Digitrax PM42's

Hello :

Our mrring club has two layouts , one is a permanent layout , single main line with about 500 feet of running track and the second layout is a group of about 24 modules ( 4x2 ) that we run at shows .
The permanent layout uses 4 , PM42's and the modules run on 2 , PM42's . ( Digitrax )

With more and more locos running sound decoders , we have been experiencing power outages that we feel is due to the increases in power required by the sound decoders . Someone has mentioned that replacing the PM42's with PSX's will cure this , but require 4 PSX's per PM42 .......as in $$$$$$$

Does this make sense to anyone out there ?

Thanks , Terry

 

At the risk of all decoders online you could increase the trip current of the PM42's using OP switches 01, 02 and 09. I would consider this a temporary fix until you could replace the PM42's with PXS's.

Jerry

 

Thanks for the input , Rick and Jerry .....one more question . Do lash-ups or multiple locos further agravate things ? Ive heard that having 3 locos mu'ed ( with sound ) is like having 6 locos as far as draw goes .

Terry

 

My club uses one PM42 on our layout powered by an 8 amp super chief. Running three sound equiped locos should be OK. But with running several consists of sound loco's in different power districts you may exceed the current level of the command station without tripping the PM42's shutting down the entire layout. The solution would be to add another booster and divide the PM42's among the two boosters. Placing a small computor chassis fan blowing cool air across the heatsink of the command station would also help. My clubs layout used to shut down often when we reached the current limits of the booster when we ran with a Digitrax 5 amp SEB. After switching to the 8 Amp Chief and installing the PM42 we only occasionally exceed the boosters limit without tripping any of the PM42's segments.

 

PSX units can be ordered with 1-4 circuit breakers on the board. In fact is is cost functional to buy the 4 breaker PSX units and cut them into individual circuit breakers. The boards are scored that way from the factory.

They do handle the inward rush of sound decoders very well. And are a lot more reliable than the PM42's for portecting the investment in decoders.

 

Thanks for all the info , everyone . We'll be meeting on Tuesday to discuss our next step ...this has been helpful.

Terry

 

What do you mean by "Power outages". If the PM42 keeps tripping because the draw is higher than its trip setting, just change the setting. We have 7 PM42's on our modular layout. I keep the trip setting a half amp below the booster's trip setting.

Now if you are having trouble with the PM42's restoring power after they trip because of a proliferation of sound decoders, you need to look at PSX-AR''s. Yes, they are expensive, but better always costs more.

Martin Myers

 

Martin , your second suggestion is what we are experiencing . My problem is , I'm being told elsewhere that our 6 ( total ) PM42's will require 6x4=24 PSX's to solve the problem .....I'm just trying to sort out fact from fiction .

Terry