Stephen-1260829 Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Being a newbie to the hobby , I have a question which may be a bit odd but hope that someone can give me an idea on how to get power to the tracks while using the HM7000 system. I have bought the Hornby P9300 DCC power adapter and want to contect it to the Peco track via soldered wires. Is it possible to cut off the jack plug, and then conect the lead to positive & negative wires soldered to the track? If I bought the R7324 15v power supply adapter and cut off the track plug, that would be the same. I also have a new PCE Powercab that I bought at the Warley show in 2022 (before HM7000 was anounced) and don't know if I can use this to power the track and just use the HM7000 app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rallymatt Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Can I direct you to the HM DCC section of forum where there is a load of really useful info on getting going with HM DCC (HM 7000) I would not solder the wires of the power pack directly to the rails, use an intermediate adapter so you can at least fully disconnect the PSU should you need to, but the principle of the correct PSU being hooked to the track is spot on. Likewise you can use the NCE as the track power source too and control any HM DCC loco or legacy decoder loco that way or a combination of BT and Legacy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen-1260829 Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 9 minutes ago, Rallymatt said: Can I direct you to the HM DCC section of forum where there is a load of really useful info on getting going with HM DCC (HM 7000) I would not solder the wires of the power pack directly to the rails, use an intermediate adapter so you can at least fully disconnect the PSU should you need to, but the principle of the correct PSU being hooked to the track is spot on. Likewise you can use the NCE as the track power source too and control any HM DCC loco or legacy decoder loco that way or a combination of BT and Legacy. Thanks Rallymatt, first time using the forum too, so unsure of where things are. I will try the PCE powercab route first but i don't want to blow up the Decoder I am fitting to the A4 William Whitelaw at the weekend. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntpntpntp Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 (edited) You certainly can simply cut off the plug from the end of the P9300 lead if you wish, I suspect most folk end up doing something like that once they get into soldering track feeds and using distribution boards to power multiple feeds. An alternative "non-destructive" approach would be to look for a female inline socket which matches the plug (I think somewhere on the forum the specifications for the plug dimensions are given?) Unfortunately I think the plug used doesn't match other commonly used DC socket sizes which is a shame as there are several cheap distribution boards which have a DC socket input. This would also work: take an R7324 adapter lead which fits the P9300 and either cut the two pin plug off or simply use a small size "choc block" to connect the wiring. Totally non-destructive 🙂 I recently bought the R7337 power supply and that came with the adapter lead. Edited March 13 by ntpntpntp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntpntpntp Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 I mentioned using a distribution board: These are great when you start to need multiple feeds to your track (eg. for each oval or to keep sidings alive for DCC). There are dozens of designs available, here's just one example. It does have a DC socket (though as I say the P9300 plug may not fit 😞 ), but it also has screw terminals for the input pair as well as the outputs. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183735388459 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 As already stated, this is an HM | DCC HM7000 question and hopefully a Mod will move your topic to that forum. There you’ll find the choc block solution in the first photo gets mention in multiple threads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen-1260829 Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 1 hour ago, ntpntpntp said: You certainly can simply cut off the plug from the end of the P9300 lead if you wish, I suspect most folk end up doing something like that once they get into soldering track feeds and using distribution boards to power multiple feeds. An alternative "non-destructive" approach would be to look for a female inline socket which matches the plug (I think somewhere on the forum the specifications for the plug dimensions are given?) Unfortunately I think the plug used doesn't match other commonly used DC socket sizes which is a shame as there are several cheap distribution boards which have a DC socket input. This would also work: take an R7324 adapter lead which fits the P9300 and either cut the two pin plug off or simply use a small size "choc block" to connect the wiring. Totally non-destructive 🙂 I recently bought the R7337 power supply and that came with the adapter lead. this looks like a very reasonable alternative to cutting off the female jack plug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry-350851 Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 If you are able to solder to track, you definitely want to distribute power to a number of locations around the track rather than just one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Clearly once the problem of getting from either a DC PSU or a DCC controller to a distribution point is solved (what is covered in this thread), the next step is to run a bus from that distribution point then droppers soldered to the track around the layout and to the bus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 If you are handy with a soldering iron, as you will be if soldering a power bus droppers to the rails, then you could make one of those distribution boards either from a simple tag strip or strip veroboard with mounted screw terminals and the 2-pin adaptor cable plug connected to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntpntpntp Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 I've used those old style solder tag strips for decades 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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