How manny feet of track equals power booster?

[4311wade]

Team,
How many linear feet of HO track can I run before I need a 5 amp booster? Can running a booster on too little track damage my layouts Locos or switches?

[Len]

Team,
How many linear feet of HO track can I run before I need a 5 amp booster? Can running a booster on too little track damage my layouts Locos or switches?

It's not how many feet of track you have that determines if you need a booster or not, it has more to do with how much current the locomtives on that track are drawing.

If you only have one locomotive, just running power feeders from your current power supply to points where it tends to slow down is all you need to do. As you add additional locomotives, and lighted cars, the current pulled from your power supply goes up. When that current draw starts getting near the power rating of your power supply, that's when you need to look at adding a booster.

Len

[4311wade]

Thank you sir!
I generally run 1 to 3 locos at the same time on my 4X12 layout and they just have lights. I'm still trying to figure out the process for posting photos of it on this forum but I'll get their soon.