Digitrax Power Supply questions

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Hi Folks,

I recently purchased the Super Empire Builder plus a PM42 Power Manager to split the Command Station/Booster into four power sub-districts. For the power supply, I bought the MRC Power Supply (for DCC) Model AD515.

  1. I opened the instructions for the PM42 Power Manager and surprise, I need an additional power supply for the PM42. My question: The Command Station Booster is getting power from the power supply and then routing power to the Power Manager to split into four sub-districts. Why is there a need for another power supply for this PM42 Power Manager? Is the splitting causing a power drop to the sub-districts?

  2. So, I checked my old MRC Tech II Loco Motion 2500 transformer I used on my last layout which was wired for block control. I put a volt-ohm meter to the AC accessories terminals and it read 15.7V. The PM42 Power Manager instructions say the PM needs 12-18V. Is there any reason why I could not use the Tech II for the power supply to the PM42 Power Manager?

Thanks for helping out a newbee to DCC.

Yours in Model Railroading,

2

The PM42 uses the power supply to run the electronics that do the short detection and reversing. It’s not to add extra power to the track.

Basedon the reading from your old Tech II pack, it should work fine. The voltage is in the correct range, and it has more than enough power.

–Randy

3

If you have any other questions about Digitrax, you may want to go to Digitrax.com and join their forum. There are a lot of folks that have a lot of good information about Digitrax equipment.

Craig