Retractable cable for NCE PowercCab

[GBTDAMAN]

Is there such a thing as a retractable cable that can be bought to connect to the NCE PowerCab.  I currently use one of the curly (telephone style) cables but it is not ideal for my small office where my layout sits.  Any ideas or help appreciated. Thanks Kevin.

[Ron Ron Ron]

Just beware with any non-standard replacement cable.

The supplied "curly cable" contains larger gauge wires to carry the power supply from the PCP to the PowerCab and to carry full track power output, back from the PowerCab to the PCP.

(Note, the system's Command Station and Booster are housed in the throttle handset.)

 

Any non-standard replacement containing thinner wire cores, may be put under thermal load and could overheat.

IIRC, the PowerCab warranty is invalid, if used incorrectly.

 

 

Have you thought about adding a wireless handset ?

 

 

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[AndrueC]

A non-standard cable can also reduce the power available to your layout. I'd replaced mine earlier in the year with one that was nearly double the length. When I started adding lighting I experienced a significant drop in track voltage to the point where one loco began to noticeably struggle. My multimeter was reporting 17VAC with the original cable back in place my MM reports 22VAC.

 

Now granted we can't trust an MM with DCC signals(*) but I think we can trust a relative difference. And the loco that was struggling is now back to normal. It's still not very fast but that appears to be the way Dapol have engineered their class 53.

 

(*)Mine seems to be reporting roughly double the track voltage which is either surprisingly clever for a cheap MM or typical crap reading from a cheap MM