Where to you buy your 1.5 amp fuses and fuse box?

I would install 6 amp circuit breakers, the kind with a red reset button.  These circuit breakers are about 2" x 3/4" x 1" tin box and are a couple dollars and should be available at local electronic supply houses or eBay.  I not available now they have plastic ones with a reset button for panel  or in line mounting.  I have too many shorts to pay for fuses and mess with changing them. 

"Each Lionel LW train transformer runs only trains and is protected with a 6 amp circuit breaker mounted below the control panel with the reset button sticking up threw the panel face.  The CB's have a 18 volt light bulbs wired across the contacts and mounted below red plastic to show the light (labeled "Short") when the CB trips.  The CB is reset with by pushing the red reset button on the control panel.

Left side switch panel of active touch track Diagram below.   "Reset" is for 6 amp circuit breaker (CB) for inside loop LW  transformer (the reset button is part of the 6 amp circuit breaker mounted under the panel 1/8 in Masonite panel)

"Short" is light wired across CB to light when tripped, the red Reset button is the actual CB reset button as the CB is below the control panel.

 The above is from my layout write here on OGR at

https://ogrforum.com/...ra-027-layout?page=1

The topic has a Table of Contents to make finding info easy.

Charlie

Thanks for the info Choo Choo, but geez, I wanna buy something, not build something.  : ) 

(My transformer is not an LW).

I like the idea of a pop-up button.  So,  I wonder if I can just buy something like that.

Mannyrock

Mannyrock

You can get circuit breakers that mount inline or on the wire from transformer to track.  You can tape up the contacts to keep for shocking or shorting.

Charlie

Yes Choo Choo, I can buy, I can get, I can find . . . . but from where?   Is there a model train catalogue that has all of these things?   Fuses, boxes, switches, etc.   All of the things that everybody is telling me I need to get?

I have not had much luck fishing on Ebay, because often the technical stuff is sketchy or vague.

Hope you can tell me a place that carries all of these things for model railroaders.

Thanks,

Mannyrock

@Mannyrock posted:

Yes Choo Choo, I can buy, I can get, I can find . . . . but from where?   Is there a model train catalogue that has all of these things?   Fuses, boxes, switches, etc.   All of the things that everybody is telling me I need to get?

I have not had much luck fishing on Ebay, because often the technical stuff is sketchy or vague.

Hope you can tell me a place that carries all of these things for model railroaders.

Thanks,

Mannyrock

It just might help if you tell folks where you live.

Why does it matter where the guy lives?

If you know where these items can be found, just give the guy the name and contact information of the shop or online store and he can do the rest.

These are 6 amp in line breakers ....  W28‑XQ1A‑6

@rattler21 posted:

Why are you using 250 volts to the track? Better use something larger than 16 gauge wire and get some heavy duty motors in your engines and keep your hands off the track.   Usually 110-120 into the transformer and about 24 (max) to the track,  john

I'll go out on a limb and suggest that he's referring to the standard options available for the majority of glass fuses, and not in any way considering putting 250V on the track . 

There is not a huge range available that lets you tailor the voltage spec on the fuse to close to what you actually are using.  Many are 250 Volt rated.  (If you have any spares left over from Radio Shack days (RIP), many of those were 250 volt for the regular 3AG and 5x20 mm variety, even though home use generally tops out at 125 volts for most of us in the US.). 

-Dave

Fuse holders were purchased from Grainger Supply.  Click on underlined to link.   Buss fuses, any Automotive parts supply.  Track power fuses 8 amps or less.   Accessory fuses 3 amps or less.  

Try Electronic Goldmine @goldmine-elec-products.com.

Thanks for the replies. I will start looking at those sources.  (Great picture Mike!)

I live in Culpeper, VA, about an hour and a half southeast of the DC Metro area.   I am only one hour away from the Dulles  Airport Convention Center, which has large train shows about 4 times per year.  But, it looks like they are all cancelled due to Covid 19.  So, no luck there.

No, I am not running 250 volts to the track.  I only mention this figure because every bus fuse box I can find on Ebay for low amperage AC current says that it is  250 volts. 

I only have a little Lionel 4150 transformer. It says on the top:   7.5 VA and Secondary voltage 8 -5 volts.

I was originally asking about 1.5 amp fuses, because I may run a DC line to the layout to power . But lets forget about DC power for now.

For now, I am going to run the AC voltage to the track from the transformer.

So, for that I would need an 8 amp bus fuse or so.

The question is, if buy a fuse box that says it is for 8 AC amps, 250 volts, is that OK?  Does it matter that the fuse box says 250 volts?  Or, do I have to find a box that says it is for 15 volts or so?

Thanks very much,

Mannyrock

Check local Yellow pages under Electronic Equip & Supplies Whsle & Mfrs if you have a phone book (or search it) .  Do not worry about wholesale as they will sell to anybody with money and they supply local electricians, electronic shops and hobby guys like us.  Call them first to see if they have the one you want.  Boy we miss the ole Radio Shack local store as they used to have fuses and circuit breakers.

I do well with eBay on line but there are many other but you will have to watch the shipping.  Jamsco Electronic and Digi-key Electronics have everything.

For trains I do not bother with the voltage ratings.  A fuse or CB will trip on amps no mater the voltage.  Just do not use a 18v or 110 v one for 220 v service.

One thing about fuses, even 8 amps.  I have 6 amp circuit breakers on my transformer to track wires.  Just last night the CB tripped several times on derailments.  Derailments and shorts like screw driver left on tracks are the main cause of trips and most are dead shorts so 8 or 10 or 12 amps will not matter, the fuses will blow.  You pick the amperage so they do not trip under normal or heavy use to not exceed the transformers output amperage, mine is 6 amp for an Lionel LW.  The circuit breaker or fuse is to protect the transformer from over load.  I my opinion, fuses are too much trouble to be changing out and to expensive to buy for this common short pron service.

Picture of the circuit breakers on my transformers install 30 or so years ago (this is like mine but lower amperage)

This is a recent circuit breaker as I could not find the 6 amp CB of the style above then, these came in 5, 10, 15 amp ratings.  Voltage is for 50v max and our trains are about 18v max.

For trip indication, wire a 18 volt light bulb across the contacts.  It will not burn if not tripped but will light when tripped.

Charlie

Choo Choo,

Manny thanks for that excellent information.

Mannyrock

Napa auto is a source for self resetting themal breakers, but the small ones need to be ordered. (24v can be had, 12v shown, tabs can come off this one)

I often use fuse alone while talking, a breaker does the same job.

A fast blow /slow blow is just that. A slighy different burn rate. Slo blow are more tolerant of occasional unexpected peaks (motors etc). Fast blow burns NOW!  You'll usually see a heat sink inside a slow blow to more evenly distribute heat on the element)

VA is not Amps. It's volt amps, similar to watts almost, much less power than an amp. A different way of measuring "work". Personally, I felt it was a bait and switch labeling tactict to make little supplies look more powerful. You can convert VA with Amps with a formula too. (this is usually a better measurement in supply design than user builds.)

They should almost say 0-250v at x amps. ....Yep, thats fine.