Al: Good advice! I have five AF 50-watt transformers for power on SHABBONA RR. I leave them on while I'm in the basement, and have had nor problems, but, like you said, they can happen without warning. I have the transformers plugged into a terminal strip with an illuminated switch to turn them off, and the whole layout circuit is tied into the basement light circuit that turns everything off when I go upstairs. So far, no problems, but I am always aware of what is going on in that part of the basement when I am working down there
boB Nicholson _________________________________________________-- --- In [email protected], "alsflyer" <alsflyer@...> wrote: > > Hi Guys, > > Jean and I just one hour ago had a big scare. I had been running some of my > trains around our Christmas tree and left the transformer on while getting a > drink. I had just sat down and was watching TV when all of a sudden there > was a loud POP! MY cats went running out of the room and my wife yelled FIRE > ! I jumped up and ran over toward the tree and saw smoke and fire coming out > of the bottom of one of the transformers, the one I had left on. Man, I > grabbed the power cord and unplugged it and pulled the transformer off the > floor and somehow undid the power wires to the track and ran it out to the > garage and placed it on the concrete still smoking hot. > > I believe that the POP was the short in the transformer and it had blown out > the circuit breaker on the power strip and also the main breaker for that > power line in the basement. I was really lucky that the carpet was not burnt > but it was very hot when I touched it. Luckily, I did NOT have it on the > cotton snow so that did not catch fire. > > Please be careful with your transformers and unplug them if you are not using > them. You can never be careful enough. ALSO, I believe it to be in everyones > interest to place something under the transformer such as a piece of wood so > you do not burn your carpet, linoleum, or wood floor. And never place it on > the cotton snow if you are using this at Christmas time. > > Al Rawdon > > PS - I am posting this to as many groups as possible as a safety warning. > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
