At a Glance
Your digital layout needs digital power! DCC boosters combine the digital signal from your DCC command station with electrical power to drive your locomotives, and feeds the result—digital power—to the tracks.
RAILbooster is a small, reliable DCC booster designed provide 3 amps of digital power to your layout, whether your are expanding your basement empire, or building your first micro layout.
- Bulletproof design.
- Inexpensive.
- Small size convenient for N and HO gauge.
- Integrated power management.
- Smart short-circuit and fault detection.
- Compatible with all DCC systems.
- Fully assembled and ready-to-run.
RAILbooster is not a kit, it is a fully assembled product, ready to use on your layout!
Like all Railstars products, RAILbooster includes a No-Questions-Asked 3-Year Warranty!
Retail Price $100.
Why RAILbooster?
N and HO gauge locomotives use much less power than you’d expect, usually no more than 0.200A. That means that a typical 8A booster can run as many as 40 locomotives…but how many do you run, really? Even large layouts are best broken up into smaller “power districts” where only a few locos at a time will be run simultaneously. Large boosters are overkill, and require additional power management to make the best use of them.
RAILbooster is the simpler way to power small layouts or individual power districts. By integrating power management functions—short-circuit, over-current, and over-temperature detection—into the digital booster, RAILbooster provides a simple, inexpensive solution to providing digital power to your small layout or individual power districts in your larget layout.
Features
- 3A, adjustable 11V–16V output works with scales including Z, N, TT, HO
- DCC input works with all manufacturer’s command stations, including Digitrax, NCE, Lenz, MRC, and more
- DCC output voltage is stabilized; no more than 2V drop at maximum load, under adverse temperature.
- Short-circuit detection time approximately 1ms
- Compatible with sound decoders
- Combines power supply with power management, to provide independent power directly to each of your layout’s power districts.
- Requires an external 15-18VDC, 3.2A DC power supply with a 2.1mm center-positive plug, not included but available here.
Reliable by design
Designed for reliability, RAILbooster is the perfect way to distribute power on your digital layout. RAILbooster is rated for a maximum of 3A continuous current draw, which makes it ideal for powering small layouts and modules. But the integrated power management hardware makes RAILbooster ideal for larger layouts too, by eliminating the need for a large central booster, allowing you to power each power district independently.
- RAILbooster is designed to operate reliably in the harshest environments. Heavy heatsinking ensures that RAILbooster can provide a clean signal at full capacity, even in enclosed spaces.
- Ultra-fast shutdown on short-circuit or overcurrent protects your expensive rolling stock.
- Smart short detection prevents derailments from becoming real disasters, yet allows operation with current-hungry sound decoders or snap-switch machines.
- Tolerates short circuits indefinitely; automatically resets when short is cleared.
- RAILbooster also conditions the output signal, to ensure a reliable signal in even very large or electrically noisy layouts—all while operating on a potentially noisy or dirty input signal.
- Shutdown on loss of DCC signal, to prevent out-of-control locos.
- Shutdown on overheat—which will never happen, thanks to generous heatsinking.
Expanding your layout? RAILbooster is an easy and inexpensive way to expand the reach of your digital control system. Use RAILbooster to provide independent digital power and power management to your expansion. Simply wire RAILbooster to the “booster out” of your existing command station, and your new extension is ready to roll.
- Compatible with all DCC systems.
- Easy to install.
- Never overheats, even when run continuously at full capacity.
- Inexpensive—eliminates the need for additional power management modules.
Large power stations are expensive overkill for small layouts, but inexpensive entry-level command stations often aren’t powerful enough. Augmenting your basic digital system with RAILbooster for just enough power to get the trains on your small layout rolling.
- Compatible with all DCC systems.
- Rugged and reliable for layouts that get moved around.
- Smart short-circuit detection protects your rolling stock and layout from accidents.
- Also works with stand-alone DCC command stations.
- Inexpensive—no need for additional power management modules.
On modular layouts with centralized boosters, a short on a distant module can shut down the action on yours too. RAILbooster is the perfect way to isolate your layout module from the rest of the layout.
- Isolate your modules from problems on neighboring modules.
- Reliable operation even with a dirty DCC signal.
- Smart short-circuit detection protects your layout from accidents.
- Rugged and reliable for layouts that get moved around.
- Compatible with all DCC systems.
RAILbooster is ideal for powering your stand-alone DCC accessory decoders. Isolating your accessory bus allows you to operate turnouts even when shorted by a derailed train, helping you to clear accidents faster. Moreover, by using a seperate booster for accessories, you free up capacity on your main boosters for running more trains.
- Provides independent power to your turnout and signal accessory decoders.
- Frees up capacity on your main boosters for operating trains.
- Compatible with all brands of accessory decoder.
Where are the specifications? Current? Size? Interfaces ?
Aryldo,
An excellent question. I’ve updated the page above with the specifications!
Hey there… I would buy one, but the $54 or so freight is a killer!
Paul: If you don’t mind doing a little soldering of your own, I can get RAILbooster into a much smaller box and get the shipping costs to Australia down to about 18USD. Email me if you’re interested.
Essentially the same thought that Paul had: freight is a substantial cost. Would there be any problem with low-priority parcel post to Canada (BC)? And if my doing some soldering makes it simpler, that would not be a worry.
Thanks
David
David—and this goes for anyone else reading this—: I won’t do low-priority mail, or at least nothing that can’t be tracked or traced. Had too many problems lately with the post losing important packages. But I am happy to send it stuffed into a Small Flat Rate Priority Mail Box—no retail packaging, you’ll have to solder the heatsinks, voltage reg, and h-bridge yourself. Just email me the particulars (via this page: http://railstars.com/contact-us/ ), and I can generate a PayPal invoice, or if you prefer I can take credit cards over the phone.
I’ve managed to get the international freight costs down without requiring the end use to perform any assembly whatsoever! You should see the updated rates upon checkout.