well, a fuse on the output would be a start... then you might put a fuse on the input to protect your power supply.

volt meter goes across the output, ampmeter goes in series with one of the output leads to the track.

 

Thanks, I found a combination ammeter and voltmeter that looks interesting. All of the components should arrive this weekend and I am anxious to get started.

 

let us know your progress!

Greg

 

Thanks, I will do that. I have everything but the 10 amp power supply and that should be here on Monday.

 

If you ever intend to add a second controller or any electrical accessories, such as turnouts and lighting, consider wiring the system with a common ground and you will save roughly half the wiring. And at the price of wire these days...

 

After gathering all of the parts form my home built power controller, I found that I had two of almost everything, so I decided to build two units. One is based on a 24 volt laptop computer AC adapter that is rated at 5 amps and the other is based on a computer power supply that is 24 volts and 10 amps. The only thing that I had to buy was two speed controllers and I found them on Amazon for eight dollars each. I finished five amp unit today and I tested it on an LGB 22182 engine and tender and I worked great! I was not a big test since I only set up about 50 ft of track, but I was impressed with how well everything worked. If I had bought all of the components, the total cost would have come to just about $30 for the five amp unit and about $35 for the 10 amp unit. The actual wiring and assembly took about three hours and it was very easy. Which is great because I am a complete idiot when it comes to electrical work. Now that I have the wiring figured out, I would guess that it will take about two hours to build the second unit. Thanks to everyone here for the advice, it really was a big help. I attached a couple of pictures of the first unit. The black circle is the voltmeter and the switch is a reversing switch. I may add labels just to make it more interesting to look at. I am also looking for a bigger knob for the speed control. Thanks again for the help.

 

You say you are bad at electrics but the results speak for themselves! Fantastic.

 

Thank you, like a lot of things these days I pretty much followed a YouTube video on what parts I needed. Most of the time was spent trying to figure out how to make everything fit in the box. I am building the 10 amp unit today and, once again, the hard part is fitting the larger power supply in the box that I have.

 

I am working on the 10 amp power unit and I would like to take some advice offered here. On my first box, I have just two connections for power out, and my plan is that they go to track connections. I would seem smart to add more output connections on the next unit. While I don't have scenery or other features found on nice layouts, I think that I should allow for that sort of thing in the future. My question is about what voltage I want at the accessory connections. My power supply is rated for 24 volts, and my initial plan is to just wire that to the extra connections. Now I am wondering what voltage I want if I decide to add lighting etc. I also realize that I should have posted all of this on the Power Supply Forum, but this post is already going and I have already made the mistake of posting the same question on two forums. I appreciate this forum and I don't want to break the rules right from the start.