I just bought an LGB porter loco and it seems to be drawing a huge amount of power. I have to crank up my 18v starter set power pack to full to get it running at a reasonable speed and about thrree quarters of the way to get it to start.
Is this OK?
Scott
Scott, I have two Porters, and have seen others running. They all seem to be geared to run much slower than other engines. I don’t know about current draw in terms of amperage, as I have neither a voltmeter nor an ammeter. But the high setting/slow speed is normal for the LGB Porters.
SandyR
Thanks for the Info.
Tried a higher amp power pack today and it worked just right, though still somewhat high.
Thanks again
Scott
Scott, I’ve been told that while it uses more voltage to get to a decent speed, it actually draws about one amp. Is there anyone out there reading this post who could verify or disprove this? I’d like to know, too!
SandyR
Hey there,
I find it interesting that such a small loco would have a high draw. Is the loco running noisy at all? No binding or anything? I take it that it has been geared to run slow. Sandy: Will it pull a fair bit for it’s size? Later eh…Brian.
Bman,
the loco makes a little noise when the power has not gotten to a level where the it will move the loco, a kind of an electronic buzzing that i think comes from the circuitry inside it. It also has some motor noise, but it sounds like it isn’t a problem. It is a very smooth runner (no binding) and can take a steep grade.
Scott
Scott,
We bought the kids a Playmobil set a few years back. The 0-4-0 that came with it is definately an LGB drive unit. It takes off very quickly and runs extremely well. It too has a faint buzz to it while it takes very little throttle to get it moving. Later eh…Brian.
I have two LGB Porters (1 with decoder and 1 without).
The one with the factory decoder takes a little more power to start up, but settles down and runs perfectly.
I use an LGB Jumbo for my power supply, and both of these units don’t even move the Amp gauge needle. They draw quite a bit less than 1 Amp.
jb
Brian, you asked how many cars one of the LGB Porters would pull. My experience is limited on that one, as I prefer trains of 4 or 5 LGB shorty cars. However, I did try a longer train once, on my garden railroad. It was 13 shorty cars, and the Porter had no trouble with it. But it looked really stupid on such a small railroad, and I never did it again. BTW the wheels did not slip, nor did the loco stall.
SandyR
For whatever it’s worth, when my Porter (Helena) was still fairly new (about three years old), I did an experiment with it. I ran it as slowly as it would go, and timed it. It took over one full minute to cover one straight section of LGB track. That’s a tad under 12". And it never stalled! Now folks, that is really slow! And I was very impressed.
SandyR
Sandy,
Toooooo much time on your hands??? [:D] Was curious more than anything on the pulling power the Porter had. A long train behind such a small loco would look a little silly anyways. Then again it’s still fun to try. Reminds me of my HO days as a kid when I would put everything I had behind my little Tyco diesel switcher…get the wheels spinning and just be a kid. [;)] Kinda’ never grew out of that! Later eh…Brian.
Gentlemen;
Don’t get confused with voltage and current. The current draw would be less than the Stainz, a direct product of the micro horsepower of the loco and the voltage involved, say about 250 ma which is very little. But some locos have a higher starting voltage than others and i understend with MTS this can be set from withingn the loco but I don’t know about DC running.
I woulkd think that this is a deliberate thing on the part of LGB, for what reason I don’t know?
Rgds Ian
The starting voltage is usually a result of the motor’s internal resistence. The higher the resistence, the higher the voltage required to produce sufficient current to develope running torque.
walt