# Power Supplies or Tranformers?



## ericc (Jan 12, 2009)

There seems to be a lot of variables to recommendations on power. 
What does one gain with a power supply over transformers? I have attached a picture of my layout which is on a 4x8 board powered by 4 Tomy transformers using the new dual power track. I don't seem to have any power changes with somewhere in the neighborhood of 40' of 4 lane layout. I have also read here about 2 power packs per lane? I am assuming then an additional set of power tracks are used acting similar to a power tap? Has anyone tried wiring a power supply to a stock terminal track to save on all the electrical wiring? I am currently running the bax stock Super G+ or 440 x2. I have recently purchased a BSRT G3 car and will also be trying the Mega G someday as well. Probably will never go to the T Jets. Any and all advice on power is welcomed as well as any critiques of the attached layout. Any power supply brands or recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks...


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## martybauer31 (Jan 27, 2004)

You will gain a lot more even power distribution with a real power supply versus a transformer, and you will also gain the ability to vary the power to the track as needed.

The latter part is especially helpful if you have kids or friends that don't quite have the hang of the cars just yet, you can turn down the voltage to help them keep on better, which makes the experience quite a bit more enjoyable.

To answer your question on the additional set of power tracks per lane being like a ppower tap? Yes, they are. Do people simply wire a power supply to a stock terminal track, they certainly do that as well and it works just fine.

As for recommendations, you will find they vary with each person, I found a decent one on ebay, others have bought from TrackMate, etc.

Hope that helps!

Marty


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## Dyno Dom (May 26, 2007)

Eric, Very nice layout! Good use of table space & Good flow- :thumbsup: 
If Direct wiring to stock terminal track pc. tabs for power taps, be careful
as negative gate is not preferred method of track wiring.


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## AZSlot Racer (Dec 5, 2007)

With 4 transformers and the dual power tracks, all of your lanes have independent power supplies. With the old power tracks power is distributed to both lanes causing surges with deslots. You could easily cut the Tomy input and wire to a power supply and still use the plugs for the controllers. You might want to consinder adding brakes which means you will have do some wiring but with independent track inputs you can still run it through the terminal track.


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## Hornet (Dec 1, 2005)

Brakes are easy,you just find the negative side of your wallwart or powersupply,and hook the red lead from your controller to this circuit,ain't hard guys,grab an old Parma box,they used to have a diagram showing brakes


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## Dyno Dom (May 26, 2007)

Wiring is different from HO to larger scales. Parma box diagram depicts
the larger scale. If copied for HO, wiring result will be Negative. For HO,
Positive wire needs to attach to drivers' side rail in direction of travel.
Common wire to passenger side rail in direction of travel. A similar problem of negative wiring can occur when modifying a stock Tomy Terminal track pc.


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## Hornet (Dec 1, 2005)

Brakes are still a direct link back to the negative side of your power supply/wallwart,no matter if your positive or negative polarity.The brake circuit is nothing more then the equivalent of throwing a dime or piece of steel across your rails and shorting them out.
I carry a piece of wire with a 12.5 watt 100ohm pot installed inline and alligator clips on either end with me for tracks with no brakes,just clip on the existing power supplies negative post,hook the other end to the red lead from your controller and you have brakes,with the 100 ohm pot inline,i have adjustable brakes,most guys try to over complicate brake wiring,it's actually very simple
The only time wiring brakes becomes an issue,is if you want to be able to reverse the tracks direction of travel,without changing the polarity,then you need to cross a dtdp switch,easily done,and there's lots of diagrams showing how to do it


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## Dyno (Jan 26, 2009)

I am currently running a two lane Tyco track. I have two power tracks each powering their own lane by clipping the opposite lane connection underneath. I am using Sony laptop power supplies rated at 19.5 volts 4.5 amps each with a Tyco plug soldered on for a very easy install. These seem to work very well for all types of cars.:thumbsup:


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## slotnewbie69 (Dec 3, 2008)

Dyno said:


> I am currently running a two lane Tyco track. I have two power tracks each powering their own lane by clipping the opposite lane connection underneath. I am using Sony laptop power supplies rated at 19.5 volts 4.5 amps each with a Tyco plug soldered on for a very easy install. These seem to work very well for all types of cars.:thumbsup:


thats all i did aswell,with my lifelike setup.i wired one lane for 22 on a afx transformer,and the other lane at 20 with a tyco transformer.its nice having a slightly slower lane for kids.its just my test track,and we don't race here,so it works for me.i don't run magnet cars too much,so i have no problems with my mt's and tjets


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