|
|
Post by Donnell Wells on May 8, 2012 13:45:48 GMT -8
I was recently over a friends house, or they were experiencing short circuits in some of the circuit protection blocks that they had set up. It's a relatively large layout, and there are just under 150 locomotives, all with sound and DCC, on it. The issue they were having was that when they powered the layout up, certain breakers would indicate a short circuit in the corresponding power district.
Well, it turns out that new larger capacitors had been added to certain Tsunami-equipped locomotives, and when the layout power was switched on, the inrush current was greater that the rating for the circuit breakers. Thus, they were getting a short circuit indication.
I found a fix for this situation on Mr. DCC's site found here:
www.mrdccu.com/curriculum/soundtraxx/tsunami.htm
It about 2/3 of the way down, under the section titled, "My loco stalls on turnouts or doesn't run smoothly. I want to add a keep alive capacitor"
Donnell
|
|
|
|
Post by rhpd42002 on May 8, 2012 17:44:58 GMT -8
I can see how having that much power getting "sucked up" by that many capacitors could cause the shorting problem.
IIRC, aren't the capacitors supposed to solve the problem of stalling on crossing/turnout frogs with DC/DCC systems?
|
|
|
|
Post by Mark R. on May 8, 2012 18:04:26 GMT -8
The capacitors on sound decoders are strictly for the sound circuit, to prevent it from going back through the start-up sequence every time it experiences a small break in the power. They are not in the motor control circuit part of the decoder.
Mark.
|
|
|
|
Post by rhpd42002 on May 8, 2012 18:10:26 GMT -8
That's what I like about this place..... Knowledge!! Thanks Mark. Now I know.  |
|
|
|
Post by Mark R. on May 8, 2012 19:10:36 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by rhpd42002 on May 9, 2012 12:39:15 GMT -8
Thanks for that link, Mark.
Very informative and quite extensive!
|
|
|
|
Post by Paul Cutler III on May 11, 2012 9:15:40 GMT -8
In-rush Current is an old problem going back to the beginning of factory installed sound engines with the 1st one, the BLI NYC Hudson. My club has been struggling with it for years.
The fixes are:
1). Add more circuit breakers and blocks (PSX's are better than some at this).
2). Increase the breaker's current before tripping.
3). Add "kill" switches so that parked engines can be powered up or down as needed.
4). Add a circuit to the power supplies that slows down the powering up phase of capacitors.
5). Add the above mentioned circuit to every engine with sound.
|
|
|
|
Post by calzephyr on May 17, 2012 19:41:28 GMT -8
In-rush Current is an old problem going back to the beginning of factory installed sound engines with the 1st one, the BLI NYC Hudson. My club has been struggling with it for years. The fixes are: 1). Add more circuit breakers and blocks (PSX's are better than some at this). 2). Increase the breaker's current before tripping. 3). Add "kill" switches so that parked engines can be powered up or down as needed. 4). Add a circuit to the power supplies that slows down the powering up phase of capacitors. 5). Add the above mentioned circuit to every engine with sound. The fixes are all sound advise. I still wonder how this would solve the load of 150 models with sound. Maybe each PS would power up in sequence? Adding that circuit to evey sound engine will take time for sure. Maybe isolating the yard and house tracks when the power is first turned on to keep 50 of the 150 locomotives from charging at the same time? Larry |
|
|
|
Post by Paul Cutler III on May 19, 2012 6:39:38 GMT -8
Larry,
One method for roundhouses is to use a rotary switch for the track power for all roundhouse tracks. This way, only one track at a time is powered.
Otherwise, you just have to figure out how many sound engines can be started dependably at once with the circuit breaker settings you're using. Then you just subdivide the layout appropriately. For example, say you know that your PSX breaker set at 3 AMPS can always start 6 engines up at the same instant (that may or may not be correct...I'm just picking a number). Look at the 150-loco layout and look to see where you have multiple locos occupying the same area. If you have a yard that can hold 12 locos, put in two blocks. If it can hold 30 engines, put in 5 blocks. And so on.
|
|
