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Boosting the power of elink

Federico_Carminati

By Federico_Carminati
in Hornby DCC

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Federico_Carminati Apprentice

Federico_Carminati

Posted
Posted

Good evening everybody,

  sorry for the possibly stupid question. I have a eLink that is rated at 1 amp. If I want some more power, if I understood correctly, I can buy a 4 amp power supply. If I need more, I understand I can add power boosters. However I have found no doc on how to attach power boosters to the eLink (it is pretty obvious looking at the similar documentation for the Elite, but to be sure...). 

I also thought that an obvious solution would be to provide a power supply rated at higher amper value. Of course it should be 12v DC and decently stabilised, but this is easy to find. The question is, what would happen if I use a 10amp 12v DC power supply for my eLink? Will I fry something? 

Thanks in advance for the help. BEst regards, 

Federico Carminati

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Augustus Caesar Mentor

Augustus Caesar

Posted
Posted

The unit you'll need (and you probably already know - but just in case you do not) is the Hornby P9300 4A 15V transformer. However, having said that... you can buy any 15V laptop power supply that has an output of 4A and the correct connector (unless you buy the adaptors of course). These supplies are the same as the Hornby ones - it simply means Hornby have added their label instead of say, Toshiba, to the supply. There will be no need for the 1A supply you find in with the e-Link unit. It would be unlikely you would use anything like 5A anyway.

Make sure the unit you buy is double insulated... you'll note this by the square within a square image on the power supply label. The only other thing is to find out which way the positive and negative terminals on the supply are placed. The central pin is either negative or positive while the outer ring is the opposite.

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Flashbang Experienced

Flashbang

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Hi 

As stated above, upgrading to the Hornby P9300 is the answer for more track power (Current) https://www.hornby.com/digital/digital-15v-4-amp-transformer.html

If you really need more power than the 4.0Amp (How big is your layout?) then you can use the Hornby Booster to feed a totally isolated section of the track. Insulated Rail Joiners (IRJs) are fitted in place of the metal joiners to all the rails leading into and out of the Booster fed section (or Zone/Power district as its often referred too)  

The R8239 Hornby Booster can take its data from the main DCC rails if the DCC console or eLink doesn't have a suitable output connection. The Booster also has its own dedicated power supply. https://www.hornby.com/digital/hornby-dcc-power-signal-booster.html

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poliss Grand Master

poliss

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Do NOT under any circumstances use a 10 Amp power supply. You'd almost certainly blow the eLink. If by some chance it didn't then you'd almost certainly end up with melted bogies on your loco, melted track and possibly start a fire.

See Mark Gurries page for what happened when someone used a 10 Amp system on his N Gauge setup.

https://sites.google.com/site/markgurries/home/technical-discussions/boosters/10amp-booster-ho

 

I don't like Hornby calling it a power booster. I prefer calling them repeaters because they don't boost the power, they put the same amount of power to an electrically isolated section of the layout and repeat the same DCC 'signal' from the main controller.

You can see how to connect the 'booster' in the manual for it. Specifically the section 'Alternative Connection'.

https://www.hornby.com/downloads/view/download/item/148

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MetmanUK Collaborator

MetmanUK

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I currently use a Hornby a Power Booster for my point motors and plan to power signals etc later.  I swapped the transformer with eLink but out of the blue the motors stopped working. Hornby suggested the Power Booster doesn't work well with the 1amp transformer. I switched them back and everything works again.

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  • 5 weeks later...
hans_van de burgt Contributor

hans_van de burgt

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I bought recently a Railmaster/Elink package. For the use in the Netherlands the power adaptor doesn't fit with a Britisch connector. I have to look for a replacement.

Yet I saw Hornby has also a power adaptor of 15v 4a. (also with a Britisch connector.)

The last weeks I borrowed an Elink from a friend. He uses a Toshiba 15v 5a laptop adaptor with a continental connector. It's working very good. I can buy now a similar Toshiba adaptor of 15v 4a, but I want to know what is the measure is of the jacket-bus on the Elink. Is it 6,3/ 3mm?

Grzz,

Hans

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Augustus Caesar Mentor

Augustus Caesar

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Hi Hans... welcome to the forum.

The answer to your question is that the jack plug to connect to the Elink unit is actually 6mm and, importantly, the central pin is the positive connection and the outer part of the jack plug connector is negative. Make sure you get this polarity the right way round. It will show you on the adaptor you buy how the polarity is arranged. they are NOT all the same...

It is represented by the + sign having a circle around it and a line pointing to the central pin in the diagram which has an incomplete circle around it. The negative pin is shown with a circle around the - sign and a line pointing to the outer incomplete circle around the pin. I know that may seem an inadequate way to describe this but you will know what I mean when you see it.

Good luck...

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  • 2 weeks later...
96RAF Grand Master

96RAF

Posted
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@Hans

As I understand it you have a British 1 Amp eLink power supply unit (PSU) that plugs directly into a wall socket (a Wall-Wart) and this will not plug into your continental style wall socket. You have Plugs Type C & F here http://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/

I measured the jack on my eLink 1Amp power supply unit and it is 10.6mm overall plug-in length, with a 9mm long outer metal sleeve. The inside diameter of the jack is 2.75mm and the outside diameter is 6.5mm.

If you have the British Wall Power Supply Unit why can you not do a direct comparison of that output jack with Toshiba one you want to use.

Or you could plug the British PSU into a continental adaptor. The PSU is double insulated and therefore only has live and neutral wires, the earth pin is all plastic as it does not need to be grounded.

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Augustus Caesar Mentor

Augustus Caesar

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Posted

Hi Hans

That power supply should be perfectly sufficient for your needs. The only measurement on the plug in jack you need worry about is the 6.3mm one. The inside of that is pretty standard and not usually any concern nor is the length of the outer connector unless it is way too long and you could possibly end up getting a shock. That is extremely unlikely as they are standardised normally too.

From the picture shown the positive connection IS the central pin so this supply is good enough. The wall socket connector cable - you can use any standard type to fit the unit as the wattage is taken by the power supply itself. The wattage for your area is covered in this supply... either 130v or 240v as it is either automatically able to detect the wattage or it will be switchable (have a little switch on it somewhere!). Anyways, it says in the advert that the voltages run anywhere from 100 to 240v so you have NO problem.

It does not look as though the mains cable is sent with this so you'll need a separate one and need to see if the connector is kettle type or clover type or a simple two pin connection.

I'm back on here after a few days off sorting quotes for servers etc... good luck.

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