I’d like to share something I noticed after I bypassed my PSONE power shield which left my NCE power cab and NCE auto switch left to distribute power.
I’ve got a small layout, 11X7 using NCE powercab , Tony’s PSONE powershield and an NCE auto switch. The power shield protects the entire layout, I don’t have any other blocks.
I noticed when running my QSI sound locomotives that the PSONE coudn’t handle the current and would trip after you started up the locomotive. Yes, I’ve read the PSONE manual and maxed out ALL jumpers blah blah blah. Well that helped somewhat, but still not perfect. So I decided to bypass the PSONE with a simple DPDT switch which left the NCE auto switch in the circuit. Well much to my surprise, the auto switch worked similarly to the PSONE but allows me to run my high current drawing sound locomotives with no problem at all.
The reason I purchased the PSONE in the first place was to “quicken” NCE’s power cab restart time when a short occured. If you are using the PowerCab only, it takes about 10 0r 12 seconds to reboot and come back. Tonys PSONE eliminated that headache, but NOW I find that the auto switch pretty much does the same thing. NO WAIT time. I also hear the auto switches relay sputtering when I create a short, and then when its removed I get full control instantly.
I have several PSOne units on my layout and have never had a problem starting up or running several QSI equipped locos through those districts protected by the PSOnes…and all of them are set to the factory default ratings. Sunday I had 7 QSI locos in the same district with no problems.
I’m wondering if you have a problem in your wiring you might have overlooked…
I’d like to have YOUR PSONE’s. As you know the wiring is simple. Two wires in…two wires out. Not much to it. There are however several settings you can adjust on the PSONE to allow for higher current surge on the sound controlled locomotives. I’ve maxed those out.
The last straw was with my new BLI Paragon SD40-2. It’s a current hog and simply would not reverse without tripping my PSONE, or if I throttled it up too quick the PSONE would trip. I’ve had no such problems now bypassing it and leaving the NCE auto switch instead.
Have you called Tony’s to discuss this with the experts? You could have a faulty product. Have you placed an ammeter in the circuit to see exactly how much current is drawn before the trip?
Driline,
I have installed 9 PS(One)'s on my club’s HO layout (along with 16 of the older PSIII’s), and I have never had the problem you’re describing. I have had one PS(One) go bad on me about 1 month after installation (it shorted out all by itself), but after replacement, I’ve not had any problem at all with them in the past 18 months. We run a lot of sound locos around the layout, with those BLI SD40-2’s in pairs or triples, lot’s of BLI steam and E7’s, etc.
Of course, our layout is cut up into many blocks (about 15’ long), and each PS(One) handles 4 such blocks. We don’t get all that many locos all at once on a single PS(One).
How many sound locos do you have on the PS(One) controlled block at one time when you have this problem? Too many will cause it to trip even if they are silenced due to the capacitor charge on power up.
I think contacting Tony’s might be the way to go here…
All it takes is ONE BLI SD40-2 and she shuts down. It used to be 2 or 3 soundtraxx engines, but the BLI really brings it down.
I must have a problem with the PSONE. When I get time I’ll call Tonys and figure it out. For now though I’m up and running with just the NCE autoswitch, which in fact is now doing what I wanted the PSONE to do. INSTANT reboot after a short occurs.
Well, I sent my old PSONE into Tony’s and they sent me a BRAND NEW PSX-1!
WOW, what service! I haven’t had time to check it out yet, but its got some great features. YOu can actually program it from your DCC cab. Its also got block detection too.
