DCC Specialties 246-PSX4 DCC Solid-State Power District Circuit Breaker — 4-Block

The PSX series is a product of Larry Maier’s 10 years experience in designing
and producing intelligent, solid state, DCC circuit breakers and auto reversers.
Patent pending. The PSX specifically addresses the increased inrush loads
(currents) which occur due to large capacitors used for sound systems. This load
appears as a system short circuit until the capacitors are charged. The logic in
the new PSXs determines if the load is a true short or just an inrush overload.

“I installed one of your PSX-AR auto-reverse modules on the feed to my
turntable, after having problems getting a Lenz LK100 unit to work. The Lenz
unit was very unreliable, resetting and shorting all the time. When I
substituted the PSX-AR, it operated faultlessly and invisibly right from the
start, with no adjustment required. You don’t hear any relay clacking or
chattering and in fact you don’t even know it is there. It is a pleasure to
use your products, they are well engineered and produced and your support and
customer service is excellent. ”

– Adrian G., Melbourne, Australia

“Our club in SW Florida installed 13 PM42’s in 2004. Over the years we have
seen half fail. Some due to electronics and others were relay contact
problems. Our layout is large and relays over time will fail due to load and
arching of contacts during short circuits.Today we are half way through
converting to PSX and PSX-AR units. All the installed PSX and PSX-AR’s are
functioning great. We have added Sonalerts and Remote Status LEDs
indicators.We especially enjoy being able to run 4-5 QSI engines on one power
district. This was not possible before. They would not restart on the PM42
after a short.I’ve been an electrical engineer and involved in electronics for
50 years. The Command Stations/Boosters and circuit breakers/RL controllers
are the base of the DCC infrastructure. Over time infrastructures must be
upgraded or expanded. This is what I see in converting from the PM42 to the
PSX and PSX-AR modules. The new modules are solid state and are designed for
the higher current demands of today’s DCC engines. Happy customer, “

– Lee D.

Re: Reverse loop inside another reverse loop question?

Actually, Ralph, the AR1 is really little more than a glorified set of
switches that are activated by a mechanical relay. If you really, really want
to get the bullet-proof fix, consider the combination short-circuit/ reversing
gizmo … called the PSX-AR, I think. Because the short circuit and reversing
functions are integrated in a single chip, you don’t have to worry about
timing considerations between independent devices which themselves can react
differently depending on loads, conditions, phases of the moon and how many
old Archie comic books are in the atttic. You don’t really need to think about
anything at all other than what placement of gaps makes the most sense for you
operationally. Hook it up, run trains and have a nice day. If something gets
wacky, the device will flip-flop polarity for awhile and then finally give up
and shut the whole shootin’ match down. No mechanical relays -all
electronics.”