# Railboss 4 Trackside R/C Compatible Power Supplies



## John Carmichael (Jan 18, 2016)

Hello All:

I have been using the old Aristocraft Crest Train Engineer for years and want to replace it with the new G Scale Graphics *Railboss 4 Trackside R/C*. 

On page 5 of the Railboss 4 Trackside manual https://www.gscalegraphics.net/uploads/2/5/7/7/25776635/trackside_manual_c.pdf 
It warns against using certain DC power supplies as they will fry the circuit board.

I want to connect the Railboss 4 Trackside receiver to my *MG Electronics PS-10AD Regulated and Filtered Power Supply *http://mgelectronics.com/power/powe...c-output/13-8vdc-bench-top/10-a-ps-10adps12c/

I love my MG power supply and don't want to purchase a different one. 

Does anybody know if my power supply is safe to use with Railboss 4 Trackside?

If I must buy a different power supply, other than the Meanwell units that G Scale Graphics recommends, does anybody know if a Bridgewerks controller is compatible with the Railboss 4 Trackside R/C?

thank you so much,

John Carmichael


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## Homo Habilis (Jul 29, 2011)

Have you contacted the vendor, Del? While I use the RailBoss 4 via battery, he has been most helpful, accurate and prompt with any queries that I have posed.


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## John Carmichael (Jan 18, 2016)

I just called Del. What a guy!

He was most helpful. I found out that my MG Electronics PS-10AD Regulated Power Supply will work with Railboss 4 Trackside R/C since it has a low output ripple of only 2mVrms. Del says that the output ripple should be less than 1V, so it should be just fine.

For those of you that have Bridgewerk controllers, while I had Del on the phone, I asked if Railboss Trackside would work with any of the Bridgewerk controllers and he told me that he didn't have experience with Bridgewerks, but imagined that they would be ok too.

If Railboss Trackside works as well as I think it will, it will be the ideal replacement for everybody's old and aging Crest Trackside Train Engineers. Most of the guys in our Tucson Garden Railroad Society currently use Train Engineer and are worried what they will replace them with when they wear out since they are unavailable. Many don't need or want the extra complexity and features of the new Crest Revolution. Railboss 4 Trackside seems to be the perfect replacement.

By the way, since the Railboss 4 Plus remotes are the same for both battery and trackside applications, they are interchangeable in case you have both systems and only have one or the battery dies on one and you need another in an emergency.

So, I'm going to order the Railboss 4 Trackside today. I will report results back when it's installed.

can't wait!

John Carmichael


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

Be careful with some supplies as they go way above the max voltage specs for train electronics. Bridgeworks has output terminals labeled 38 volts and with no load can be as high as 45 volts. Be careful!!!!


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## Mark_s (Jun 24, 2013)

Some Bridgewerks power supplies have accessory outputs which are not regulated, and nominally are 24V, although with no load can be higher.
Older MAG-15 power supplies also are unregulated, but the newer MAG-15 power supplies - marked MAG-15R do have regulators in them that limit the output voltage to 20V, regardless of load. We can also make the MAG-15R to regulate to another voltage if requested.

Mark Sauerwald
Bridgewerks.


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## John Carmichael (Jan 18, 2016)

I installed and tested the new Railboss 4 Trackside R/C yesterday and am happy to report that it worked flawlessly as advertised. 

I absolutely love the little six button remote! It fits so nicely in my hand and in my pocket. I can operate it by feel with my thumb. I was so happy to get rid of that old outdated clunky brick-like heavy Train Engineer remote with that obnoxious antenna!

The Railboss Trackside base station receiver is slightly smaller than the Train Engineer reveiver so it fit very nicely in the place in my electrical cabinet where the other one was.

The range of the Railboss 4 was great and reached to the farthest point of my layout. 

One last thing, The momentum feature is definitely better with Railboss than with Train Engineer. The engines I tested all started very smoothly at very slow speeds. With Train Engineer, my engines would move in a jerky fashion at very low speeds, but with Railboss, they crawl along smoothly. This is because Railboss has built-in high frequency PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) which makes the motors run smoother at low voltage without overheating. Marvelous!!!

This really is the perfect replacement for the old Train Engineer.


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