I found an older bachmann power pack... you know, the square light-grey kind with a big red speed knob... can I convert the power from this dc source to ac to control my lighting?
no don't think so . find an a/c d/c controller and use the a/c side for accessories. i used my old Lionel controller to operate my remote switches and accessories . and then picked up an athearn controller at our local hobby shop for $19. works great i have a couple of dc loco's i like to run i just swap the plugs to the terminal railer for now . although i can run them on channel 10 on my ez commander .i prefer to use a separate d/c controller . i don't like the buzzing and humming . and potential to burn up the d/c motors by running the d/c loco's on the ez commander.
your lighting should work on dc as well as ac. and you'd have the added advantage of being able to dim your lights.
Also you can go to radio shack and ask for a rectifier diode, 1 amp up to 50 volts (the range is from 1-to 50 volts). These diodes are handy for changing DC current to AC current or vice versa.
rectifiers will only change ac to dc, not dc to ac. an inverter is needed to change dc to ac.
Thanx for your input!
is he talking lighting for the loco's or accessories .i miss understood .please excuse me
Quote from: train with no shame on April 12, 2009, 06:18:26 PM
is he talking lighting for the loco's or accessories .i miss understood .please excuse me
I think he's talking about accessory lighting for buildings and such.
lighting for locomotives is drawn from the track power. it is possible usiing dcc to turn the headlights on and off, but they are still using track power.