NCE PB5 Reference Manual

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PB5

5 Amp Booster

Reference Manual

NCE Corporation

82 East Main Street

Webster, NY 14580

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PRODUCT MANUAL FOR PB5

5 AMP BOOSTER

PREFACE

This manual provides information pertaining to the installation and operation of the PB5 BOOSTER only.

COMPONENTS

The PB5 comes supplied as follows: 1 - Black box labeled Five Amp Power Booster in the upper

center and PB5 in the lower, right corner.

1 - 7 foot cable with modular telephone plugs on both ends.

Each plug has four gold-plated contacts. This is the control bus cable. For the technically inclined, this is a 4-

wire cable with RJ-H connectors. 1 - Track Connector Plug 1 - DC Power Supply with additional 25%, 30 sec. Surge

capability. 1 - PB5 Manual.

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particular purpose. NCE reserves the right to revise or update its products, software,or documentation without obligation to notify any individual or entity. Please contact the Warranty Center for specific shipping instructions and any service charges before returning any product for service. Address all inquiries to:

NCE Warranty Center 82 East Main Street Webster, New York 14580 Phone: 585-265-0230 Fax: 585-265-0234

FCC Statement

This NCE product complies with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used according to the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. Keep in mind that by FCC rules, all electronic equipment must accept any interference, including interference that may cause undesired operation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio, or television reception, which is found by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:

Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna Increase the separation between the equipment and the device Connect the equipment to an outlet other than the receiver’s Consult a dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for assistance

About NCE

NCE has been manufacturing DCC Products on an OEM basis since 1993. Originally we offered only “chip sets” that contained software enabling other DCC manufacturers to build DCC systems. As time went on some of those manufacturers asked us to first supply partial assemblies then complete assemblies in addition to the chip sets. This has helped NCE to grow into a full time electronic design and manufacturing firm devoted entirely to the development and sale of products for the control of model railroads. We build an amazing array of products for both our own customers and other DCC manufacturers. We keep labor costs low by utilizing modern automated robotic assembly for most products. Our product designer is Jim Scorse. Jim models the Erie Railroad in O-Scale and has a long history in model railroading. He has numerous patents in the area of digital imaging, video and computer network data communications over noisy channels. Jim is active in the Layout Design SIG as well as 30 years with the “Tuesday Night Gang”, (round robin model railroad club) and is probably one of the only active model railroaders among all the DCC manufacturers.

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WIRING TO A DIGITRAX SYSTEM

This wiring diagram is provided for the operators that wish to add an NCE power booster to their existing DIGITRAX system. This cable splicing is required to the first DB100/DB150 only. Always leave the “Ground to Sync”

Jumper installed.

are trademarks of NCE Corporation. The look and feel of this software and its interaction with the user through the ProCab or Power Cab is copyright NCE Corporation. The distinctive shape of the ProCab

with LCD and/or thumbwheel is a trademark of NCE Corporation. Digitrax® is a registered trademark of Digitrax® Inc. All other non-NCE brands and product names mentioned are likely to be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respected companies.

Limited Warranty

NCE guarantees that every NCE DCC System is free from physical defects in material and workmanship for a period of 1 year. Within the first year full repair or replacement will be made to the original purchaser of any item that has failed due to manufacturer defect. Should the item no longer be produced and the item not repairable a similar item will be substituted at the manufacturer’s discretion. The customer pays only shipping to the NCE Warranty Center. Please save your original receipt as a photocopy of it may be requested. NCE returns the items UPS ground unless other arrangements are made in advance. After the first year a fair and reasonable service charge may be placed on each failed item returned for repair. Should the item no longer be produced and the item not repairable a similar item will be substituted at the manufacturer’s discretion. The customer pays shipping to and from the NCE Warranty Center. This warranty is not valid if the customer has intentionally misused, miswired, performed any unauthorized alterations to the product or removed any product protection devices (such as heat shrink wrapping from decoders). In this case a service charge will be applied for all repairs and replacements. To protect the warranty, please contact the Warranty Center for authorization prior to altering any product. In no event will NCE’s liability exceed the price paid for the product from direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages resulting from the use of the product, it’s accompanying software or its documentation. NCE makes no warranty or representation, expressed, implied or statutory with respect to its products or the contents or use of this documentation and accompanying software and specifically disclaims its quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for any Page 5

