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New PowerShield II
All of us who use Command Control Systems are aware
of the annoyance and damage caused by track shorts. At the least,
a track short interrupts operating, at the worst, it can fry expensive
power supplies or related components or hardware. Of course, track
shorts multiply in conjunction with the number of operators.
There have been many solutions proposed : Ballast
Lamps, Relays, Kill Switches and Swearing. None of the above have
been good solutions. The problem is that all good power supplies,
whether conventional DC or Command Control DC or AC have built in
circuit protection that senses a short and shuts down all power
in about 1/4 second. While this in most cases protects the power
supply, it obviously shuts down all activity until our co-operators
get their Loco back on the track, etc. Furthermore, this circuit
protection can go on and off with lights, bells or whistles, while
our buddy is struggling to get his 18 wheel articulated Loco back
on the track. Does it not just drive you nuts?
There is now a simple inexpensive solution,
new PowerShield II.
Tony's in cooperation with Microdesign, the designer,
is now offering a smart, third generation, 4 Amp, auto-reset, solid
state circuit breaker used to create isolation power districts for
DCC operations.
Use
The breaker provides fast sectionalizing for model
railroad track power and self-recloses to provide convenient operation.
It should not be used for primary fuse protection of track power
sources (which may provide high fault current). It works with DCC
power and well-filtered DC power with a voltage of at least 10 Volts,
but will not work with 60 Hz (low frequency) AC power sources or
low voltage DC. Simply install this breaker in either power buss
lead or track feeder group to provide protection. For the ultimate
protection and convenient operating, I suggest two Power Shield™
minimum and then one other for each regular operator.
Note: Not for direct current (DC) applications.
Here is the logic
Use Power Shield™ to create power districts. A small
layout, 4' x 8' could be one power district. You would install the
Power Shield™ on one lead, of the booster output. A short on the
layout would trip the breaker sparing the booster and you of the
annoying shorts. When the short is corrected, breaker will auto-reset
and you are back in action. The breaker will not reset if the short
is not corrected. Even on a small layout, I would use two breakers
and divide the power for either each half of the layout or one for
the mainline and one for the yard or sidings. The larger the layout,
the more power districts you will want to segregate active areas.
Each Power Shield™ will handle enough current to run 2-8 Locomotives,
depending on scale and Loco current draws.
If you are skeptical, here are the reasons
you should use Power Shield™:
Mixer or Booster Protection: Even though
these units have built in protection, the protection circuitry after
numerous shorts will eventually fail.
Locomotive or Electrical Accessory Protection:
Power Shield™ eliminates the extremely violent voltage and current
spikes caused by hard shorts which can melt wheels and accessories.
Fault Isolators: When Power Shield™
trips, you know where the problem is.
Enjoyable Uninterrupted Operating:
This is number one in my opinion. Power Shield™ keeps the layout
up and running for those operators who can stay on the track or
avoid running against turnouts.
Features
The breaker is fully solid-state and provides fast
interruption when the trip current is reached (about 4 Amps). Reclose
is automatic after about 2 seconds. If the circuit still draws trip
current, the breaker retrips, continuing this process until the
problem is cleared. Positive visual indication of trip is provided
by an LED (on during trip).
Basic (power) connection (see board layout below
for connector locations):
DCC POWER SOURCE
DC POWER SOURCE
BOARD LAYOUT
A LED on the board will light when the breaker is
tripped. Remote indication of the breaker status is available with
either:
- 1 - An additional LED wired to terminals on the
printed circuit board to indicate that the breaker is tripped.
- 2 - A (track voltage) light bulb wired to terminals
on the board to indicate either the tripped or normal (power on
the track) condition.
Remote LED to indicate breaker is tripped
Light bulb to indicate tripped (J1A to
J2A)
Light bulb to indicate normal (power on
track) (J2A to J3A)
We welcome
comments or suggestions from readers; please write
or call.
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