[markoles]

Guys,

I should know this.... what is the recommended power supply for a LGB mogul with digital sound? I have just sold my digital sound mogul to my cousin who is now asking me to recommend a power supply. This is his first G scale train and I don't know if he'll be expanding much further than the Christmas tree for the time being.

I have used the 1 amp power supply that came with an LGB starter set for my own Christmas tree layouts, and it ran that locomotive fine, but I am not sure that it was a wise choice.

In looking over power supplies, I think that a Bridgewerks 3 Amp power supply is way overkill. But maybe not. What about the MRC 6200? Is that one any good? Over the years, I have used a Tech II power supply that was really intended for HO scale without much trouble. I also have a PH Hobbies 3 Amp power supply that is about 15 years old, but still works fine.

Thoughts? Is the LGB starter set 1 amp really enough?

Mark

 

[Trains West]

the LGB one amp is fine ...... the loco my draw more then that with a load of a train and a grade but around a tree it is fine ...... at shows I use a MRC1370 as it is cheap and goes to 1 1/4 amp ..... the question on buying a powerpack should be based on if you want it to just run this one loco or have some room to grow also are you going to run lights in the cars?

 

[markoles]

Scott,

The drovers caboose I am sending along with the mogul does have lights, but they are currently disconencted. I was thinking about wiring them up to work off a 9 volt battery.

I thought I remembered running this engine last year with that power supply, but having some trouble with it at high speed.

 

[toddalin]

MRC 6200s work fine and used ones can be had at decent prices. I have a couple I use for testing stuff (used to use as my power supplies), and they would run stuff (e.g., Todd's Terrible Turbo Tortoise Toten' Tube Train that uses a 4.47 amp hand tool motor) that bigger, more expensive power packs wouldn't. It was a matter of "sensitivity" and packs like the Blue Hogger would shut down entirely whereas the MRC would run it until you got to where the volt/amp demand was too high.

 

[krs]

An MRC 6200 that was being used at a friends house where I ran my trains. actually wiped out the lighting circuit in one of my LGB RhB cars.

I saw the lights go bright momentarily and then nothing.

Either the MRC put out a voltage surge or there was a line voltage surge the MRC 6200 didn't suppress,


Just a word of caution based on experience - I usually use a regulated switched mode power supply with over-voltage and over-current protection controlled by a separate throttle like the TE.

That way no voltage surges get to my trains.

Knut

 

[gtrainman]

Mark,

One mogul with lights, sound, smoke and a lighted caboose.....I'd recommend at least 2 amps.

 

[toddalin]

Posted By krs on 11/21/2008 2:44 PM
An MRC 6200 that was being used at a friends house where I ran my trains. actually wiped out the lighting circuit in one of my LGB RhB cars.

I saw the lights go bright momentarily and then nothing.

Either the MRC put out a voltage surge or there was a line voltage surge the MRC 6200 didn't suppress,


Just a word of caution based on experience - I usually use a regulated switched mode power supply with over-voltage and over-current protection controlled by a separate throttle like the TE.

That way no voltage surges get to my trains.

Knut

Sounds like one of the transistors shorted out internally allowing full power of about 24 volts to flow to the track. But when this happens (and I have had it happen), the unit will continue to do this and is no longer controllable (i.e., just stays at ~24 volts). The replacement transistors are/were about $3.50. It doesn't seem like this should have burned out the lights but maybe coupled with a surge who knows???

 

[krs]

Sounds like one of the transistors shorted out internally allowing full power of about 24 volts to flow to the track. But when this happens (and I have had it happen), the unit will continue to do this and is no longer controllable (i.e., just stays at ~24 volts). The replacement transistors are/were about $3.50. It doesn't seem like this should have burned out the lights but maybe coupled with a surge who knows???

No, that wasn't it.
The MRC worked fine after that.

What was burned out were not the lights themselves but the lighting circuit in the car. One of the pass transistors had an open.
If I hadn't seen the lightbulbs go bright momentarily just before the lights went out, I would have thought it was just a normal component failure of the lighting circuit.

This also happened many years ago, maybe the MRC 6200 is protected now against such spikes feeding through to the output. I didn't worry anymore about it since I don't use the MRC 6200 - I just replaced the transistor in the lighting circuit and that was it.

In general, I thought the MRC 6200 was a nice unit.

 

[Richard Weatherby]

I remember LGB having issues with power supplies that were not pure DC. I had issues with a couple of MRC 6200 units. Sound units began to fail. I certainly would not run a digital unit on a MRC 6200. I felt the locos were worth more than risking the use of an inexpensive power supply. I took LGB's stance seriously. I currently use a BridgeWerks power supply.

 

[toddalin]

Posted By Richard Weatherby on 11/21/2008 6:26 PM
I remember LGB having issues with power supplies that were not pure DC. I had issues with a couple of MRC 6200 units. Sound units began to fail. I certainly would not run a digital unit on a MRC 6200. I felt the locos were worth more than risking the use of an inexpensive power supply. I took LGB's stance seriously. I currently use a BridgeWerks power supply.




Agreed that they are not pure filtered dc.

 

[Dan Pierce]

The digita lsound and mts versions of LGB engines need care in power supply selections.
I use the 27mhz Aristocraft Train engineer in linear mode only and I have had no problems.

PWC power can fry some LGB units.

Like what was stated above, the mogul cost is so high, one must be careful in power supply selection.
Several manufacturers have a disclaimer about using their own brand of power/control.

 

[markoles]

Thanks for all the replies.

I convinced my cousin to go for a Bridgewerks Mini Mag.

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Stan Cedarleaf]

Posted By markoles on 11/24/2008 7:31 AM

I convinced my cousin to go for a Bridgewerks Mini Mag>



Wise choice, Mark..... That should run the Mogul and caboose lights just fine.

 

[DennisB]

On the Track Power page of the ww.ckgscale.com website is an article explaining how many amps one needs. Regards, Dennis.

 

[krs]

I have now seen this statement more than once when it comes to power supply current requirements for trains:

When the track exceeds 100 feet, add 1/2 amp, and for each 100 to 150 feet after that, add another 1/2 amp.


From an electrical engineering point of view, this statement doesn't make any sense - longer loops don't "use" current, so what is the rationale for requiring higher current power supplies for large layouts.
If anything, there are potential voltage drops on long track runs, so a higher DC voltage might be appropriate, but more current????

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Yep, does not make sense... went to the site... maybe they think that you will compensate for the voltage drop by increasing the voltage, and they assume (wrongly) that it will draw more amps.

The rest of the paragraph is ok.

Regards, Greg