A portable Powercab?
It is a thing! This long mooted and completely un-original concept has been turned into a reality, a portable base station for my NCE Powercab…
I’ve created a box with a cable and DIN plug to connect to any of my micro layouts. The box has a 2.1mm socket to plug in a power supply. The top is a DCC Concepts Alpha panel. Inside two layers of car wheel balance weights give it some stability and it has rubber feet to provide a safe, secure footing.
Inside, the 2.1mm socket is wired to a plug that connects to the terminal on the Alpha panel. The layout cable is connected, through the grommet, to the green screw terminals on the Alpha panel.
The result? DCC sound on Wrecsam Canolog…
And a whole world opens up…
Parts list:
(These are unaffiliated links, I used these suppliers but make no money from you buying from them, the list is only offered as a guide)
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Good one, James! I have recently bought a Power Cab and couldn't see the point of tying myself to a fitting for one layout only. When I can find a minute from full-time caring my plan has been to do just what you have shown here. This reassures me that I'm not barking up the wrong tree!
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I’m not the first to think of this, just celebrating how straight forward it turned out to be!
DeleteThanks. I PM'd you earlier.
DeleteI've done that myself to go with my 2FS test plank and other layouts, though mine is a bit cruder in execution that yours mainly due to the absence of a bigger box! In my case it's just deep enough with the power supply cable sticking out the back.
ReplyDeleteI wanted the stability with this, the feel of a quality installation, confident to use without it falling off or damaging something…
DeleteYes - I do want something a bit better than what I've currently got, where did you get the box from?
DeleteLinks above in the post, hope that helps
DeleteVery intresting concept for powering micro layouts. I'm one of many that would like to see how laid things out in the majic black box.
ReplyDeleteI'm not risking taking it apart again!! It's just the grey 'layout' wire terminating in the screw terminals the NCE panels always use - and the gromit stops this pulling out of the black box. The power socket is connected to two lengths of cable that connect to another plug, which is plugged into the power socket of the panel. On an NSE panel you can piggy back off the board directly, but these DCC Concepts panels don't have terminals on the board for this, so I've had to replicate the plug.
Delete