stevecamden Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Does anyone have a Hornby power booster on their layout and if so in what way are you using it? Is it to have power districts or are you operating PAD's on the booster. And, what criteria made you decide to purchase one and has it made a difference. I am considering getting one to feed my three PAD's but their is currently no obvious deterioration in the power to trains and or signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Documentation says they are for districts. If your PADs are only operating solenoid points and a few LED lights, they have negligible continuous current requirements, only drawing anything after you throw a point while the CDU recharges. So would think you would need a lot of PADs before you needed a booster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poliss Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I think a better name for 'boosters' would be 'repeaters' because what they really do is repeat what the main DCC controller does on isolated sections (districts) of track. They don't boost the power to the track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonBigBoy Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 poliss said: I think a better name for 'boosters' would be 'repeaters' because what they really do is repeat what the main DCC controller does on isolated sections (districts) of track. They don't boost the power to the track. I am no expert but I have looked at the R8239 DCC Booster. I think it does a good deal more than just act as a 'repeater'. It allows you to run more trains and can act as a reverse loop module (if I am reading the blurb correctly) The intro to the pdf says: ....A Hornby Digital Booster can be fitted to a model railway layout in order to supplement an existing controller by providing extra track power. The Hornby Digital Booster can also be used to automatically handle track polarity reversal when connected to a Reverse Loop or Wye track configurations. The Hornby Digital Booster will also boost the digital signal from either a Hornby Select, Elite or an alternative controller and may also be linked to another booster........ https://www.hornby.com/downloads/digital-instruction-manuals/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevecamden Posted September 3, 2012 Author Share Posted September 3, 2012 Still not found someone on the forum who is using one and how it has changed things for them? There must be someone out there with a power booster or two on their layout.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffb41 Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 have a fairly large layout with some 30 locos and about 40 points runnning off 10 decoders. Had an issue where on startup railmaster would show the points direction correctly but some hadn't actually moved. to make sure it wasn't a power issue i fitted the 4 amp booster and divided the layout in two.Half running off the booster and the other half off the elite.Didn't solve my problem but guess i don't have to worry about any power shortage now geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevecamden Posted September 3, 2012 Author Share Posted September 3, 2012 Did you consider just running the decoders off the booster? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffb41 Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 think i originally wired it up with the booster running just the decoders but advice was as decoders not always drawing power would be better to go half/half.So half layout and half decoders on booster and the rest on the elite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poliss Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 Hadn't seen the instruction manual before. I wish HCC would put a notification on the forum when new manuals are added. Didn't know that it also operated as a reverse loop module. That's a useful feature. I still say repeater would be a better description as it doesn't 'boost' anything. It just repeats the dcc 'signal' in seperate power districts and maintains the same amount of power that the rest of the layout has. I would say that it's more about allowing you to have more locos than 10 running on your layout, but these extra locos would have to operate in the isolated sections, if you see what I mean. I'm not sure what they mean by 'signal degredation'. It's more about voltage drop on very large layouts. A large layout is described by Mark Gurries of the NMRA as "a small 2 car garage (300 SqFt)" with problems starting when the "bus wire runs longer than 30Ft". https://sites.google.com/site/markgurries/home/technical-discussions/wiring-planing/what-is-a-large-layout I did notice a spelling error in the booster manual. It should be bus, not buss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevecamden Posted September 3, 2012 Author Share Posted September 3, 2012 That wasn't my understanding! I assumed that provided the isolated power districts were 'isolated' with IRJ's, then the loco's would roam freely about the layout - not be restricted to isolated sections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poliss Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 No, perhaps I wasn't clear. They're not restricted to the isolated sections. What I mean is that you can't have more than ten locos running in a section at the same time. Locos will happily go from one section to the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashbang Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 Hi Boosters use as a reverse loop module seems very OTT to me! A Booster is normally used only on very large layouts to add extra power to totally isolated sections of the layout not directly feed by the DCC console. You have to heave a very large layout to need a Booster. Example, the Elite can provide 3.0Amp to track. This is more than adequate for most conventional layouts. Question... Can you manually control more than three locos running at one? No, I certainly can't! If you use PC layout control and its possible to have more than three locos moving at once, even then the power used is often less than 1.0Amp! (The Elite can supply 3.0Amp to track) TBH. Power boosters are only of use if your layout is huge or your power distribution is poor or you have six or locos all moving at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashbang Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 Sorry, 'heave a very large....' is incorrect, It should be have. No edit post facility on this forum!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregd99 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Form reading the doco I don't think that the booster operates as a reversing module. I think that all they are saying is that the module can detect and cope with a change to track polarity at the IRJs. I don't quite get how this would work as when the loco (and rolling stock) transited the IRJ there would be a short. as to the maximum number of locos that can be run.... personally I can manage two on a 9' x 4' layout. when I go to 3 I use computer control to manage the operations. If you have a layout much bigger than that then perhaps manual operation of 3 or more locos is feasible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonBigBoy Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Gregd99 said: Form reading the doco I don't think that the booster operates as a reversing module. I think that all they are saying is that the module can detect and cope with a change to track polarity at the IRJs. I don't quite get how this would work as when the loco (and rolling stock) transited the IRJ there would be a short. as to the maximum number of locos that can be run.... personally I can manage two on a 9' x 4' layout. when I go to 3 I use computer control to manage the operations. If you have a layout much bigger than that then perhaps manual operation of 3 or more locos is feasible. Yes it did seem strange to me - would be great if there was some clarity on what is meant by reverse loop in this context. Anyhow - for me the need for more power will be in about 3 years from now me thinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I'm not sure how it can be considered other than a RLM when it says it can "be used to automatically handle track polarity reversal when connected to a Reverse Loop" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregd99 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Fishmanoz said: I'm not sure how it can be considered other than a RLM when it says it can "be used to automatically handle track polarity reversal when connected to a Reverse Loop" The manual only shows one output in the diagrammes on p3-4. where there are two sets of track connections one is stated as for control rather than power. so..... I don't quite get it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonBigBoy Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 It's a real surprise that no one on this forum has actually got one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashbang Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Gregd99 said: The manual only shows one output in the diagrammes on p3-4. where there are two sets of track connections one is stated as for control rather than power. so..... I don't quite get it! Hi Conventionally a Booster has no direct connection the the DCC fed rails from the main DCC console. Normally all data is taken from the DCC console to the Booster via a data cable. The Booster having its own, mains fed power supply and just its two output track connections that feed the rails of the totally isolated section of track the Booster is to feed. However, Hornby have it seems gone one better. They allow the Booster to either have a data connection as normal for Boosters Or alternatively it can collect the data from a dedicated pair of 'rail input' terminals. So if you don't have a data cable or the distance between the main console and the Booster is greater than the length of your existing data cable you can if wished use the rail Input connections and then the Booster takes data directly from the main DCC consoles powered rails. Sort of dual data input option. Though I feel you shouldn't use both methods together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rog RJ Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 The instruction manual for the booster is here https://www.hornby.com/filelibrary/download/?FileID=173 for anyone that wants to read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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