I pick up 2 Kato 3 color signals used, is their a way to hook up up with out Kato power pack? Thanks Don
I'm interested in the answers you receive Don. I think that signal is a pretty cool item, but at a cost of $35 and the power supply at $19, plus whatever shipping might be, I can't justify it.
Hardcover, I could not pass them up, friend was getting out of N scale and got them for $5.00 each. He sold like new Micro Trains covers hoppers for $5.00 each. They were to new for me. Don
Yes, there was a similar thread recently about this, and I provided a rundown of the Kato pieces required there. I'll see if I can find it.
"KATO Unitrack HO-Scale signal DCC question," under the DCC & Electronics forum here. Hope this helps...
You're not alone, but I'm afraid I can't help you with that. But I can wish you good luck; and be sure to post back here when you figure it out!
It seems to remain a mystery @Trains. Since you have two Signals, you could risk one with a low DC input voltage and see what happens. Others here know more than I about this business, but my guess would be 3VDC to start and incrementally move up from there if needed to get brightness. Polarity would matter too. Rather than try to dial it in with an old DC power pack, you'd want to add dropping resistors to assure the input is consistent.
Just remember, unlike diodes, LEDs do not tolerate reverse bias from AC voltage. They can be protected with a reverse shunting diode in parallel with the LED, to clamp any reverse voltage across the LED to a single diode drop.
I'm using solid state 12VDC power supplies (with dropping resistors) to power my LEDs. They look like what's pictured below. I have no protecting diodes on the circuits. Should I add them? All's been well so far, but I don't have hundreds of hours of use on my control panels.
The only thing protection diodes would buy you when using a DC supply, is if you accidentally wired the power supply up backwards (and didn't catch it before turning the P/S on.)
Or if you are driving the LEDs with DCC track power since DCC is a form of AC, you want a protection diode to block the "negative" part of the DCC voltage.
I'd probably use a full-wave rectifier for that, to avoid unbalanced loading on the DCC bus. Full-wave rectification also requires ~half the filtering if you need a smooth DC output. I would not use DCC as a source for significant power (other than the locomotives on the track), either. A few signals here and there is one thing, but fully signaling a large layout using DCC track power is altogether different, and not recommended. Keep in mind, also, that if DCC is doing more than powering the track/locomotives, then there are more things that could take down the DCC bus, making it more difficult to diagnose a DCC outage.
Okay, thanks. I should be okay. For extra insurance, the power supply output jacks plug into matching cords like these. That'll assure there are no screwups if I have to replace a power supply with one of my spares someday.
