Larry, excellent video, full of great ideas regarding power and amperage on track. Thank you for the research on obtaining the meter. Thanks for sharing. Ken
I am an industrial electician, I use my fluke true rms metre set on ac track to track . For a hobby person these metres are pricey but they do read right as the do handle the hz and the square wave form.
Paul, thanks for your comment. I agree that a true RMS meter is the best option when a dead on accurate measurement is required. However due to the cost I just could not recommend one when a cheaper option like the RRampmeter or an easy to build circuit board is a viable option. Plus for most of our purposes accuracy is not really necessary just as long as you know how to interpret the results you do get with a standard meter.
Larry Nice video as always. Today my RRampMeter arrived from Tony's Trains and I placed it on several locations on my layout and the volts reads consistent 11.2 volts everywhere 3 engines idling at .1 amps Now I would like to mount this on my Panel Did you mount your unit? Do you know of anyone that has a video showing the mounting of this? Would like to see how others may have mounted this to get some ideas. Double back tape is tacky LOL Thanks Tom
They used to sell a version that was fancied up for panel mounting. I find the DCC Concepts Alpha Meter to be a much better option for fascia mounting. See videos 104,:107, 108.
Track "power" ??? Huh ? What's the power factor ? The only thing I worry about is current draw so I don't overload my boosters. An incandecent light bulb works fine to see if DCC is on the tracks. Don't use an LED since DCC is AC.
Glad you got something from it. If folks get at least one useful thing from my videos I consider that a success. Everything more than that is icing on the cake. BTW, I use that tail light bulb a lot myself.
Yes, as I said in the video it will give you a value but it will be inaccurate. For testing whether you have track power and for checking whether your frogs are correctly wired to a Tortoise or other switch it works fine. But if you want accuracy you need an RMS meter or a device like the RRampmeter designed to measure such high frequency power.
Hi Larry, good info in this video. I have the RRampmeter, great tool though expensive. I have one of these on each of my boosters (5); www.circuitous.ca/DCCammeter10.html, inexpensive and uses a cheap meter movement from eBay.
Larry, excellent video, full of great ideas regarding power and amperage on track. Thank you for the research on obtaining the meter. Thanks for sharing. Ken
Thanks Larry, Your doing great.
great update... thanks
I was wondering if you could do a comparison video between the RRampmeter by DCC Specialties and the Alpha Meter by DCC Concepts.
I am an industrial electician, I use my fluke true rms metre set on ac track to track . For a hobby person these metres are pricey but they do read right as the do handle the hz and the square wave form.
Paul, thanks for your comment. I agree that a true RMS meter is the best option when a dead on accurate measurement is required. However due to the cost I just could not recommend one when a cheaper option like the RRampmeter or an easy to build circuit board is a viable option. Plus for most of our purposes accuracy is not really necessary just as long as you know how to interpret the results you do get with a standard meter.
I understand the RRAMP Meter is made for DCC systems, can you use this for DC systems which uses a bus system?
From their website:
RRampMeter Version II Accurately measures DCC, AC and DC Volts and Amps!
Larry Nice video as always. Today my RRampMeter arrived from Tony's Trains and I placed it on several locations on my layout and the volts reads consistent 11.2 volts everywhere 3 engines idling at .1 amps Now I would like to mount this on my Panel Did you mount your unit? Do you know of anyone that has a video showing the mounting of this? Would like to see how others may have mounted this to get some ideas. Double back tape is tacky LOL Thanks Tom
They used to sell a version that was fancied up for panel mounting. I find the DCC Concepts Alpha Meter to be a much better option for fascia mounting. See videos 104,:107, 108.
@@TheDCCGuy Just watch the 3 videos great info Thanks
I just used good old Velcro this way I can remove it to do troubleshooting if the need arrases Thanks Tom
Track "power" ??? Huh ? What's the power factor ?
The only thing I worry about is current draw so I don't overload my boosters. An incandecent light bulb works fine to see if DCC is on the tracks. Don't use an LED since DCC is AC.
Glad you got something from it. If folks get at least one useful thing from my videos I consider that a success. Everything more than that is icing on the cake. BTW, I use that tail light bulb a lot myself.
switch your meter to ac and read your volts
Yes, as I said in the video it will give you a value but it will be inaccurate. For testing whether you have track power and for checking whether your frogs are correctly wired to a Tortoise or other switch it works fine. But if you want accuracy you need an RMS meter or a device like the RRampmeter designed to measure such high frequency power.
Hi Larry, good info in this video. I have the RRampmeter, great tool though expensive. I have one of these on each of my boosters (5); www.circuitous.ca/DCCammeter10.html, inexpensive and uses a cheap meter movement from eBay.