Interesting Controllers.

[Mountain]

I am planning on changing cables etc to ensure they are safe to use. They probably are completely safe now but I want to ensure they are.

But here goes. Some lovely old controllers which one can say "They ain't made like that today!"

The larger one which is a H&M Powermaster has almost internally been built to the "Steampunk" level of electro-mechanical complexity. It is a work of art in there as it is works on the "Variable transformer" principle which was not cheap to buy in their day!
Also has what's known as vari-wave rectification and switched circuit selectable output (Which is just a series of switches to control individual track sections).

The little Triang RP4.5 is a lovely little controller. Has a low/high resistance switch which simply moves a little comb like piece of metal onto the transformer windings to vary the resistance. A very simple but effective way of doing it.

Not sure about the H&M Clipper and how it was made. Only opened the other two as I want to ensure my safety. Clipper looks fine but will get it checked.

[Mountain]

Here is a glimpse inside the Powermaster!
Notice how there is a wiper arm from the speed and direction control knob to the windings of the transformer. Had cleaned the windings so it will work better. The direction (Centre off) is sorted out just behind the shaft where the knob goes.
The other side of the case is balanced sideways above it. Excuse the difficult lighting conditions in trying to take the photographs.
What is interesting is that the wiper control arm works a lot like the insides of a car windscreen wiper which is why I call it by that name. It has probably got a technical name. The black part that moves it is an isolated material but the part it moves is metal. Hope that makes sense? Needs to be isolated from the rest of the control knob area to work from the looks of it.
I was asked by someone to show pics of the inside so I thought I would share them here. Hoping to not damage anything when I get to change its cable as has the old green earth, red live and black neutral type cable... So does the Triang controller.

[Bigmet]

H&M Powermaster, a Portable Appliance Test ('PAT') is advisable. The power cable and grommet into the case usually needs replacement, old style rubber and cloth insulation and rubber grommet liable to crack and crumble with age. Don't use the 'variwave' feature, lock it at full wave rectification for best longevity of the rectifier bridge.

H&M Clipper, looks to be a sufficiently recent version that had a PVC power cable and grommet. It's very simple, transformer, rectifier bridge, centre off sweeparm on a wire resistance mat for regulation of output. (Back in the day when in production this item and the 'Duette' twin track controller could be had fitted with a choice of resistance mats, the higher resistance options much better for modern can motored models.) Best used with the resistance switch permanently on high to avoid jackrabbit starts, and set to full wave for best longevity of the rectifier bridge.

I use a Duette for testing all new purchases. If a mechanism can be got to run smoothly and sweetly down to dead slow on this unsophisticated DC supply, then all is well with it.

[Mountain]

Need to examine the Powermaster as is not rubber but it goes into a sort of cardboardy surround (Need to look at it again) with the metal hole much larger round it. Is a design that looks safe as it is as it is not worn in any way. Wondering if it is very stiff card or something else which is visible from the inside onnthe last photo. As long as it has not hardened to the point that it cuts into the cable this part looks fine.
The cable does look old even though itnlooks outwardly ok. I don't want to risk it so will look to change it anyway even if it is perfectly fine though to change it means I need to very carefully take apart more of the controller to get to where it is soldered in which I am hoping will be easy to get to without disturbing any of its delicate parts.

Surprizingly with the little Triang unit which has an immaculate looking cable did need to have the rubber grommet round the metal case replaced which was an easy job indeed. Is only because I am fussy really that I am considering changing its cable. The controller still has its box and looks like it has hardly been used as can be seen in the photo. It has two outputs. 12vDC controlled and 12vDC uncontrolled. No AC output. I guess in those days all ran from 12v DC but I have seen similar versions but without the high/low resistance feature with 16vAC as well as the 12vDC controlled and 12vDC fixed.

