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10 Amps Into an 8 Amp Booster

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TwinStar:
Seeing as I have to be DCC compliant, I was wondering what would happen if you powered a Digitrax DB210 (http://www.digitrax.com/products/command-stations-boosters/db210/) with a 10 amp Mean Well power supply https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mean-Well-LRS-150F-15-150W-15V-10A-Single-Output-Switching-Power-Supply/122310427178?epid=670826694&hash=item1c7a45022a:g:0RYAAOSw2xRYeQ-r:rk:2:pf:0)

Would the DB210 limit the output to 8 amps?

G8B4Life:
The DB210 will only draw what it needs at any given time from the power supply, so say if your only running a couple of trains drawing say 2 amps total from the DB210 then the DB210 will only be drawing 2 Amps (+ a little headroom) from the power supply. Except in circumstances such as catastrophic failure of the DB210 the DB210 won't draw more than it supplies (+ a little headroom for losses in the internal circuitry).

You always want more capacity in the power supply than what you want to power (in this case a DB210) uses; if you used an 8 Amp power supply and the DB210 was drawing 8 Amps a lot you'd be setting the power supply up for "early retirement" so you want more than 8A available to the DB210 even though it can't use the extra Amps. I forget the technical term for this. I don't know if 2A is much "headroom" in this case, Alan, our resident expert on using these things for everything in the train room should be able to say for certain.

Sorry, I'm rambling... The Mean Well supply you posted should work just fine for powering the DB210. Here is the spec sheet for it: https://www.meanwell.com/webapp/product/search.aspx?prod=LRS-150F

- Tim

TwinStar:
Thanks Tim. So I'm guessing that I should have bought a 7A version for my DB150 (5A) instead of the 5A version?

Alan:
Tim is spot on.

5A power supply with your DB150 is likely not a problem as seldom is there enough load (trains) to pull the full 5A. Power supply life is shortened only when the full rated current is delivered for an extended time.

TwinStar:
Tim and Alan, I've wired my module set into two separate power districts and have opted for the DB220 instead of the DB210. Here's a link to my new power supply that I'm considering:

https://www.trcelectronics.com/View/Mean-Well/HRP-300-15.shtml?msclkid=9f91cbbb249a11d927809466b6433a20

Is this OK?

As an aside, we're hosting a private Free-mo setup in January and 3 of the operators will be RailPro and 1 is BlueRail.

Jacob

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