Prideofcalais Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Good Morning All I have a Lenz 150 Accessory decoder which hope I to run with Railmaster Can anyone advise if the 16v output from an ageing H&M Clipper would be suitable to power the Lenz 150 Thanks in advance Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevora Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Good Morning All I have a Lenz 150 Accessory decoder which hope I to run with Railmaster Can anyone advise if the 16v output from an ageing H&M Clipper would be suitable to power the Lenz 150 Thanks in advance On Lenz site it says AC voltage must be used to supply power to the LS150. Do not use a DC supply as this can damage the LS150 The power of the transformer used must not exceed The power of the transformer used must not exceed Max power 45VA hope this helps trevor Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RFS Posted October 25, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 25, 2014 The Lenz TR100 is recommended for the LS150s. I've had no problem with that at all with mine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunnysa Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Been op LS150's for many yrs and have been powering them with 18V ac 5amp also for yrs with no problems at all. Not destroyed an LS150 yet. All my point motors are Peco PL10 and op 2 in tandem as in cross overs with no problems. Cheers Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil S Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 'Equally but opposite' I also operate my LS150's with an Ikea 'lamp' 12V ac plug-top transformer (20W) on one of our portable layouts... but this is only operating low-current Roco Point Motors and the like. My higher voltage/ current alternative is 'notionally' 16Vac, but, most of the time will be nearer 22Vac rms becasue it is a much heavier (less portable) Roco standard transformer, which will 'drop' to 16Vac at full-load, but since a transformer is unregulated, rises to about 22V when no current is taken - it too does not damage LS150s The important thing to realise is the explicit requirement that it is an ac waveform: ie it falls to 0 volts 100 times a second .... because that is how+when the power stages of the LS150 switch off. Presumably (I have not tested this!) - IF you were foolish enough to connect a DC supply... the output would never turn off, ... until you had meltdown 8-) BY CONTRAST: THE ESU SwitchPilot can use AC, DC or DCC .. but the differing voltages usually available from each source are noticeable on the output capability... The ac having the highest peak voltage definately also shows the greatest drive: in this case, any incoming power supply is rectified to dc and smoothed by charging a capacitor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grovenor Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 So the answer is yes, your clipper 16V output will be fine. Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prideofcalais Posted October 26, 2014 Author Share Posted October 26, 2014 Many thanks to All for the advice. I measured the output of the H&M Clipper which was 17V. So, all connected up, LS 150 programmed through railmaster fist time all six outputs changed the turnouts effortlessly A result ! So don't thow out those old Clippers and Duettes. Thanks Alec Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tref67 Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Resurrecting an old thread, but it is the nearest I could find to my question... I have a shunting plank, just two Fulgurex point motors, and I have a Lenz LS150 - overkill I know, but I have it. There will only ever be one (small) loco operating, and that will have to be stationary when I throw either of the point motors. Can I get away with using the Track Bus power as the 16v AC supply? The Lenz set 100 and transformer are remote from the plank, I really don't want another set of wires I have to plug into the layout to get it to work... Happy to try it and find out so long as no-one says "No, you'll kill it stone dead as soon as you connect it". TIA, Tref. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil S Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Phil: (my 3rd attempt at replying tonight due to keyboard/disappearing text problems 8-( ) NO - As explained in my answer of almost 2 years ago to the day - the LS150 expects a 50Hz/60Hz (probably sinusoidal) waveform on the power supply input because it uses the fall to Zero 100x (or 120x) a second to turn off the gate it has operated... If you used a supply, albeit alternating (dcc) almost 1000x faster, then the circuitry is unlikely to behave as the designer intended ! (amonst other things, the gates may not be able to fully turn off in the shortened time period - I have not looked at their specs though) Secondly - something I only noticed when reading the USA english download of the manual (I may have overlooked it in the supplid printed version, or it may have been added at a revision) ... It mentions the MAXIMUM inout which should be provided (another correspondant mentioned the power-rating of the transformer, quoted in the manual with respect to this) ... but the additional info explained this was related to current sensing measurement to protect from overloads - and this would be affected by the incoming voltage... a higher voltage incoming increasing the current across the detecting resistors.... so perhaps my Roco 50VA '16V'ac transformer is at its upper limit/beyond (especially 'off-load' ?) For my Roco point motors I have found it works well with an Ikea 12V 20W plug-in transformer 8-) YES: Your Fulgarex Slow Motion point motors (which are nominally less than 12V!) will work okay on the Lenz LS150, with the 2 diodes added, as specificied in the manual, to half-wave rectify the output, in opposite directions. I have been using these for several years in our shunting puzzle in G Scale - but watch out for the end-off switches gettting out of alignment (or losing a spring) / not being reached if you have insufficient overrun available. The Ikea 12Vac supply is fine for these! I have, however, now replaced all of these with SERVOS to provide the same slow motion effect - but more quietly !!!.. For this I am using the Bachmann/ESU Switchpilot SERVO (or the 2 servo outputs of a SwitchPilot) .... this CAN run off the track piwer supply - but you will notice 'twitching' on power up, or when track power is reapplied after a short.... and a 'heavy' current (relatively) at this time. This layout will running again in Henfield tomorrow As mentioned in another thread (or 2) I have also been replacing my Lenz LS!50s to resolve (or avoid) a problem experienced with them not 'switching off' as expected - in combination with CERTAIN of my Roco point motors (which have inbuilt end-off switches)... where these particular points would either buzz or eventually operate ...not sure why ... was I supplying an excessive voltage ??? ... but replacing with dccCDU decoders has eliminated or avoided the problem. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tref67 Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Many thanks... Extra wires or find another accessory decoder I guess then! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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