Hi all I really have 2 questions.
1) while running my PS3 engine and I increase the speed once I get to 30 MPH with a 2.5 AMP Draw the sound stops.
2) Should I be running my Z4000 at a higher watt then 18?
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Mike,
Just turn off Clickity-Clack:
Menu/Sound/Clickity-Clack, press soft key "OFF" and press the thumbwheel.
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2.5A seems quite a lot unless you're pulling a lot of cars.
gunrunnerjohn posted:2.5A seems quite a lot unless you're pulling a lot of cars.
maybe the voltage at the engine is too low? His handle might not be what the engine is getting. How big of wire are you using? How many drops in the loop.
Hi Barry, I will give that a try when I get home from work!
John, That's what I thought, I only have 10 cars behind the engine.
Joe, I am running 18AWG for the main and 18AWG for the drops. I have 4 blocks around the layout. The room is only 24' X 12'.
My experience would suggest you have a significant voltage drop between your transformer and the actual track. You didn't say type of track or how long your track, but if close to your room size then the wiring size is contributing to the loss. If you have a simple volt meter you can put one lighted car on the track and then measure the voltage.
Your engine requires x amount of watts to run at a particular speed; it is going to get that from volts or amps. If your engine needs 25 watts to operate and your voltage at the track is 18 volts, then your current draw will be around 1.4 amps. If the actual voltage at track is 12 volts, your current draw will be around 2.1 amps.
I would run the voltage up to 21/22 volts to see if your current draw drops. I would also suggest 12/14 AWG wire for main and 16AWG for drops. Depending on size of your layout you might consider more drops. I've seen some recommendations of no more than 10 track joints for each drop with the drop in the middle. Some tracks can have poor connections between the rail joiners.
I should also mention that if those 10 cars are lighted passenger cars, then 2.5 amps would be reasonable.
Thanks Ken, the only other lighted car is the caboose. come to find out it only really happens going up an incline. But I did turn off the clickity-clack and the sound stays on. The amps also only went as high a 2.1. I still might add a drop in the middle of the incline.
