Large Scale Central

Outdoor contol cabinet

Jon Radder said:
Can I make one suggestion? OK, thanks. Change the plug end on the line going to the railroad to something that can not be plugged into a 110V outlet. It makes for a very bad day when that happens. Years ago my dad thought it would be handy to wire his HiFi speakers with plugs to make them easy to move. Being cheap, he used standard ac plugs and sockets from the hardware store. One day someone else (me perhaps?) plugged one of his speakers into the wall outlet. It made a really loud 60 cycle hum for a split second then the magic smoke leaked out :o
You see what happens when you play with "Dads Stuff" !!!

I swear it was the cleaning lady. I “knew better” :smiley:

Randy McDonald said:
TOO FUNNY JON! You might have a point there. Never thought of that. I was just going cheap and easy with the plugs. That would certainly keep our cats from shitting on my RR.
Back years ago when I was running track power I had a similar portable cabinet made up with power packs and switches on it that I carried outside. For the track side plug I used a 25 pin phone connection, since I could readily get a hold of one from work, but a similar computer cable would probably work just as well. Just cut it in half and one end was spliced into the cabinet wiring , the other half onto the layout wiring. That way there's no mistaking which plug goes where. Just a FYI...........;)

And another trick if using computer cables with lots of small conductors; tie 4 or more conductors together on each side of the plug for for higher current capacity.

My power supplies are indoors. Where the cable comes out of the house I put 2 electrical boxes about a foot apart. Both have a female AC receptacle, but its not the style a standard cord can plug in to. I then have a double male jumper to connect them when I want to power the track. The male plugs will not fit in a standard AC outlet so there is little chance of electrocuting myself by plugging it in the wrong place.

Edit to add: Boat trailer light connectors are readily available at auto parts stores and WalMart. 4 good size conductors in a keyed Male/Female set for around $5.

The cabinet is complete ready to be mounted outside.

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/kettle_valley/_forumfiles/IMG_0791.JPG)

Notice the suppy of 10 amp fuses. :slight_smile:

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/kettle_valley/_forumfiles/IMG_0794.JPG)

And I will change out the plugs running to the track so that ‘no one’ can ‘accidently’ plug them into 110 AC. :wink:

Nicely done Randy

That oughta work…:wink:

Lookin’ good. Now that you have the fuses you will never blow one. But Murphy would agree that if you didn’t have spares it would blow at the most inopportune time :slight_smile:

All you need is a decal of your railroad on the cover!
Looks sweet!
Sean

Looks good Randy. Now you need to finish that layout so you can test it out. :slight_smile: