Cobalt SS point motors and how much power do they require?

[Vistisen]

I have started using DCC concepts Cobalt Alpha system to control via their own Alpha box 5Amp power box. But I seem to have run into a problem.  Coupling just three of the SS motors control boards ( each control board powers two points) to my accessory bus it is enough to cause the 5AMP system to overload. Does any one else have experience of this system? Just how many SS point motor control boards should I be able to expect to couple to a 5Amp power bus?  1 Amp per point motor seems excessive to me!

[Mike Storey]

I have started using DCC concepts Cobalt Alpha system to control via their own Alpha box 5Amp power box. But I seem to have run into a problem.  Coupling just three of the SS motors control boards ( each control board powers two points) to my accessory bus it is enough to cause the 5AMP system to overload. Does any one else have experience of this system? Just how many SS point motor control boards should I be able to expect to couple to a 5Amp power bus?  1 Amp per point motor seems excessive to me!

 I only have the two at present, and they work fine on my test track, but I intend to buy and use more, so I am very interested in what this turns out to be. There seems to be no limit stated on the daisy chaining, just using the word "several", which to my mind means at least three! Perhaps there is a fault somewhere, in the power box, the alpha unit or one of the control boards?.

 

I would suggest you contact them direct and explain the problem, unless someone on here has a solution or suggestion.

[Vistisen]

 I only have the two at present, and they work fine on my test track, but I intend to buy and use more, so I am very interested in what this turns out to be. There seems to be no limit stated on the daisy chaining, just using the word "several", which to my mind means at least three! Perhaps there is a fault somewhere, in the power box, the alpha unit or one of the control boards?.

 

I would suggest you contact them direct and explain the problem, unless someone on here has a solution or suggestion.

I wrote to them 10 days ago, and decided to give them a chance before 'going public' I really do hope that It is me that has done something silly,  but the fact that they have already stated that the SS control board is 'not compatible' with their own DCC sniffer which can be used to power an accesory bus because "it can overload it" does not fill me with hope. I think I might try to use a multi-meter to see how much current then consume.

[Vistisen]

I wrote to them 10 days ago, and decided to give them a chance before 'going public' I really do hope that It is me that has done something silly,  but the fact that they have already stated that the SS control board is 'not compatible' with their own DCC sniffer which can be used to power an accesory bus because "it can overload it" does not fill me with hope. I think I might try to use a multi-meter to see how much current then consume.

My post here woke them up and I had a very helpful e-mail from Dcc Concepts. I have just spent an hour or two swapping one SS control board after another of the three that were wired into the system, with a fourth one that I have not yet used. Needless to say, it was of course the the last one I tried that had a fault on it. After that was removed, I could power all three without any overloads. That of course means that none of the adresse are correct as all the boards have been swapped around! Now all I need to do is reprogram all the addresses , reset all the throws to fit each point, and check that all the frog power is the right way round so that it does not short when in use!

 

I have just ordered a gorgeous looking analogue panel AC current meter to fit on the control panel. It cost £4 and will arrive in a about a month from China. So in the future I will be able to see just how much current is being drawn by the system.

For information purposes the email says that each board's current consumption - that it is typically 40-130mA depending on how many frog/auxiliary switch relays are on, but there is a small start up surge due to the onboard capacitors that can sometimes cause sensitive breakers to trip.

[JST]

I had a similar problem. I have 4 DCC Concepts ADS8SX decoders and when powering up (Hornby Elite 4 amp output) it would trip due to the CDUs in the decoders sucking up all the power (I also have about 20 locos sat on the track). I solved the problem by putting a manual switch between the track power and 2 of the decoders and only switch them on when the others have powered up.