It has a “weak booster” setting to ease the load onto boost-
ers so that a bunch of discharged capacitors in sound locos
don’t shut it down.
It has a very controlled trip, so there isn’t a large spark (pit-
ted wheels) when the short occurs.
It has connections for external LEDs to show status.
It has parallel input terminals for easy daisy-chaining of the
DCC supply bus.
There is a location to add a buzzer on board if you want a
sonic alert.
All the current settings are done by jumpers or setting CVs,
so there are no knobs to bump. I recommend using
the jumpers unless you need finer trip current settings that
can only be achieved with CV settings. As they come, they
7. PSx advanced circuit breaker from DCC Specialties.
American Hobby Distributors photo.
7
DCC Impulses Column - 8
are set for 3¾-amp trip current. This is a good compromise
for use with a 5-amp system. Remember, unlike the circuit
protection bulbs, when the circuit breaker trips, it removes
all the load. That way, the full power of the system is avail
able for the remaining (functional) districts.
Auto-Reverser technology
The heart of a circuit breaker is exactly what is needed for an
auto-reverse module, the ability to detect a short.
The PSxAR is an example of sophisticated design technology. It
combines an auto-reverser and a PSx series circuit breaker into
one board. When a short is detected, first the module will flip
the polarity. If the short persists, then the module will shut off
the power.
MRH-Nov 2014
