Put me in that group with a lack of understanding of electronics. I won’t even call myself a plumber in that I don’t know how to completely use all the tools that I have (read multimeter.) Before Al Gore invented the internet I bought a book titled Understanding Solid State Electronics. I didn’t get very far in it before my eyes glazed over. I find this annoying because at one time I designed fluid power systems but I can’t make the jump to electronics.
As my fleet of locomotives has grown I have become worried about exceeding the capacity of my DCS100. While I don’t run all that many locomotives at one time many are sitting on sidings with power. I have done some research and found that I am “probably” OK. I started putting in toggle switches to kill power in yards and industries when not in use.
It is not in my nature to leave it at that and hope for the best so I decided to get more scientific about it. I found the RRampMeter but before I buy that I wanted to see if my multimeter could do the job. I tried to read the manual and most of it was like a foreign language. Same with the RRampMeter.
So my basic question is can my true RMS (whatever that means) multimeter tell me what I want to know or should I buy the RRampMeter?
Buy the RRampMeter! Yeah, there is an expense associated with it, but it is designed to measure voltage and amps (current draw) under DCC power. It is more accurate for this purpose than a multimeter that measures pure AC power.
I own three RRampMeters, one in-line for each booster, and one that is portable, permitting me to measure voltage and current draw under load.
The two in-line RRampMeters permit me to see voltage and amps at a glance and at all times while the layout is powered up.
A good quality True RMS DMM will work, as long as you unerstand its limits. For comparison purposes, like checking one rail’s voltage to the common terminal on the booster to the other other, it works great.
It is good for measuring current. Again, the DCC waveform and it’s frequency will impact the accuracy of the readings.
If you need an accurate measurement of current draw, inserting the meter into the power feed for the command station/booster would give much more accurate readings. Just measure the amount of current with track power off, and subtract that from what is measured with track power on.
The advantage the RRAmpmeter has: It was designed to measure the DCC signal, so it was optimized for the waveform and the frequencies it would see.
OK. You touched on the next question I had. You have two that are panel mounted and one with the case? Can you remove the case from that model and panel mount it?
Actually, the two in-line RRampMeters that I have are the type enclosed in a case. I don’t believe that the case is removable. The portable RRampMeter that I use is not enclosed in a case. DCC Specialties sells both types of RRampMeters, one in a case and one without a case.
not sure of the value of having two rrampmeters panel mounted. it makes sense to panel mount one to measure current. it can be wired anywhere between the booster and track.
but i would think using a 2nd would be more useful if portable to measure voltage across the rails at various points on the layout, in particular, far from the booster and at the boundaries where power districts meet, and presumably under load
greg, I started out with a single panel mounted RRampMeter. But, a few years later, I divided my layout into seven power districts and, in the process, added a second booster. That second booster was not necessary, but it proved very useful. At that time, I added the second panel mounted RRampMeter to display the measurements controlled by the second booster as distinguished from the first booster.
Those two panel mounted RRampMeters are not easy to remove when I want to test voltage/amps on the layout, so I bought the third RRampMeter for portability.
If you have “too many” locomotives drawing power switch one off and resume operations.
If that isn’t acceptable you’ll need to isolate a Block and add a booster.
You just assume that each locomotive will try to draw about an amp maximum times the number of locomotives and that number needs to be less than the amps number stamped somewhere on your existing system. That’s all you really need to know.
Also, you don’t need to understand the actual physics of solid state electronics to understand how such a device works. Only the engineers who design and build the devices need to know that. Most repair personnel don’t know and don’t need to know about the hole flow idea of solid state devices (assuming that theory is still current, har har).
So, Spike, your answer to the OP is to forget about the RRampMeter, a multimeter, or any other electronic device to measure voltage and/or amps?
Just assume that each locomotive will try to draw about an amp? That’s all you really need to know? Just run trains and forget about the rest of it? [*-)][%-)]
My former club had amp meters on the legs of the booster power supplies. They had a 10 amp scale and worked very well. Panel mounted in the booster district. A short in a district would almost peg the needle until the booster tripped.
Not at all. I was asking what a RRampMeter tells you that could be of any use when running a DCC layout. I was particularly interested because although I do understand how a transistor works (for example) that information is of no use to me, interesting though it is.
I’ve read here about measuring DCC voltage and current and how it differs from measuring DC voltage and current (which I also don’t bother with). I still just use my old faithful Radio Shack analogue multimeter.
The system I use is capable of delivering 7 amps but limits that to 5 amps for some reason. It produces 16v or thereabouts. The trains run.
yes. it makes sense to panel mount the rrampmeters to measure current from each booster. could easily see what the trains are drawing and if locos are having problems
OK. You touched on the next question I had. You have two that are panel mounted and one with the case? Can you remove the case from that model and panel mount it?
Is there a thread already about how you use this information to troubleshoot power issues? The more usual continuity and shorting problems I have figured out.
For our DC layout we have puzzling power variations in some Blocks (locomotive speeds change). Not a big issue for us now but we plan on powering the same setup with DCC not too far in the future.
It doesn’t seem like just a feeder issue but it might be.
