Around Christmas time I bought a Menards O-Gauge Bus Maintenance Facility. I tested it at home using a single output 4.5 VDC/1000 mA no-brand adapter I had. The Maintenance Facility was beautiful, but after a few seconds, the lights (all 45 LED’s) began to blink. I tried it several times, but the same thing happened each time. I boxed it back up, took it to Menards, and exchanged it for another one – the last one they had in stock. Before leaving, I tested this new building at the store with one of the power adapters they had for their displays.
Once home, I installed the new Maintenance Facility on the layout, connected it to an existing terminal strip that is powered by a Step-Down AC-DC Converter Module set at 4.5 V, and everything worked fine. I did not test the new Maintenance Facility with the single output adapter I had tried before.
Fast forward to a few days ago, when I picked up at Menards the Starbucks Coffee Shop I had ordered. Once home, I tested it with a triple-output Lemax 4.5 VDC/1000mA adapter, left it on for about an hour and it was fine. Note that although this adapter has three outputs, its rating is the same as the no-brand single output adapter.
I installed the Coffee Shop on my layout, and since its location was close to the 4.5 VDC terminal strip mentioned earlier, I connected the Coffee Shop to the strip, and it worked fine, but after a few minutes, the lights turned off, and then started to cycle on-off about every 10 second or so. My first reaction was, “Oh no; another Menards building with defective lights!”
But then I noticed that one of the other buildings that was connected to the same terminal strip was going on and off at the same time. So it was not the Coffee Shop after all, but the terminal strip power Module. I checked the rating of the Step-Down AC-DC Converter Module, and it was 2 amps. I did not measure the current draw, but together with the two other buildings already connected to the strip, the total current obviously exceeded 2 amps. I suspect that the Module has an over current protection, perhaps thermal, and it was cycling off and on due to the overload.
Not wanting to use just one of the three outputs of the Lemax adapter and leave two unused, I dug up the single output adapter I had used to test the Bus Maintenance Facility a few months back, and connected it to the Coffee Shop. It lit up fine, but within a few seconds, it started to blink – just like the Maintenance Facility had done! I measured the current draw of the Coffee Shop (37 LED’s) and it was 1.4 amps! I imagine that the draw from the Bus Maintenance Facility, with 45 LED’s, would be higher.
I exchanged the single output adapter with the Lemax 3-output adapter, and everything is A-OK now.
I strongly suspect now that there was nothing wrong with Bus Maintenance Facility I exchanged back in December; but instead, it was the 4.5 VDC/1000 mA no-brand adapter that was the culprit even though it is rated at the same voltage and current as the Lemax, which is working fine.
Somehow, the Coffee Shop, which draws 1.4 amps (as measured with my Fluke 117 multimeter) works fine with the Lemax 4.5VDC adapter that is rated at only 1000 mA, but not with the physically larger and heavier single output adapter that is rated the same.
On their website, Menards lists three adapters for the Starbucks Coffee Shop:
4.5 Volt 1000 mA White 1-Outlet AC to DC Power adapter (2794061) - $7.99
4.5 Volt 2000 mA White 3-Outlet AC to DC Power adapter (2794062) - $ 9.99
4.5 Volt 5000 mA White 1-Outlet AC to DC Power adapter (2794050) - $19.99
If you buy one, choose carefully ...
Alex