Red

Green

Cut off black wire

Cut off yellow wire

Supplied4 position RJ-Hcable

NCE boostercoverscrew

ConnectTerminal"E" to

Connection from Lenz command station to NCE booster

Connectorto

LenzCommandStattion

for ground

ConnecttoNCEbooster

"ControlBus"jack

CONNECTIONS, CONTROLS and INDICATORS

Starting at the left side of the front panel, each terminal, socket, switch and indicator is explained below:

TRACK TERMINALS:

The screw terminals of the black connector are designed to accept wires up to #14 AWG (2mm). Insulation should be stripped back 1/4 inch (6mm). Only stranded wire should be used. Do not tin the wires to prevent fraying. If solid wire is

used for track power, make a splice joint to stranded wire at some convenient place. Only stranded wire should enter the terminal for reliable contact. Wires from these terminals go to the track. If more than one booster is connected to the layout, be sure the left track terminal on all boosters is consistently wired to the same rail. This will ensure you have the same “phase” as you cross power district boundaries. Always use wire of sufficient gauge (#18 minimum) to connect to the layout. Power “drops” of #24 or #22 wire to a larger wire bus under the track are fine as long as the length of each drop to the main

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Insulation

BareWire

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bus is less than 2 feet. Use of a smaller bus will prevent the booster from detecting a short circuit and may be a fire hazard.

The voltage to the track is dependent on the power source input voltage as discussed below. The DCC track voltage can be changed from 13.8 to 12 Volts by setting the switch on the power supply for N, HO and some S Scales. We offer a 9 Volt power source for Z Scale. Please call us at 585-2650230 for a replacement. We do not recommend using a 5 Amp booster with O-Scale as most O-Scale locomotives have stall currents in the area of 8 Amps (Weaver, Red Caboose, P&D). For O-Scale usage we recommend our PB110 ten Amp power booster.

CONTROL BUS SOCKETS

The control bus sockets on the front of the PB5 are paired to allow wiring the control signal coming from the command

station to “daisy chain” through the booster. Use the supplied 7 foot cable to connect the PB5 to your

command station’s CONTROL BUS socket. The remaining (unused) socket on the PB5 can be used to connect to other Boosters in daisy chain fashion. Use only the 4-wire RJ-H cable for this purpose. Longer cables may be used if more distance is needed between power stations. The last power station at the end of the daisy chain will have one empty socket. The PB5 will place a nominal 6mA load on the command station control bus.

STATUS LIGHT

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TRACK

STATUSPOWER

18VDC MAX.

PB5

FIVEAMPPOWER BOOSTER

CONTROLBUS

POWER PRO

From CommandStation

7 foot Cable Toother Power Boosters

This light will illuminate light steadily under normal operations. Flashing indicates an abnormal or fault condition. Here is a description of the various conditions indicated by the status light.

Steady on - Track power is on and operations are normal. Rapid flash - No DCC signal from command station (control bus cable is unplugged, programming track in use, etc.) Slow flash - Short circuit in the layout wiring, the layout track or in a locomotive.

POWER SOCKET:

Input power from the outside power supply goes into the PB5 via the round socket. Use ONLY the NCE supplied P514 power supply.

TRACK VOLTAGE ADJUSTMENT

The track voltage can be changed between 12 Volts and

13.8 Volts by setting the switch on the P514 power supply.

CONNECTING THE PB5 TO OTHER SYSTEMS WIRING TO A LENZ COMMAND STATION

This wiring diagram is provided for the operators that wish to add an NCE power booster to their existing LENZ system. Lenz does not provide a ground point.

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Red

Green

Cut off black wire

Cut off yellow wire

6 positionRJ-12

connector

Supplied4position RJ-Hcable

Connection from Digitrax command station to NCE boosters

Blue

White

Yel Grn Red Blk

NOTE: Connectoneof the NCE boostercoverscrews to the ground connectionof otherboostersinthesystem

ConnecttoNCEbooster "ControlBus"jack

ConnecttoDigitrax

LocoNetjack

Splicewires