One thing I did a couple of years ago was rewire the oldest part of my layout, eliminate the DC block cab wiring and panels, and convert to stationary decoders for the switches. As part of that project, I added 14 AWG DCC power buses to about half the layout. In the past several months, I became concerned about power loss on long wire runs in the newer part of the layout and began swapping out the old 22 AWG DC hookup wire with 14 AWG DCC power buses there, too.
At the same time, I began to have problems with what I thought were intermittent shorts. The PowerCab would keep shutting down. I'd try to figure out where the short was coming from, tear my hair out and not find it, and give up for the day. Then I'd come down the next morning and discover the "short" was gone, things were back to normal. Well, OK. Then after a while running, the PowerCab would start shutting down again for no reason. After a day or two of frustration, I began to do research on the web.
One thing I found was that the new KeepAlive, Power Xtender, and so forth capacitors actually take a lot of amps. I'd become a believer in these, and many of my newer locos got them in addition to decoders. Sound locos take a lot of amps. And I was adding stationary decoders and NCE Illuminators. These don't take much power individually, but this stuff all adds up.
Then I read that PowerCabs only have overload protection, not circuit breakers per see. If you get a short and the PowerCab shuts down, it's doing it because of an overload no matter what, not a short. So it began to dawn on me that the PowerCab was shutting down because I'd finally overloaded its capacity by gradually adding amps to the layout's current draw. The new 14 AWG buses didn't help, I'm sure.
What would happen is I'd get frustrated, go upstairs, and come down the next day to find things working. That was because everything cooled down overnight, which decreased resistance, so the layout drew less current, and it was just below the threshold for the PowerCab's overload protection. But then things would warm up and overload the PowerCab again.
Anyhow, I think that's what's happening. So I will order the next step up, an NCE SB5. It'll take a week or two to get it ordered and installed. Meanwhile, I can use the PowerCab on my N T-trak layout without overloading things. When the SB5 is installed, I can use the PowerCab either to run the T-trak layout or as a cab on the SB5-powered main layout, or with a separate programming track.
At least, I think that's what the problem is.
The NCE Power Cab was originally designed to handle a handful of locos and some with sound. I don't think it was designed for today's Keep Alive decoders and multiple engines. The SB5 should be a great help. When I went to DCC, I went and purchased the Power Pro System and wound up adding 2 more 5 AMP boosters since the railroad has a lot of engines on the layout. Now most of my engines do not have sound, so the system can handle it. My engine terminal has its own booster with many engines. I did add on/off toggles to kill the power. If you're running many engines with sound at once, the 5AMP is the way to go.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I would break the railroad into districts with circuit breakers. I use the NCE EB1 as they work well and can be adjusted. I have 2 breakers on the upper level and 4 on the lower level. Everywhere else is covered by my PSX-AR auto reversers with built-in breakers.
Good luck!