Help with controller choices

M

Marky

Registered
Hi,
I'm new to G scale so am starting completely from scratch. I have purchased my first two engines from eBay, an LGB stainz and an aristocraft u25b. After reading the instruction leaflet on the u25 I was very confused by the section that said the locomotive should only use p.w.c. At the moment I own just these two locos, no track (no garden yet, until I move house) and no controllers.

I undertand what p.w.c. Is and how it works, what I'm confused by is wether or not I'm going to need to purchase (what I assume to be??) a very expensive controller to run my bargain loco?

Will this, and other large American locos similar to this run on standard dc control? Will this cause damage to it's circuit boards etc? And am I going to end up with two controllers for my layout, one to run LGB and one to run my American stock?

Any Help or advice in this area would be much appreciated.
Many thanks!
 
Hi , i think by your thread that you are going for dc analogue control , if for the time being you just wish to run,a small loco then a 1 amp lgb controller should be fine ( not to much second hand ) however if you are thinking long term of locos with 2 motors then i would suggest looking at the helmsman controller 5 amp about £150 life time guarantee hope this helps regards Dave
 
Short answer is that the U25 will run on any dc power up to 24volts.

I use an Aristo train engineer as my controller and am very happy with it. This can do pwc or ordinary but I never use pwc. My Aristo, USA Trains and Bachmann locos are completely happy with this power supply. It is quite probable that pwc has been responsible for a number of chips blowing and is best avoided.

There is a large amount of choice, no shortage of differing advice and plenty of cash to be spent on garden railway control systems. I would think long and hard about what you need before splashing out. I used an old H&M 12 volt controller for a while while I worked out what would suit me best.

The one recommendation I would make is go for some form of wireless control - wired control does not allow you to be out there with the trains. Also note that infra red just doesn't work outdoors.
 
No, you won't damage the Aristocraft U25B by running it on standard DC. Aristo want you to use PWC because it will help keep the lights, smoke unit and/or sound going at low speed and help with slow speed running.

The opposite is more risky: be careful (ie. avoid) running other brands of loco such as LGB on an Aristocraft PWC controller. Some locos have electronics and/or DCC chips that can be upset by PWC.

In the past I have run a U25B on a Playmobil 1 amp (ish) controller, but it was getting near the limit and would probably have tripped the thermal cut-out if left to run for long periods.
 
Chris M said:
Short answer is that the U25 will run on any dc power up to 24volts.

I use an Aristo train engineer as my controller and am very happy with it. This can do pwc or ordinary but I never use pwc. My Aristo, USA Trains and Bachmann locos are completely happy with this power supply. It is quite probable that pwc has been responsible for a number of chips blowing and is best avoided.

There is a large amount of choice, no shortage of differing advice and plenty of cash to be spent on garden railway control systems. I would think long and hard about what you need before splashing out. I used an old H&M 12 volt controller for a while while I worked out what would suit me best.

The one recommendation I would make is go for some form of wireless control - wired control does not allow you to be out there with the trains. Also note that infra red just doesn't work outdoors.
Click to expand...

hi mate so tht is interesting about u use h=m 12 volts to ran yr locos? are they ok for SW-2 OR NW-2 tht im mite using on gaugemaster controllers? i did try it and it went smooth better than lgb..
 
Thanks a lot everybody, some great sugestions. Glad to find out that the u25 will work fine on normal dc control. That is the way I'm thinking of going for the moment. Still unsure of track plan etc.

Looking forward to when it's up and running.

Thanks to everybody for their advice.
 
Marky said:
Thanks a lot everybody, some great sugestions. Glad to find out that the u25 will work fine on normal dc control. That is the way I'm thinking of going for the moment. Still unsure of track plan etc.

Looking forward to when it's up and running.

Thanks to everybody for their advice.
Click to expand...

If it helps at all, the next part of the Great Ruritanian Clear Out (Private Sales) will have some 5 amp control gear going for sale. Probably getting posted late this week.
 
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