[Sam]

Hi, neophite here. I have a coffee table layout; twin direction track, so two railpower 1300 power packs. I've made this myself, LOTS of detail ... in fact more into the diorama part than the train itself. Questions; can both power supplies be used to power the AC accessories? Right now, one power supply is the track switches, and the other is the accessories. Second question, is there such a thing as an AC power booster? The transformer with the accessories on it gets hot, and after a few hours the overload kicks in and it turns off, sooner if I'm running the trains and all the lights.

 

[T-Man]

Your layout is a bit large for the transformers. From what I found you only have 7volt amps per tranmsformer. The next size up MRC has 17. At least you need to reduce the accessories load. Maybe disconnect a few until you get to the point you don't trip anything. You can calculate this if you look at the spec's for the accessories and the transformer. You can purchase a separate power supply. If by running the trains alone
causes the transformer to heat up then you definitely need to up grade. The tranformer you have is for a basic oval not a 4 by 8. That must be some coffee table.

 

[Sam]

Thanks for answering T-Man. It is an incredible coffee table that I had custom built, I spend hours tinkering with it. It is an expanded double loop track, so I can run two trains, 27" x 50" layout. I had a friend create a switch panel with rocker switches for me to turn on/off accessories, 12v, 9v, even the teeny 1.4v included, it's sooo cool. What I know about electronics is nil, volts vs amps sound like football teams to me. You have answered my question tho, just need more power to the accessories, so I'll just upgrade the transformers.

 

[mcnay55]

Hi, power pack question. I recently switched from HO scale to N scale, due to space. I want a nice looking layout in a 8X9 room wrapping around my computer desk and so N is the way to go. I'll save the HO for the basement --eventially. Anyway, I have yet to settle on buying an engine but, could I use the same power pack from the HO set or should I buy a whole new power pack.

Thanks.

 

[Sam]

mcnay55; like I said, I'm a neophite, and electronics are bait for this deer staring at them, but ... I would think that the transformer should do fine, HO is not that much bigger than N and usually transformers are marketed in a manner that states they are designed for HO, N, TT, etc. Just IMO, for what it's worth ... I've never seen one sold that isn't marketed that way.

 

[mcnay55]

Thanks Sam. I am still in the planning stages and will most likely get a decent engine and new transformer to match but for track planning I will be using a used engine and my HO powerpack for now.