I recently got a ho scale train set for xmas it’s the thunderball hauler set by life-like and have added a ton of track, cars and three locomotives since. My question is about the transformer that I am using. It is the standard issue transformer, its blue with the blue switch that came with the set. I have only one terminal rerailer and about 85 ft of track and I noticed today the further away my train gets from the terminal the less juice it has. Clearly I need to upgrade my transformer that much I get but I wanted to know what transformers some of you would recommend that would be under 50 bucks that i should invest as I have already spent most of my budget. I like running my 2 AC4400 together pulling my 30 cars just to give you an idea of the voltage needed. Or do I even need a new transformer? Could I get another terminal rerailer and put that halfway and wire both the one transfromer to get a solid continous circuit. What do you all think. Thanks
You probably don’t need a different transformer, you just need to feed power to the track in more locations by running more wires from the transformer to the locations that are the furthest away from it.
Chief:
Another terminal track is a good idea. You probably have a lot of little losses in rail joints that add up over all that distance.
If the locos run well when close to the terminal track, then you have enough power in the pack. The blue LL packs, if they’re the ones I’m thinking of, don’t give the best control at slow speeds. If you want slower creeping speeds, you could try the MRC Railpower 1300, which is the cheapest they make IIRC. I have one. Power is a bit better (7 VA; I think the LL packs are 5 VA) and low-speed control is good. The LL trainset equipment runs a lot better on a good pack.
For 85 feet of track you want at least four power feeds spaced about equidistant. Rail joiners do not conduct well after the joints begin to loosen and oxidize. Add these first then think about your power packs features. As said above, if the train runs well near the pack then the pack is strong enough.
Have fun.
The track I’m using is the power loc e-z track by life-like so I think one more terminal should do the trick because I moved the terminal today between too very close locations and half of my track had good power and the other half did not.
Question about wiring. On the transformer it only has one spot to run the wires to the terminal, is there anyway to connect one transformer to two terminals. Thanks for all the great info, I appreicate it.
You can’t have too many connections to the track. I’ve known guys to put a separate feed to every piece of rail! That said, you should have at least 3, and 4 couldn’t hurt. The actual connections in the EZ track are brass, which oxidizes readily, and the oxide of brass is a non-conductor of electricity.
Several ways, actually. The classy way is to use a two-sided terminal strip you get from Radio Shack: run a wire from one of the power pack terminals to the first terminal on one end of one side of the terminal strip. Continue that wire down the length of the strip, skipping every other terminal. Repeat with a wire from the other power pack terminal, to the remaining terminals on the strip. You have now increased the number of outputs from your power pack to half of the number of terminals on the strip - if it was an 8-terminal strip, you now have 4 pairs of output terminals. Run wires accordingly. Just remember to wire the same side to the same rail in all cases, or you’ll have a massive short circuit, possibly burning out your power pack.
The simplest way, if the power pack has screw terminals, is to just twist the bare ends of however many wires you want to put on the terminal together, bend the twisted wires into a hook, and stick them under the terminal.
Another way is to run a wire from the power pack to one terminal on the terminal track, then from there to another, etc.
Just remember to wire the same to all terminal tracks. Run all of t