UPS

a UPS with a large power surge protection is in my mind essential.  There are many manufacturers out there, I have been using a Tripp-Lite for years and it has saved my skin more than once.  Mostly people balk at the price for a decent surge/UPS, but for our hobby needs, you can get great protection for $75 to $150.  Put it this way..medium priced engine for $200 plus decoder $100 total $300....and you have how many engines???  So, this is valuable cheap electrical spike or surge protection insurance.

You are preaching to the choir, here.

As I said in the article, I believe it is essential.

Thanks for sharing your views.

I'm looking at this right now as a UPS

This is serious overkill for a layout, but would let me free up one of my smaller ones for the layout:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16842102134

Right now the 1500VA unit is on sale (today only) for $136.95 (normally $229.)

Great price, Jeff

About 350 VA is a good size for a DCC system. That's what we are using at PCMRC for 3 Digitrax boosters.

This is serious overkill for

Thanks for the link! I was thinking about replacing 2 outdated, ancient units I have in my office & lab and get another one for the railroad that's so far completely unprotected so I just ordered 3 of these !

UPS protection for DCC

Question...I am about to begin installation of a Digitrax system on a new layout. I wired the room to have outlets controlled by a wall switch so I could power down everything as I leave. Can I install a UPS between the 110v switch and my power supply or need it remain powered?

Thanx, John B. Holland, MI

UPS means UNINTERRUPTIBLE

When you shut off the power going in, it switches over and powers the DCC off the batteries.

So, the simple answer is NO.

The way to do what you wanted is to switch between the UPS and the DCC system, as I showed on our PCMRC layout.

Sorry that you designed the room the way you did.

Thanx, Bruce.... Since I've

Thanx, Bruce....

Since I've blown the opportunity to use an UPS (unless I leave the power switched on) can you suggest specs for the surge protector I should use?

JB

Here is a better deal for

Here is a better deal for around $45 that will cover your HO and N scale requirements.  I've been using one of these for a long time and they work great.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16842102116

http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP425SLG-Standby-425VA-Compact/dp/B0030SL08A?ie=UTF8&keywords=CyberPower%20Standby%20Series%20CP425SLG%20425%20VA%20255%20W%208%20Outlets%20UPS&qid=1465308680&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Mark

Excellent choice, Mark.

Thanks for sharing the link. Personally, I'd spend a couple extra bucks and get the largest version.

JB

Not personally. I haven't bought a surge protector in over a decade.

I suggest you talk with a third party computer guy, not someone who works for a computer store. Ask them what's their best recommendation for a computer system and go there.

That all said, I just looked at one on Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000J2EN4S). I like it for several reasons: Belkin brand, good ratings, reasonable price and the $300,000 connected equipment warranty.

Call your local power company

Many local power utilities offer "Whole House" surge protection for a few dollars a month. These are generally pretty good, but the bonus is they usually come with an insurance policy that covers electrical damage. If a lightning bolt hits the pole on the corner, the surge protector probably won't do you a lot of good.

But, even if you don't go the whole house route, many power utilities have a consumer outreach program that can give you good advice on how to read the specs on whatever device you may purchase. 

gs

Contradiction?

Bruce you seem to contradict yourself with these comments:

And you sort of say that the 425 VA is not really big enough:

The first link was a 1500 VA for about $140 and the second link was for  a 425 VA for about $45.  Also in my book $95 is not a couple extra bucks.

Can you re-wire

@John B, how finished is the wiring and wall where the switch to turn off the layout is located?

I would think you could disconnect the feed into the switch and wire it into a standard duplex outlet, which the UPS would plug into. Then create a wire with a plug on one end and wire that into the switch, plug into the UPS and you are all set.

Just like the way PCMRC did their UPS installation.

Jim B -

Jim, 

Actually he said that Mark's choice was an excellent one. 

However, he'd pony up the extra for the large one, himself. 

and... a couple bucks is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. It will keep everything running just that much longer. 

In my case, I'm going for the larger one because I will install it elsewhere in the house replacing a smaller one (I have about 5 UPS's protecting various things here) and use the smaller one on my layout. 

The larger one is really meant for modern computer systems with twitchy power supplies. It was also about 40% off yesterday... so I jumped at it. 

Couple of bucks?

