power supply help

[mmiller]

Hello guys,

I am wondering what a good power supply would be for a Big Hauler that needs to run for 6 or 8 hours a day?

here is a little background

I am a relative newbie to large scale, but have been railroad modeling since the early 70's and I have a good bit of "intellectual" experience in large scale but very little hands-on...anyway at work we got a Rocky Mountain Express (#90034) a few years ago to run around the Christmas tree and since I am The Train Guy it has become my job to keep it going.

The problem is that the loco stops running after 1/2 hour or so, we shut off the power and then after a while it will run fine again.

I have swapped out the track for Aristocraft track and have tried a MRC Tech II power pack. Neither change made difference.


Thanks
Mike

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Mike,
I am not absolutely sure but I believe both the Bachmann power Supply, and the MRC packs have thermal circuit breakers.  When there is a strain and they heat up and pop and after a while they cool down and work again for a while.  the older the power packs the more likely the thermal circuit breaker may fail.  A short will have the same affect heating the breaker rapidly and popping til it cools down again.  Every time a thermal breaker pops it get a little weaker.  Repeated popping will eventually lead to total failure of the breaker. 

It is hard to say what the problem really is but if you have a meter you can measure the amperage draw when the loco is running at your normal speed.  Just pulling the two cars in the set you should expect a amp draw of about 3/4 amp. If you are pulling more than two cars it will definitely put a strain on the set power supply. If you are pulling 1 AMP or more then the problem may an overheating of the loco motor, again hard to say.  If the Amperage is normal 1/2 to 3/4 amp then the problem is most likely with the breakers on the power supplies.

Hopefully this will point you in the right direction.

[mmiller]

Thanks Bill,

my initial thought was a breaker was tripping in the power supplies....we run the two freight cars in the set and substituted a combine for the caboose. Unfortunately I won't be able to get it out or set up for a few more weeks so I can't do any actual tests

So, again, coming form the HOn3/On30 world my thinking was I needed a higher amp power supply for the bigger loco, Is that a reasonable assumption? Maybe something like the Aristo 1.8 amp unit?

I kinda wished we'd had a chance to get a Barry's Big Train drive...mostly because I wana try building one since I'm looking at building something in my backyard now

[Chuck N]

Does the combine have lights?  That little bit of extra power draw could be the difference.  Starter set power supplies will barely power the engine.  Upgrade, the1.8 amp will help, but 5 or 10 would be better.

What diameter curves are you using?  The four footers that come with the starter set will also put strain on the motor, this would also heat up the power supply.

Barry is still making upgrades, he just isn't advertising.

Chuck

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Mike when you get it out, check things out and get back to us.  If it turns out to be a power pack problem then get one that puts out three amps or better, and with a replaceable fuze rather than the thermal circuit breaker if at all possible. As Chuck says lights do make a difference and many of the set passenger cars had battery powered lights while the newer passenger cars have track powered lights. 

Also it can't hurt to put a drop of light oil on the journals of the tender pilot truck and cars to reduce rolling resistance.

[mmiller]

so any suggestions on a power pack? I haven't had much luck finding anything on the interwebz today, other than the starter sets stuff....since throwing some of the boss's money at the problem is easier than having to spend a few days troubleshooting in addition to my regular tasks

for my personal large scale projects I have decided on battery power so I haven't spent much time looking for track power stuff...

[gardendepot]

Buy a LGB power pack, the 5 amp one is great and runs the trains very smooth without the starting jerks you can get with other power packs. I think you will find one on ebay used..

[Joe Satnik]

Dear All,

I'm surprised that no one has yet suggested loco and car maintenance. 

Clean and lube the loco chassis and check for excess drag on the car wheels.   

George Schreyer has tips on his web site:

http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips1/big_hauler_tips.html

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

[mmiller]

Thanks Joe, but the maintenance isn't an issue.

Coming from an HOn3 background I'm a bit obsessive about making sure everything is clean and well lubricated...(those 80's-90's vintage HOn3 locos were pretty darn finicky)

[Joe Zullo]

You won't go wrong with a USA Trains Train Power 10. I recently purchased on and I am well pleased with it's performance. It has enough amperage to run all four of my  B'mann 4-6-0 locos simultaneously. It has variable momentum and a braking feature, along with a wired walk around remote throttle.

[mmiller]

in case anyone is interested, the issue was the power supply.

we are an IT support company so we have a lot of old technology stuff laying around. I adapted an old laptop power supply that puts out about 9 volts with a 3 amp capacity and the train is running great now. The speed of the loco is a touch faster than I'd like but the boss is happy, so I'm happy.