Category: Electronics
-
Computer power supply for model railroad building lights
I had several old PC power supplies laying around the basement so I did some wiring and made a power supply for my lighted buildings. It’s a 230-watt AT power supply that should provide about 9 amps on the 12 volt drop. Being an AT supply (and not an ATX) it only provides -5v, -12v,…
-
K-Line Smoking Caboose – "Too much voltage, sir!"
A recent acquisition is a K-Line Burlington Northern Smoking Caboose. It is nicely detailed, has interior and exterior lighting, and a smoke unit. Not thinking much about it, I put it on my track and powered it up…in command mode…all 18 volts. The smoke unit smoked really well…REALLY well! And it kinda smelled like burn.…
-
20-amp dedicated circuit for model railroad installed
I thought for a few days on how I was going to hook my surface mount boxes and conduit to the round lally column (post) in my basement. Tap the pole and screw to it? Shoot nails into it? JB Weld? Nothing sounded right. Then it hit me! A large hose clamp for a dryer…
-
MTH DCS Remote – Limited LCD Contrast with Rev. L
The handheld remote control (in the late 2010/early 2011 shipments of DCS Systems with Rev. L TIU) has limited contrast. The fix involves moving the resistor from pin 7 to pin 6 on the leg of IC U161. After moving the resistor to the correct position the LCD now appears to have its normal range…