# NCE PH-10R with Mean Well SP-320-24



## philtheking5 (Nov 17, 2021)

Well, I got my NCE 10 amp wireless system. I am a bit nervous about connecting my Mean Well power source. In a previous post, Greg had written that it was a good power source for the PH-10 but I am a bit "iffy" as the instructions state not to use anything over 22 volts and my Mean Well is 24 volts. There looks to be an adjustment on the left side of the electric connections. It is a small, square, blue box with a Philip's head screw. Above this is inscribed, "+V ADJ" with an arrow and a plus sign. I attached my multi meter and was able to adjust it down, so it looked like it was putting out around 18 volts. I am really unsure about all of this and on top of it all, the actual NCE directions are quite a bit lacking in how to set up the unit itself. There is a lot more guess work involved in how to set up the remote receiver, for one. Does any of this sound familiar? I am going to take my time and do some on line searching but was hoping I may get some advice to clear up some of my questions. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all, by the way!


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

You need to trust the experts. If you cannot believe me, then get the info from Mark Gurries, or the NCE forum. 

It's published somewhere besides my site, max voltage is 28 VDC... the AC and DC limits are different. We just had an NCE employee state the system will quit at 34 V DC.

You don't need to mess with the adjustment on the Meanwell, in fact.. the limitation will be the NCE, it won't go over about 21.6 volts even with the internal NCE output voltage pot turned all the way up.

https://ncedcc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/article_attachments/211497866/PH-PROv2007.pdf This manual is actually from 2007, The manual is as old as dirt, and the beginning only considers AC input, it does say so, but not well.

I purchased the NCE system primarily because it was 10 amps and could take DC input, which is easily regulated.

This is one of the major reasons my site exists, to fill in missing information or hard to get information and correct common errors caused by bad information.

Please read the NCE pages on my site again. Alternatively you can spend 10 years getting the real information like I did. My pages have been checked over by the other NCE knowledgable people.






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## philtheking5 (Nov 17, 2021)

Hi Greg,

A big part of me didn't want to ask about this again because you had indicated in a previous post that this Mean Well was a good power source for the PH-10. I got really nervous when I read NCE's warning though so I wanted to be sure. I think your site may be what led me to buying this Mean Well a few years ago, not to mention all the info that allowed me to fix various things on my "Connie" earlier this year. I very much appreciate your reply and the above links (I have your site bookmarked) and can move forward with confidence. My Zimo MX697 works really well in the new 4-6-0 and I look forward to using the wireless cab with all my Bachmann engines.

Thanks so much,
Phil Nymark


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Yeah, their documentation is crap, unfortunately. You would think that after 13 years they could update their manuals!

One thing is that they know very little about G scale and G scale voltages, even though the DCC track voltage normal and max is specified in the NMRA standard.

So, to them, 16 volts is max, and that is because they consider O scale "large scale" and over 16 volts will burn out the typical O scale incandescent bulbs.

The NCE groups.io forum is great, and all the "NCE rock stars" hang out there. Between Mark Gurries, and Marcus Ammerman (and me to a much lesser extent), they know more about the NCE product than NCE actually does.

Greg


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## philtheking5 (Nov 17, 2021)

Greg Elmassian said:


> Yeah, their documentation is crap, unfortunately. You would think that after 13 years they could update their manuals!
> 
> One thing is that they know very little about G scale and G scale voltages, even though the DCC track voltage normal and max is specified in the NMRA standard.
> 
> ...


I revisited your site and did some further digging into on line manuals and such. I should be able to get this together but probably tomorrow. I still need to look into the NCE Forum. My wife and daughter left for her parents for the week. With all the rain, I might run a line across the house and back.

Thanks Greg!


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Ideally, 24v to the rails allows every loco I have come across run at prototype speed. The worst offenders are the Aristo 3 axle locos.

You might get some bulb burnout much above 18v if you leave incandescent lights that are wired directly to the rails (which you should change anyway) I run 24v on the rails and the only lights I have lost were marker lights on a caboose...

Whatever you put into the nce, you will get about 3 volts less on the rails DCC, and again, even if you open the booster and manually turn that trimpot up all the way, you won't even hit 21 volts.

So with 24 volts input, you could almost get 21v on the rails.

Greg


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