hey, i was just wondering if anyone here knew whether or not the MRC Tech II 1500 has 2 transformers inside or just 1. I need to know, because this is my power pack, and I need to know whether or not I can use common rail or 2-rail wiring with it. If theres only one transformer inside, common rail would create short circuits in the power pack.
thanks!
I have no experience with one, but would be pretty confident to say that it has one transformer and two controllers. There would be no need or advantage to have two separate transformers in it.
The advantage to having two transformers would be that you could use common rail wiring for block/cab control, because if you only have one transformer, then both cabs are drawing from the same power/polarity source.
Greg
I just took a quick gander at the MRC site to refresh my memory. The Tech 2 1500 is a single controller with momentum added (comapred to the 1400). Since the 1500 has only a single controller, it only has a single transformer, too.
The Tech 2 2800 Dual Cab Controller has 2 controls and 2 transformers and advertises itself for common rail wiring.
Nearly all MRC dual cab power packs have/had 2 separate transformers for common rail wiring. The triple controller had 3 transformers. This was an advantage of MRC power packs over their cheaper competition at the time.
As long as each controller has a separate transformer, you can use common rail wiring, regardless of whether the controllers are combined into the same box. In my case, I have 2 separate power packs, and each has their own transformer inside the case. I use common rail wiring. I run a 16 gauge bare braided antenna wire around the underside of the layout as my common connection bus. All the common rail feeders are connected to this bare wire bus - I use 26 gauge magnet wire (has easily removed varnish for an insulator) for nearly invisible feeders for each section of rail. At worst case I might double-head a train, and my power packs put out 1.5 amps max before the current limiter comes into play, so my wiring is plenty adequate for the loads I am running.
I suspect you gave either the wrong Tech series or model number. If you are really looking to hang an independent controller off the fixed DC or AC terminals on a single con
whoops!!! hahaha, thanks for pointing that out dude. it IS the 2600 that I have. donno why i said the 1500…
anyway, yeah, thats what I have. Thats great to know that it has 2 separate transformers, because common rail seems to be a lot easier to deal with than 2-rail.