Good grief. Another proponent of dead rail. I have no intention of even considering dead rail until such time as they make lemons small enough to fit in the hood of my 44 ton loco.
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Would this work if you hooked 3 Yugos together? They would not spoil like the fruit.
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If you switch those leads back and forth really fast you can get AC?
For you guys that live in warmer climes, every time you come home with a couple of new loco’s and need a booster, you can just go pick one off the tree on the porch.[(-D]
That kind of citrus abuse wouldn’t be tolerated here in Ohio!
Stabbing poor lemons with zinc and copper bayonets [:|]
We have LEMON LAWS to protect the innocent, little, rutaceaes.
All this talk of lemons is making me thirsty… time for a margarita [D]
Ed
When life gives you lemons, make POWER.
–Randy
Both Walwarts are now dead. RIP!
I resurrected a ‘dead’ wall wart (meant to charge 18V battery of a long-defunct power drill, 1.8A at 21VDC) by getting the guts and plumbing out of its shell. After excising the bridge rectifier (I wanted AC) and discarding the fuse I mounted the transformer in a plastic project box, installed a 3-wire line cord with plug, provided it with an appropriate breaker (reset button easily accessible) and termini (#8 studs) and anchored it to the benchwork adjacent to the Nonomura control panel. It operates twin-coil switch machines and a couple of relays, applications for which I needed enough voltage to work the devices with half-wave DC. There are diodes in all the circuits, but no bridge rectifiers.
The most important thing to remember is to connect the line cord to the correct blades of the built-in 120VAC plug - including the ground connection. You don’t want to have a close encounter of the wrong kind with house current!
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Hi, Chuck
I have found relatively few wall-warts that can actually be pried open. If you do manage to get the shell off you are left with a large epoxy blob. It seems like so many electronic devices today are being dunked in some kind of epoxy or almost a tar-like substance. I recently had a $50. electronic ballast for a T-5 light fixture go dead. I wanted to poke around in there to see what went bad and after I got the housing open, all I was confronted with was a rectangular lump of green epoxy.
Rather than wall-warts, I like the power supplies that can be had for cheap from some of the Ebay sellers or All-Electronics.
Although I do use my share of wall-warts. I’m careful not to short them and I would say that out of the hundred or so that I have on hand I can remember only ONE being DOA.
Regards, Ed
Howdy, Ed.
I ‘pried’ that wall wart open with a little judiciously-applied torque - on the handle of a bench vise. Steel beats plastic every time.
The co-occupant of that little project box is a 12.6V 3A center-tapped filament transformer. It carries the local light and panel indicator circuits.
There’s still room in the box for a local control power pack for the two Down freight holding yards, which I’ll need when switching the cassette dock.
I have a few other wall warts on hand, but none with a 20V - 24V output. For lower voltages, give me a filament transformer every time.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with primitive, but bulletproof, electricals, all fully documented)