# Are my old ham supplies safe to use?



## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

I've gotten my non-railroad projects out of the way (for the most part), and I'm finally able to start work on the big outdoor railroad. Between now and when the snow flies I plan to put down a loop of track around the big flower bed to get a feel for how I plan to dance my gandy off come spring. I purchased an Aristocraft engine unit which should be here in a week or so. 

At this point I don't have a clue what brand of power/control I'll buy next year. I originally thought I'd go with battery, but all those years in HO, and American Flyer as a kid, keep me coming back to wire. So it looks like it'll be DCC. That's what I'll be studying up on this winter. For now, I just want to get the single unit moving around the track.

Here's what I have in the basement: a regulated DC power supply, output 4.5 - 15 vdc, 25 amp with surge protection and short circuit protection. It has a knob on the front to control vdc out. My big concern, even beyond will it move the loco, is "will it do any damage?" Then, will it move the loco?

I have another regulated DC power supply rated at 24 vdc, constant current 3 amp, surge 5 amp, fuse protected. Will this have any real use for me, or should I sell it?

Your knowledge is appreciated. Someday I hope to have some of my own.

jack


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

sure, I'm a ham also. The only problem with the 15v supply is that unless you are running narrow gauge and 35 mph or under, the voltage will be too low. 

the 24v is good, but amps low... one loco at best and it has to be lightly loaded and efficient... I'd sell it... 

Regards, Greg


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

I agree with Greg.E. It's like using a pr. of 5881 to drive an 807 final using 250 plate voltage. When you can use transistor with 12 volts to do the same thing.
My BC 610 been sitting in storage for a long time now. Do to the cost of just firing it up with the pr of 100 TH's driving a 250TH final.. but hey ...I can hear my voice thru the modulation meter.. hahahaha.. and i can get a few watts of RF out. 
Yup... Times have changed and Garden R.R. and it is a differen critter. 
We need 20 vdc or so and it's nice to have at least 10 amps for track power with all of the big eng. power that is out there now. Garden R..R. mfg. don't seem to make any non-power eng's. so the more you mute the more curent they draws. 
Even my Ho large power supplys are not larges enough to run most of my G-gage Engs. 
I have one power supply that is 30 amps. for my ho layout but the voltage is only 18 a/c and by the time i get it filltered to DC, I'm lucky to get a good 12 vdc if the power company out here in the boondock don't drop to low power as sometime they do. 
Best thing like Greg said .. sell what you don't use and get something with some power that we know you will need as you get more in the hobby later on.. It pays in the long run. 
Jack, Glad you are going G- R.R. Its a great hobby and this is the place to ask questions.


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

Thanks for the info, guys. As long as I can't damage the new locomotive, I'll use the variable 15vdc supply this fall and do my research for what will best suit my needs next spring. And sell these two power supplies at the big local hamfest next year.

This might be a good time to put in a plug for "hamfests". I'm sure a lot of railroaders aren't aware that many local amateur radio clubs put on electronic flea markets (hamfests) periodically. Very often you can find good deals on things like hand tools, connectors, solder, shrink tubing, batteries. No guarantee that you'll find what you're looking for, but sometimes you can score big time.

You can find a listing of most of the hamfests in U.S. and Canada at the website of the American Radio Relay League at: www.arrl.com. Look for a link to conventions and hamfests.

jack


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

One thing you might want to keep in the back of your mind is that coreless motors like the Faulhaber which some Large Scale manufacturers use (not Aristocraft) only like pure DC, not DC with low frequency AC superimposed on it. 
Same applies running these motors using DCC - you want a very high PWM frequency driving these motors, 16 KHz and up which will look like DC to them. 
Not an issue in your particular situation - I just mention it as something to watch out for in the future. 

For an analog power pack I would try to get one that is regulated - I switched from a regular 'run-of-the-mill model train power pack to a regulated power set up a few years back, and the trains run much better - they don't slow down as much going up grades or due to variations in load (going around tight curves for instance) simply because the voltage doesn't drop as the current requirements increase. 

knut


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## Tom Bray (Jan 20, 2009)

Just as a note, I ran my MTH engines around using an MFJ switching supply that only puts out 15V. It worked fine except the top end was reduced. Reality is that it wasn't a whole lot slower than my MRC G Power supply that puts out rectified AC but without any filtering in it. My Hudson would hit around 55 SMPH (MTH DCS system commands Scale MPH) before it went into the labored state which meant that the speed was set higher than it could achieve. I think the F7 would hit about 60 SMPH. 

If you don't want to go out and spend money on a supply when you buy the engine and track, it should be fine to play with initially. 

Tom


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## George Schreyer (Jan 16, 2009)

welcome to the hobby. Spend wisely or you can spend a bunch. 

see link for some good beginner info 

http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips.html


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