If some makes this product let me know. Now I often wonder why bachmann doesn't make ez track that you can plug in accessories like Lionel does.
It would be a great advantage because then you would have to string wire ever where. All of your signal lights and switches could be powered this way. I wonder if the voltage is to low?
Lionel is an AC system using three rails. Ho is DC (unless using DCC) two rail system. In DC if you stop a locomotive, you do not have any current to the track. That is is reason you cannot run accessories like Lionel does.
Quote from: RAM on December 09, 2007, 06:16:20 PM
Lionel is an AC system using three rails. Ho is DC (unless using DCC) two rail system. In DC if you stop a locomotive, you do not have any current to the track. That is is reason you cannot run accessories like Lionel does.
Close but no cigar. In both H0 and Lionel, the voltage is varied to change the speed of the locomotive. In both H0 and Lionel, when you turn the control to stop, there is no voltage on the rails.
The exception, as RAM said, is when you use DCC or similar system to run your trains. Then there is a constant voltage on the rails. But to use DCC power to run your accessories would still not be a great idea. An auxiliary power pack and some wire is a lot cheaper than having to add a DCC booster to supply the extra power.
But here is an idea for Bachmann: Redesign E-Z Track to include two conductors that can be used to carry auxiliary power. The sections could be much like (identical to?) the track sections used with the reversing trolley track. Just like there are sections with track power plugs, there would also be sections with auxiliary power plugs (with a different shape than the track power plugs.) I am not sure that these sections would be a cheaper alternative to conventional auxiliary wiring, but I suspect many users of E-Z Track would find them a lot more convenient.