the function keys will shut down power to the track. The DCC system stays on so that the throttle can the be used to restore power.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I use a power strip with an on/off switch that lights up in red. That way, when I'm calling it a night, and turn off the room lights, that red light is hard to miss, meaning I didn't turn off power to the system.
Mike.
My You Tube
The NCE web site photo of a power supply shows the #515 that has the on off switch built in. That is the one I got from NCE. It is certainly available. I am not sure that the mfg in this case has any more responsibility to the consumer.
Old Fat Robert
bearmanThe solution I am going to use is to plug a power strip, smallest one I can find,
SPST_switch by Edmund, on Flickr
I have several of these around the layout room and work shop.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SSFRES0/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B00SSFRES0&pd_rd_wg=L9w6X&pd_rd_r=1PJ7P6WGPNQ9S1HKG183&pd_rd_w=o8BxY
There is a grounded version available, too.
Good Luck,
Ed
Old Fat Robert The NCE web site photo of a power supply shows the #515 that has the on off switch built in. That is the one I got from NCE. It is certainly available. I am not sure that the mfg in this case has any more responsibility to the consumer. Old Fat Robert