[Bufferstop]

I don't know if the Powermaster and other variable transformers would meet today's construction standards regs. I'd clean it up, resolder any dodgy looking joints, reassemble it then get someone who does PAT testing to give it a check. If it passes the PAT now it should go on doing it for many years. I've got an almost identical clipper, I removed the variwave feature when I had to replace it's rectifier. Some modern motors don't take kindly to chopped up DC at any frequency, coreless ones particularly. I have the enormous lump of plastic from a computer UPS which is a sealed lead acid battery, it just has a pair of car type connectors on the top which give out pure 12v DC almost everything runs much quieter on it. I charge it up with my bench supply set to 14v which is the same voltage that the UPS charged it with.

PS The cardboardy looking stuff is Paxolin it's cloth soaked in phenolic resin under pressure, and for its day was a pretty good insulator. The insulator bars where two 25KV OLEs met were laminated from multiple layers of the stuff. Came from much the same period in history, don't know if they have anything better today.

[Mountain]

My models motorized chassis are a mix of budget Hornby 0-4-0, Triang, Lima and the odd vintage H0 American 0-4-0 by Life-like Mehano or something like that. that I don't remember the make. In other words old but cheaply obtained. Doubt any have coreless motors. I expect they all are relitively hardy with the budget Hornby 0-4-0's likely to be the most delicate and those just go on and on. The only criteria that causes me to want a little extra is the need to run the low power 0-4-0's alongside Triang chassied locos and I have a Wrenn 08 which I hope to use so I have a mix of low current draw locos and high, though high are not that high, so the extra resistance switch that two of the controllers have will come in handy.

Have plenty of donor locos ready for narrow gauge use. Half of me thinks just keep a few locos but do them up just the way I want them so nice chassis with strong old motors and nice metal gearing, and the other half thinks of making them all into narrow gauge...

[Bigmet]

... the little Triang unit ...

Best recycled, these are marginal for safety, lose the earth connection to the casing and it's ready to electrocute someone, when the live supply comes adrift. Insufficiently robust to stand up to use by a child in short. It's no loss, control of modern can motored models is likely to be poor, long obsolete.

... has two outputs. 12vDC controlled and 12vDC uncontrolled. No AC output. I guess in those days all ran from 12v DC but I have seen similar versions but without the high/low resistance feature with 16vAC as well as the 12vDC controlled and 12vDC fixed.

The earlier versions that had a 16V AC output to run solenoid point motors, the DC output 'crashed' when a point was switched. Cheap and nasty. To repeat, recycle now...

[Mountain]

Changed the cable to the Powermaster but I don't want to put a plug onto it to try it until I can test it first as I want to make sure it is safe. Everything looks ok but I want to be 100% sure as putting it back together has lots of parts that were hard to see what they were doing, so I want to be sure they are right. (I don't see a problem but I want to make sure).

[Richard08]

I bought these two (they came as a pair) from a charity shop sometime ago, as I wanted the "Power Unit" for a 'cab control' electronic controller I'd found (it used electronics to give a very similar driving experience to DCC). Back in the day these were on the to-die-for list. Been stored in a shed or garage at some point, but work wonderfully. Too heavy for eBay, but if anyone wanted to collect (Stoke area) I'm open to bribes. I mean donations. I mean offers.

Turns out that I still have a photo of that 'electronic' controller. Mounted in the temporary control panel pre-DCC. This thing was superb - made the DCC or not decision much harder to justify.... but I'm weak.

[Mountain]

Is quite a controller. Have used one of those little panel controllers as a club I used to belong to when I was younger had one on their very large layout. Yours has an extra lever though which I assume is a brake?

[Richard08]

Is quite a controller. Have used one of those little panel controllers as a club I used to belong to when I was younger had one on their very large layout. Yours has an extra lever though which I assume is a brake?

It's a shame the photo size is restricted so making out the markings is difficult. Essentially, yes : 'Regulator' is the big one, and the smaller one is 'Delay' (move off gently, build up until the set speed is reached and vice versa; 'Coast' (acts like you closed the throttle, gently slowing, no brake); Brake I (obvs) and Brake II; 'Off' (cancel any effects currently happening - avoids a lurch into ->); 'Direct' (normal direct control). The 08 is the only engine I used this with, it would go from 25mins to travel the length (14ft) of the layout crawling to roughly realistic max speed just as it does under DCC. I really liked it!