o gauge controllers and transformers

[37114]

1 hour ago, Adrian Stevenson said:

There is a good deal on Amazon the Gaugemaster GM-GMC-100MO at £69.33

 

That is a £34 saving on Gaugemaster's own price.

 

I have just bought one! Even though I am going DCC and have got a controller for that, I have not bought chips and speakers yet for most locos and I need to get them run in first.  

 

Cheers, Ade.

 

 

Thanks for sharing Ade, I have got bought one as well, that is a great price and my free Prime trial is about to expire so got in just in time. 

[Adrian Stevenson]

Mine arrived tonight. Set up a few yards of track on the living room floor and had a play with my locos while my wife is out at our company Xmas party.  I decided not to go, preferring to spend my money more wisely, ie on trains 

 

Cheers, Ade.

[Mikado]

Hi,

 

I want to know if the Gaugemaster controllers for O gauge is useful for large Heljan locomotives.

 

Cheers, Juan

[Nearholmer]

They do, but you’d probably be best emailing them, they are a helpful bunch.

[37114]

On 24/10/2022 at 08:37, Mikado said:

Hi,

 

I want to know if the Gaugemaster controllers for O gauge is useful for large Heljan locomotives.

 

Cheers, Juan

Yes, the Gaugemaster 100MO is fine with Heljan locos as it is good for 5amps. I did some tests on my Heljan locos which I shared on my Peasevern Yard thread but in essence,  the small shunters such as the class 03 draw less than 1 amp, but the stall current of the larger bogie diesels were up near 3+amps so still well within the capability of the 100MO 

[uax6]

On a different track.....

 

Does anyone still use the old fashioned rheostat controllers, the ones with a handle that presses against studs on the surface? 

I remember Frank Roomes Lutton had this style of controller (mounted vertically), and they were a delight to use. I'd love to find one...

 

Andy G

[Nearholmer]

The proper engineering name is a “faceplate” controller, and behind the studs can be either resistors, or a tapped transformer. The two give quite different ‘feels’ to driving a model loco, because the resistance controller does not have a fixed voltage output at a given setting, which (within tolerances) the tapped transformer and modern controllers do.

 

This beauty is a high quality tapped transformer controller, dating from the early 1950s, so the faceplate and studs are concealed, but it has the characteristic ‘notches’, just like real loco!

 

 

[WILLIAM]

On 26/10/2022 at 07:44, 37114 said:

Yes, the Gaugemaster 100MO is fine with Heljan locos as it is good for 5amps. I did some tests on my Heljan locos which I shared on my Peasevern Yard thread but in essence,  the small shunters such as the class 03 draw less than 1 amp, but the stall current of the larger bogie diesels were up near 3+amps so still well within the capability of the 100MO 

Sorry can please just check this?  The spec for the Gaugemaster 100MO says they have a rated output of 2.5 amps so are they really suitable for large Heljan locos?

[Nearholmer]

It almost certainly depends upon what you are doing with said big diesels.

 

Another poster stated that the stall current of such a loco is c3A, but you’d need to be doing something pretty exceptional to get to that, a hugely heavy/draggy load behind it, and even then it would probably go into wheel spin rather than stall, unless it has rubber traction tyres (do they?).

[37114]

7 hours ago, WILLIAM said:

Sorry can please just check this?  The spec for the Gaugemaster 100MO says they have a rated output of 2.5 amps so are they really suitable for large Heljan locos?

It is worth double checking with Gaugemaster, their technical help is generally very good in my experience 

[37114]

7 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

It almost certainly depends upon what you are doing with said big diesels.

 

Another poster stated that the stall current of such a loco is c3A, but you’d need to be doing something pretty exceptional to get to that, a hugely heavy/draggy load behind it, and even then it would probably go into wheel spin rather than stall, unless it has rubber traction tyres (do they?).

 The 3 amps was clocked just before the wheels span but even before that it was drawing hefty current. If you are setting off with 10 mk1s and a slight uphill, I would suspect you will be drawing close to 3.