Is there a way to know what amperage is being drawn by a locomotive with a sound decoder sitting idol on the track and how they contribute to the total amp draw of a power zone. Thanks in advance. Harold:tb-confused:
You can measure the current draw with a DCC amp meter. There's one you can buy called the RRampMeter. There are also a couple of build your own circuits on the net ( http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/DCCammeter10.html ). Using a standard meter doesn't work well with the DCC signal. The other option is dig through the decoder manufacturers specs to get a rough estimate.
A true RMS meter will give a close enough reading but it would be less expensive to use one of the circuits Mark indicated above with an inexpensive meter.
It would be a tiny fraction of an amp, maybe 60 milliamps, as much as a tenth of an amp on a loco with several lights running. Here is a dated thread where someone posts what he measured: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,1163465
Thanks guys, I did some research into the Tsunami but never found that information. I like the idea of the amp-meter. Thanks for the links. Regards, Harold
If you take time to read through all the info about the DIY, DCC amp meter, the meter is reading DC voltage. The two three terminal Integrated Circuits, ZXCT1009 are doing the conversion. There is a link to the PDF for the device. I have the same meters and made my own DCC amp meter with his components. I have three of these meters and they all read close to 13.6 volts AC when looking directly a the track voltage. Very close to what my Oscilloscope reads also. The DCC amp meter I made for the club where we use the NCE Power Pro, 5 amp system, trips at 4.9 amps as I have run a number of test. Rich
