Model Railroading > About Combining DC & DCC - Final Thoughts

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,2106298

I've been hiding for the past week, partly out of embarrassment and partly out of frustration. As hinted by others in the previous posts, it turned out the problem was pretty obvious - I was trying to run the RP1300 transformer off the PS515 power supply for the Digitrax DB150. Not possible as it turns out 'cause not enough juice was getting through. Hmmm.

Well gee, the DBDT switch was made to handle household current, so...snip, snip, solder, solder, turn on the power switch...ZOOM!!! My DC-powered CN Dash 9 took off like a rocket for about 3 seconds then stopped dead after a series of pops, crackles and one pronounced PHHZZZZZTT from various locations in the room!

Ok, what the heck have I done now?

The good news - no burned-out fuses or tripped breakers, no sparks or smoke. The bad news - one burned-out headlight on the locomotive, no throttle control on the RP1300 (full blast only) and my handy-dandy little plug-in-the-wall gadget for switching power on and off for the whole layout is toasted.

Oh, did I mention that during the ensuing panic I knocked my UT1 throttle to the floor and broke off the direction toggle? And that out of frustration I proceeded to grab aforementioned throttle by the cord and flail it about, banging it on every hard object within the cord's reach? All the while cursing a blue streak for that throttle to have the audacity to fall on the floor?

The final score? Desk, counter and floor - 1, throttle - 0.

This was last Saturday and I'm still finding little bits of the UT1 scattered about.

So, after all this I'm going to take the advice of some and simply wire the TRACK power wires to the DBDT switch and unplug the DB150 and the (future) DC transformer when not in use.

Geez, what a putz!!

Edit:
I should thank all who replied to my original post, especially pmack, alaska and nathan314 . Your input was very much appreciated by this electrically-challenged putz, even if I didn't listen as hard as I should've.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/10 16:48 by TheCurator.