I am a long time HO’er, recently restarting after a 10 year absense. Phase 1 of my shelf layout is well underway, with some track down. I have 2 sound locos, Atlas Gold Dash8 with QSI, and Broadway SD40, also QSI sound equiped. Powered with NCE power cab.
I was interested to know how much of my 1.7 Amps available power my locos were using, I borrowed a professional “clamp around” meter from my son, an electronic eng. working on the control systems at a Nuclear power plant, to make some measurements. Following are the results.
Note that locos draw about the same if asleep, or just sitting with sound muted, but there is some draw when parked, as compared to sitting on track with power off. Also note that the motor in Atlas Dash8 draws less current than the B’way limited SD40. Wish I had an Athearn Genesis to measure draw? I do love my Atlas gold.
Did you know that your Power Cab actually comes with a built-in amp usage display feature? It would be interesting to run the exact same test above, this time using the built-in amp usage feature of the Power Cab and compare the two.
I use my Power cabs built in amp for diagnostics of sick locos. I just found out on one loco that was lurching and sputtering that one of the motor wires was pinched when the shell was put on. The amp meter is a handy tool. I have run 5 sound and 7 non sound HO locos at the same time with my power cab. I dont have a layout but I do have 5 portable modules to run at home so the locos didnt run for long. Its surprising that the little Power cab can do so much. Probably the best investment of hobby dollars I have made.
Well, don’t tell anybody,but I actually agree with our friend from the frozen north. I have a rampmeter installed inline and get a constant amperage draw readout. Just sitting, with a couple dozen locos on the tracks, the draw is .79 amps. I tested this once by removing one loco at a time, watching the drop after each and ended up a .01 amp draw with no locos on the tracks. It will also show you the additional draw when locos are running up a grade.
Really quite interesting, and useful when running several multi-unit consists. It also allows you to avoid taxing your power supply too much.
Sure. I had to go downstairs and turn on my Power Cab first to find the sequence. Here it is:
Press PROG/ESC button 6 times
“CAB PARAMS” on LCD screen - Press ENTER
“SHOW TRK CURRENT 1=Y” on LCD screen - Press 1 for Yes
Press PROG/ESC button to return to operating screen
The ammeter replaces the fast clock display in the upper right corner of the LCD screen. Once you turn off your Power Cab though, the ammeter resorts back to the fast clock display the next time you turn your Power Cab on again. This feature also doesn’t work when the Power Cab is used in conjunction with a Smart Booster.
You’ve got a bit of a problem with terminology and abbreviations here. According to this sentence, your power supply puts out 1.7 million amps. Thats WAY beyond arc welding! An upper case “M” indicates “Mega” or times one million. A lower case “m” indicates “milli” or divided by 1000. These standards go all through electronics and the metric system.
Properly stated, your power supply puts out a maximum of 1.7 Amps or 1,700 mA. Or .0000017 MA.