In the Amazon link that Mark posted, they had 425 VA for $45 or 550 VA for $52. I call $7 a "couple of bucks". I don't know where the $95 came from. If I were buying today, I'd buy the 550 VA from Amazon.

Also, are you going to have a computer on the UPS, too? Definitely go for the 550 VA.

As I said in the column, a 5 amp system at 15 volts is 75 Volt Amps (VA). Thus, the 425 VA unit could, theoretically, handle four systems running full out. The 550 VA unit could handle five. What the extra VA would buy you would be a few minutes longer run time in a blackout. I like to have at least one room light on the UPS, too. But with LED bulbs, that adds 20 VA or less. Even a 4 foot shop light with two LED bulbs is only about 40 VA.

So, yes, from 300 VA on up to 1500 VA, they all will work. about 400 VA seems to be the present sweet spot, where you get the best performance for the least $.

UPS

I always like when we are told about a product to protect our trains, but they never tell us where we can buy such product, please give us a idea of where the item can be gotten

Michael Looney

Michael

There are several links in this thread.

Jim B

Thanx.

I am considering that idea. I can access the wire feeding the switch....and I put it all on a dedicated circuit.

Been checking on the electrical code implications of installing a "portable" UPS in-line on a branch circuit. I'm a civil engineer(ret) not electrical, but I know it's not proper to use a plug on Roma's cable. So some kind of transfer box would be needed. And with whole house UPS a central shut off is required.  Need to find an electrician who will consult for beer.

JB

Power Strips in UPS?

I have a lot of items plugged into two circuit breaker protected power strips.  Booster Power Supplies, a computer power supplies, wall warts, etc.  These are plugged into a separate, dedicated circuit for DCC which I switch off whenever I leave the train room.  I've heard not to plug power strips into a UPS, but I'm not sure if this is a myth.  

What would be the advisability of plugging these power strips into a UPS?  I'm thinking of using an APC UPS that has Circuit Breaker Protection Only outlets I'd use for the power strips.  I'd use the UPS backed outlets for the keep-alive plugs for the Digitrax DCC Throttles.  This would allow me to shut down the room, but save the batteries in the throttles.

Price differences

Bruce,

I didn't follow the links from Mark or Jeff, just went by what was said in the threads.

Jeff had a 1500VA UPS for $140 (on sale)

Mark had a 425VA UPS for $45.

Between these two is where the $95 difference came from, also where my source of the contradiction came from, Mark was talking about a 425VA and Jeff a 1500VA and you said go with the bigger one, even though you had said your club used a 350VA which was fine.

These are the two UPS I thought you were referring too, had I followed the links I might have noticed the 550 for a couple ($7) bucks more and I wouldn't have wasted both our time, sorry about that.

Electrician consulting for beer

Just be sure you pay him after the consultation so he is thinking clearly when you explain what you want.

As there are plenty of cable types out there, I would expect there is a proper cable to use to go from a plug into an UPS to the switch/circuit.  I would probably use nomex myself even though like you say it probably doesn't meet code. There is SJ hard service cord, and BX armored cable that might be better choices.  The BX would be a little tough to work with though.

Lightning induced surges on track

Perhaps the probability of this is too low to be concerned about, but I recall reading some years ago that a close lightning strike can induce a fairly high surge on the track (and track bus) that could fry anything attached to the track. This surge does not come though the house electrical wiring (although it could), but is caused by induction from the large magnetic field the lightning produces. The track and bus are acting as an antenna. Any thoughts on how to protect against that, or is it just too unlikely to worry about?

Tim

Lightning

The question about protecting from induction generated surges got me thinking.

My first thought for a solution was "dead rail society" where the track simply isn't hooked up to anything that could fry.

My second is that if you split your track into fairly small, electrically isolated sections, you might limit the problem, or at least lower the damage by shortening the individual antennas.

My next thought was, that's a rare one, and it's not like we can prevent lightning strikes or prevent induction, aside from maybe turning our layout rooms into Faraday cages. That would be characterized as overly expensive overkill.

So.... lastly, I checked several years back that my homeowners policy would cover my layout (it's under collectibles), and don't worry about it too much. I suspect that any lightning strike that would electrify your layout to the point of doing damage is also likely to kill major appliances.