CREATING THE HAL 160
A Compact Power Supply for the Future
By Robert Hesselgrave, Vice-President NTrak Express
Having been involved with Ntrak for over 35 years, we have witnessed many changes, and have come up with some innovations of our own. Our latest creation, the HAL 160, eliminates about 20-30 minutes of set-up, and keeps our command and power system bundled into a handy, roll-away package.
We had thought of how we could set up the electrical aspect of our layouts better: we had a bulky, heavy power supply, a laptop, a DCC system, and a ton of wires. All was situated in a couple of milk crates, and lugged back and forth from the trailer for each show. How wonderful it would be if it was all self-contained and easily transported. What we wanted to accomplish was to create a complete power assembly that was
- Portable and compact
- Lightweight
- Allow for both DC and DCC operations and allow ease of changing from one to the other.
- Have input jacks for all NTrak lines (Red, Yellow, Blue, Green) as well as the black/white and black/brown lines
- Have external AC outlets and USB for phone charging (We use our phones to run the trains).
- Be strong enough to handle even the largest of layouts.
The Milwaukee PackOut model 48-22-8426, with the industrial grade extension handle, 9” all-terrain wheels, metal reinforced corners, and essentially waterproof
Our president, Bob Osterhoudt, a hardware store junkie, was looking at pack-outs for his tools, when it hit him— We could put everything into a pack-out! Deciding on the Milwaukee PackOut was fairly simple. It is sturdy and rolls like a hand truck, making it easy to roll over thresholds and up ramps. And it seemed to have enough room to fit everything, if we approached it thoughtfully.
Now, a lot of decisions would have to be made. The first thing was the 110vac going into the unit. It could be as simple as having an extension cord hanging out of the PackOut, which we quickly dismissed. What we wanted was that everything would be inside, and we would not have to open the PackOut unless absolutely necessary. So we decided to build plugs into the unit with both male and female outlets. We also wanted to have outside access to USB ports, both USB A and USB C.
Instead of a laptop to generate the wifi, we went with a Raspberry Pi, which has the advantage of doing everything we need, and being small. Its wifi range was surprisingly large- nearly 100 feet, which would be bigger than any layout would build.
An example of a Raspberry Pi. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, yet powerful enough to replace a laptop or desktop for our purposes.
We then needed to decide on a surge protector/power strip that would work with any power adapters and have USB ports for the Raspberry Pi. This is the one we chose.
Not only does it have a grounding screw (the ground wire will go to the Digitrax Command Station and boosters) and it has USB ports for the Raspberry Pi.
We wanted to supply plenty of amperage to our brown/black line. We needed 14-16vac and at least 10 amps. We discovered an outdoor light transformer that put out 15vac and 200 watts, or about 15 amps. Perfect!
The Hampton Bay Smart 200 Watt Landscape Lighting Transformer.
We decided it would be best to use the Digitrax 2012E power supple, capable of handling 20 amps, and negating the need for smaller power supplies (wall warts).
The Hampton Bay Smart 200 Watt Landscape Lighting Transformer.
Putting everything together was a lot like playing Tetris, getting everything to fit while allowing enough airspace to prevent overheating.
The back of the PackOut, with the AC power in and out, the Loconet installed, and the holes cut for the Anderson connectors.
The interior, with the Loconet, AC in and out (front and back), power strip/surge protector, 15vac transformer, and ventilation fans installed.
The rear, with the Loconet, all Anderson connections that go to the layout, and AC in and out
The completed interior, with all the connections and power supplies.
The Command Station and three boosters have been mounted on the inside of the lid, allowing a greater usage of available space
One of the things we wanted to do was make the transition between DC and DCC to be seamless. To do this, Club Member George “Buddy” Barrier devised a way to make the DC lines usable on Wi Throttle or Engine Driver. When the switch is in DCC mode, the tracks are powered by the 12vdc transformer, and the locomotives are powered by a DCC chip in the locomotive, as is customary in every layout. However, when the switch for the track is in DC mode, an HO decoder powers the track, so the user would program the number of the track into his or her phone, and be able to run their DC locomotive as if it were a DCC unit. The only drawback is that you can generally only run one train at a time on this, but this has proved to be a non-issue. So, by the simple flip of a switch, the line can change from DC to DCC and back without having to change anything at all.
Every switch is in the up position, meaning every line is DCC.
Here, however, the red and blue lines are in the down position, meaning that they are in DC mode, while the yellow and green lines are still DCC.
HAL 160 ready to go. The Milwaukee PackOut allows easy connectivity to other Milwaukee products, so we got 2 units mounted on top: one for extension cords and tools; and a smaller unit for supplies, such as extra Anderson connectors and other odds and ends
We had begun calling our unit HAL 160, after the infamous HAL 9000 in “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The 160, of course, because we are an N Scale group. My contribution to this effort was to create the label to identify it as such The red light in the front is the master power button for the whole thing.
