Suggestions for a power supply

[MtRR75]

RailPro  post.

Suggestions for a Power Supply

I use Railpro’s PWR-56 for the power supply on my layout, and am pleased with it.  But now I am planning a 2nd layout – sort of.  This will be a simple loop that runs around our family room, just below the ceiling.  One train, one track, no turnouts, no grades, HO scale.  I will use my HC-2 to control the train.

As for the power supply, I understand that Railpro will run on any power supply as long as it fits certain criteria (I don’t know what these criteria are).

Does anybody know of a quality power supply that is significantly cheaper than RailPro’s, that will run my train?

Doug

[Alan]

You are looking for a 15 volt 2 amp regulated DC power supply. Many laptop power bricks fit this description. There are also numerous wall wart style units available. eBay is a good economical source.

[nodcc4me]

I use a 15v regulated power supply that was recommended by Alan a few years ago. It works very well for my test track. I like that it's regulated. Keep in mind that you will have to clean your track more often, as opposed to the RP power supply.

[MtRR75]

Thanks for the info.

Keep in mind that you will have to clean your track more often, as opposed to the RP power supply.

But why is this

[Alan]

Keep in mind that you will have to clean your track more often, as opposed to the RP power supply.

I too am curious why you say this.

[nodcc4me]

Years ago, Ring used to promote their power supplies stating that you would not have to clean track as often as with others, including DCC power. I don't remember exactly why, but I believe it had something to do with filtering. I haven't actually read anything similar since the PWR56 came out, so I don't know if that still applies. My layout uses their PWR75 and I almost never have to clean the track. However, my test track uses the power supply I mentioned above, and although it gets much less use, that track has to be cleaned often.

[Alan]

I believe I remember the Ring claim you refer to. I think that was versus DCC which is believable because of the square wave being pushed down the rails with DCC. Any momentary loss of contact disrupts the control signal. RailPro, just like any other DC power supply, has no signal waveform in the output. It is just plain ole straight DC current.

The inclusion of a radio repeater is what sets the RailPro power supply apart however, that has nothing to do with cleaning track.

I suspect the reason your test track requires more cleaning is due to limited use, not to the power supply. Wheels rolling on rails has a cleaning effect. The reason why layouts that see a lot of operation require less track cleaning than layouts used only occasionally, assuming everything else being equal.

[nodcc4me]

That makes sense. And the wheels cleaning the track might explain why my wheels require cleaning more than the layout track, and deposit gunk on the test track.

[Dean]

It could be that DCC runs signals to the engines through the rails. RailPro talks directly to the engine.

[nodcc4me]

When I was a DCC club member, the rails and wheels had to be cleaned constantly in order for my RP engines to work properly. I'm sure it had to do with the signals through the rails.

[gregeusa]

Makes no sense to me, I guess I would like to see the "original claim". (link?)

In general, the full voltage square wave of DCC gets through oxidation better than DC, but then does it dirty the wheels faster?

I've never seen any proof one way or the other.... love to see any links on real information, but more out of curiosity than anything.

Greg