I’m actually preparing my future layout and already have most of my electrical components.Now it’s time to think about driving my PL-10s properly and I know I’ll need a capacitive discharge unit to do so.I already know that it will have to power from one to four (double crossover) PL-10s simultaneously.My question is that simple…will a regular CDU power four motors at a time adequately or will I need a high power version?And if so,could a HP CDU be too much of a jolt for a single PL-10?Do I need two separate CDU’s?Are there any more things I should know about CDU’s?
I’d also like to know of a good one I could buy or,just as well,build from a plan.I’m no electronician but do understand DC current and have the skills to assemble from a plan given I find one that I can rely on.The components wouldn’t be a problem as there’s a fine electronics store a few minutes away.
I realize that there’s more than one question…but I wanted to cover it all in the same post.Thanks for any inputs.
If you’re just using a run-of-the-mill CDU, it probably isn’t going to be able to handle four switch machines simultaneously. I use one for my Atlas switch machines, and it can handle a single crossover (two machines), but I wouldn’t try any more than that. In order to get enough power to do four at a time, my guess is you’d have to increase the size of the capacitors. This might overload your wiring and burn something out, though (including your switch machine motors!).
Just for general reference, I built and am happy with the CDU from this website: http://www.awrr.com/ - select “other circuits” on the left side menu to get there.
There’s also another good MR circuit page at http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/CircuitIndex.html
If you go to the second website, click on “switch machine controls” (near the middle of the screen), then take a look at the first 3 items on the list. The first is a standard CDU. The second and third seem to be modified versions where each switch machine has its own set of capacitors. It’s more expensive to do it that way, because you have to get more capacitors, but this might be the way to go for your double crossover.
For the electronic parts, try www.allelectronics.com www.jameco.com and some others that are out there that I can’t think of right now.