[Jerry McColgan]

Early yesterday the power went out. We assumed it would soon be back on but it did not happen so my wife had to get ready and go to work without coffee, air conditioning, hair dryer etc.

That left me with nothing to do and the thought of another 100 degree day but with no air conditioning. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sad.gif

The coolest place was going to be the crawl space (where I have my primary layout).

Unfortunately with no lights it was totally dark and with no power for the trains.

I figured this was an opportunity worth investigating...

Fortunately I had a few flashlights.

First I got a marine battery I'd bought in the spring but that turned out to be too big for the boat battery holder. I carried that to the crawl space.

Next I located a 12 volt 500 watt inverter I'd bought (on sale of course) a year or so ago but had never used. That too went to the crawl space.

Then I plugged the LGB Jumbo power supply into the inverter and the LGB Mikado with six lighted coaches ran just perfectly. I also tried a LGB Mogul that also had six lighted coaches.

The only problem was that the train lights were the ONLY lights.

Next I found a fluorescent trouble light on a long cord. I figured the fluorescent light would take less watts than an incandescent light.

I plugged the trouble light into the converter also and now I had a light to find the Aristo-Craft Ultima that powers my building lights in the crawl space (about 50 buildings with lights) and the lights came on with no problems at all.

Now I had a train running plus the building lights gave me enough illumination to really enjoy running the train.

Then I realized that the LGB Mikado I was running had a decoder in it so I got curious again and I unplugged the LGB Jumbo and instead plugged in the LGB 50111 and LGB Central Station III which resulted in the LGB Mikado running perfectly under MTS/DCC with a LGB Loco Remote.

After a bit of running the train I got to wondering about running a 2nd or third train on my inner loop but I suspected I would be pushing my luck if I connected another LGB power supply to the inverter but...

Then I remembered I had another inverter out in the shop...

As I found the inverter and started back to the crawl space...

The lights came back on.

Darn it!

Jerry

 

[silverstatespecialties]

Solar panels run on a similar concept: electricity from the solar panels goes to batteries to be stored for future/current use. A lot of people are under the misconception here that electricity generated from the panels goes directly into your home's power circuit! A large inverter is usually employed as well.



Sounds like you have a good idea for an alternate or temporary power supply for new or portable layouts as well!

 

[Jerry McColgan]

That (portable layouts) was my secondary motivation.

I built a portable layout intending to use it for club meetings plus perhaps garden shows and train shows and one concern I had regarding public shows was whether 120 volt AC power would be available.

Now that the concept has proven itself I can relax with the knowledge that a battery and inverter make 120 volt power relatively unimportant.

Thanks for your comments,

Jerry



Posted By silverstatespecialties on 07/26/2008 11:42 AM

Sounds like you have a good idea for an alternate or temporary power supply for new or portable layouts as well!

 

[Dennis Paulson]

I just knew that eventually you would join the battery powered group !
Just not onboard battery . chuckle chuckle
Did you get the CCE set ?

 

[Jerry McColgan]

Hi Dennis,

Yep. I will never live it down. I now have a 12 volt DC battery/110 volt AC/24 volt DC track powered/MTS/DCC/DCS layout!!!

On the other hand my running time per recharge is absolutely fantastic and I have not even charged the battery in the 6 months or so that I have had it.

As for the CCE set the good news is that someone else wanted it more than I wanted it so they get to pay for it.

Cheers,

Jerry

Posted By Dennis Paulson on 07/26/2008 4:54 PM
I just knew that eventually you would join the battery powered group !
Just not onboard battery . chuckle chuckle
Did you get the CCE set ?