Eddystone
in Eddystone, PA
I'm new here, so I hope it's okay to post this question in this section.
I'm getting back into the hobby after a long break. Most of my locos are mid-90's, and none of it is DCC. I have set up a temporary oval of Atlas track (the original stuff with the black roadbed under the ties) on which to test some of the locos and rolling stock. I've cleaned the silver rails, but they don't look like high quality nickel silver. I have a power supply that I built based on a design in a hobby book, and frankly I need to dig up that book to recall what the design of this thing is. It has a wired cab control with brake and momentum and may even be pulse width modulation. It is powered by an extremely high quality regulated supply that came out of a piece of medical imaging equipment.
Here's the question: When this supply is maxed out, there is about 13.0 or 13.6 volts DC available at the rails with the loco running. I've heard this is correct for HO, but the engines seem to run a bit slow, even at max, and the headlights are somewhat dim. Basic power supplies like the MRC Rail Power 1300 are rated at 15 volts DC, and with that voltage at the tracks, the engines seem to run at speeds I would expect with the headlamps at the proper brightness. (On some engines, this is probably above prototype speeds.)
Bearing in mind that this is NOT DCC, can I get some feedback on the maximum track voltages people are running, please?
I'm getting back into the hobby after a long break. Most of my locos are mid-90's, and none of it is DCC. I have set up a temporary oval of Atlas track (the original stuff with the black roadbed under the ties) on which to test some of the locos and rolling stock. I've cleaned the silver rails, but they don't look like high quality nickel silver. I have a power supply that I built based on a design in a hobby book, and frankly I need to dig up that book to recall what the design of this thing is. It has a wired cab control with brake and momentum and may even be pulse width modulation. It is powered by an extremely high quality regulated supply that came out of a piece of medical imaging equipment.
Here's the question: When this supply is maxed out, there is about 13.0 or 13.6 volts DC available at the rails with the loco running. I've heard this is correct for HO, but the engines seem to run a bit slow, even at max, and the headlights are somewhat dim. Basic power supplies like the MRC Rail Power 1300 are rated at 15 volts DC, and with that voltage at the tracks, the engines seem to run at speeds I would expect with the headlamps at the proper brightness. (On some engines, this is probably above prototype speeds.)
Bearing in mind that this is NOT DCC, can I get some feedback on the maximum track voltages people are running, please?