Aux Power to TIU

If there's a Radio Shack near youu, you could go there and get a plug identical to their Adaptaplug "M".  Better hurry, as today's WSJ reports R-S is about to enter bankruptcy.

RJR,

  Tomorrow I am thinking about buying a 2nd RS power supply to make sure I have one for my 2nd TIU, might even purchase 2 if they still have them.

PCRR/Dave

I haven't had a chance to read today's WSJ in detail, to check if R-S is going into Chapter 7 (liquidation) or Chapter 11 (reorganization).  If the latter, the store probably will stay open awhile.

I don't think they know for sure yet.

RadioShack Corp. is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection as early as next month, people familiar with the matter said, following a sputtering turnaround effort that left the electronics chain short on cash.

A filing could come in the first week of February, one of the people said. The Fort Worth, Texas, company has reached out to potential lenders who could help fund its operations during the process, another person said.

Meanwhile, RadioShack is in talks with a private-equity firm that could buy its assets out of bankruptcy, the people said. They cautioned that the talks with the private-equity firm may not produce a deal and that the company may try instead for a more typical reduction of debt and restructuring of its operations in bankruptcy court.

Thats bad about the bankrupt Radioshack. I liked it back in the 70's when they had more electrical and better items. The items they have now are junk. I guess they have to make do with what they have.

From an older post:

The Radio Shack product is Enercell­ Switchable 18/24VAC 1 AMP Power Adapter #273-331 with #273-344 Enercell Adaptaplug M. This AC transformer should be used in the 18 Volt position.  Adaptaplug M is a seperate piece that best fits the TIU Aux power plug-in.

This is the part that works with the TIU.  You may be able to search Enercell beyond the Radio Shack website to see if it is available via other venders. IMO. Though it appears Enercell is closely related to Radio Shack.  Requirements for this source were listed on the MTH website or in the manual supplied with a TIU .

Auxillary Power supply 12-22 volts AC, 1.5 amps.   From the DCS TIU manual page 2.

You can get the Enercell Switchable Power  Supply on Amazon for $21.20.  If you are a Prime Member - shipping is FREE.

bruce b,

   Good grief, I paid $10.95 for mine long ago. Right form the RS store in Forest Hills, Pa.  That store is long gone now.

PCRR/Dave

Look around your electronics junk drawer. I found 2 wall warts in a drawer with the right output, and they both had the exact plug to fit in the TIU. Cost me nothing, and I don't even know what they were from, probably an old router or cordless phone base.. who knows. You may already have something you can use for no cost at all.

If you hook to the 14V acc post and common on a KW you will have 20V. That might not work for the TIU. The 14V does not use the commons for everything else.I'm not saying it won't work, but it might be a problem.

While my fascination with the future of Radio Shack knows no bounds, no one has yet answered my fundamental question re the use of the KW accessory power for the TIU, the attachment of the common to the TIU Aux Input (which would also be common across the layout), and the polarity to observe on the plug.  Can anyone answer those questions?  Thanks in advance for your help!

Apart from your boundless fascination, the dearth of response is probably due from no one being sure if the shell of the jack is grounded.  Apart from that, 14 volts should do it, and polarity would be not important, since input can be AC or DC.

Actually, Laidoffsick gave the best advice, becuase if for some reason there should be a shutdown of the KW, or a short circuit on any of its outputs which would reduce the voltage to the TIU, the TIU would be left without power and trains would continue to run without control.  Personally, I decline to use any of my transformers for powering a TIU, other than a dedicated unit.

My local R-S, in thew Potomac Milles Mall, is closing and having a 25% off sale; they have a stock of the Enercells.

Best input to date re the polarity issue.  The reliability problem is less clear:  I will try hooking up the KW to see how it goes; no one seems to view the common (or even the polarity) as an issue.  Thanks!

We used the wall warts to power the TIU for a couple reasons. We had them already so there was no extra cost. Most importantly because:

We have a ZW-C with 4 bricks that run through the TIU. By powering the TIU with AUX power, that allows us to make all 4 channels of the TIU variable. We CAN run conventional by dialing the voltage up or down using the Cab1/2, and because it's running through the TIU, they become variable. Each channel only puts out the voltage we put in by dialing it up with the Cab1/2.

Of course not everyone wants or needs to do that, but it allows us to run conventional, DCS, or TMCC/Legacy on any of our 3 loops at any given time. Without the aux power, you can't do that because 2 of the TIU channels are fixed voltage. So if we were running brick # 1, through channel #1 on the TIU at 8 volts, the TIU would not power up. The AUX power wall wart powers it up, so we can run whatever voltage into the TIU and it still works like it's supposed to.

In the case of a derailment, the breaker on the bricks will kick instantly, and we just reset that. The TIU never loses power until we shut down the master power switch of the layout.

Var,

   Thanks for the education, this is actually good to know, nobody that I have known ever tried to us the KW for powering the TIU thru the Aux port, good info.

PCRR/Dave