PNEYorkshire Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Hello all I've recently finished the last bit of wiring on my layout and realised I can run pretty much everything (barring my point motors) from the power output on my NCE PowerCab (12v buffer stops, lights etc). I hooked the power supply to my Traintronics signals up to this output but they don't work. I switched back to the 12v battery pack (8 1.5V AA batteries) and they worked but very, very dimly. Is there a reason why they wouldn't work on the NCE PowerCab supply? Everything else works at full brightness, not the signals Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PNEYorkshire Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 I've tried connecting the power supply directly to the screws on the terminal block of the signal. When I connect them to the 'input' side (i.e. before the power passes through the block) nothing happens. When I connect it to the 'out' side (i.e. after the power should have passed through the terminal block) the corresponding light on the signal flashes on every 5 seconds.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drewfield Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Hello all I've recently finished the last bit of wiring on my layout and realised I can run pretty much everything (barring my point motors) from the power output on my NCE PowerCab (12v buffer stops, lights etc). I hooked the power supply to my Traintronics signals up to this output but they don't work. I switched back to the 12v battery pack (8 1.5V AA batteries) and they worked but very, very dimly. Is there a reason why they wouldn't work on the NCE PowerCab supply? Everything else works at full brightness, not the signals It's possible that the PowerCab is running at 14v-16v and the Traintronics signals have a cutout to avoid damage when the voltage is above 12. There is a school of thought that signals and other accessories are best powered by a separate bus running 12v. An old phone charger will provide the power. Any shorts or other problems then don't affect the running of the locos. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PNEYorkshire Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 It's possible that the PowerCab is running at 14v-16v and the Traintronics signals have a cutout to avoid damage when the voltage is above 12. There is a school of thought that signals and other accessories are best powered by a separate bus running 12v. An old phone charger will provide the power. Any shorts or other problems then don't affect the running of the locos. I didn't even think that the PowerCab could be running higher than 12V! I guess that would explain things. Could I simply just cut the end off of an old phone charger and use the two wires to power it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RFS Posted January 11, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 11, 2015 I've done that with mine, although with a surplus power supply for a Netgear ADSL router. The label on this says it's 12v DC 1 amp, which works the signals just fine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drewfield Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 I scrounged a phone charger from my son-in-law - a good source of electronc bits! Something provding 12v 1amp will be plenty big enough. Yes, just cut the end off. It's useful to mark which is the positive lead when using it with LEDs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PNEYorkshire Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 Thanks for the replies! I recently sold all of my old phone chargers at the car boot ....sure someone in the family has one somewhere.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hat Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Other option would be to get something like a gaugemaster transformer. Might be more expensive but then its purpose is to do what you want. You can then use this to power up your signals and wire them to a conventional switch. Then you have am ample supply to start lighting up your other areas of the layout, such as buildings, roads etc. That would be my advice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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