Piko central station problem

[Greg Elmassian]

Phil P: raising it will give a little airflow to the OUTSIDE of the bottom, will not significantly cool the interior since plastic is not a great conductor of heat.

Putting on a sheet of white paper would reduce the heating of the PAPER, if it was in the sunlight. But since the box is opaque, no sunlight under the box, and since wood is a good insulator, the part of the wood in the sunlight will not conduct "sideways" to the underside of the box.

I completely agree with Neil in the first and second steps he outlines, those were indeed my next suggestions. It is possible that the overtemp/overload circuitry is shutting off too soon, but personally I doubt it, BUT swap it out first, it could be true.

Personally, I would most likely find a way to actually have a small fan inside and a screened hole in the bottom, as heat ages solid state components also.

 

[scook]

Thanks

the unit has always been run indoors in the shade , I’ve had the unit a few years now so it is no longer under warranty,

holes and a fan look the way forward,

thanks for the info

Sam

 

[Brixham]

I was privileged to be invited to the Forest Railway to see this phenomena!
Within 10 minutes of running my double motored LGB loco, the central stopped working, all handsets showing a flashing stop. Total Current was around 2 amps, with another single motor loco and some station lamps.
I already had diagnosed an overheat syndrome from the symptoms, and looking at the Piko enclosure, was quite surprised.
There are no cooling air entry points, just a very small hot air exit hole underneath a logo plate.
Best case, assume 4 amps and a 2 volt drop in the unit, that’s 8 watts inside a virtually sealed enclosure.
Just like a mini oven!
Running the unit upside down without the baseplate solved the cooling issue.
Longer term work arounds were discussed, including adding a cooling fan, adding stand off pillars to the case...

OK, the UK has hotter than normal weather, but the central and PSu were located in the cooler indoors. If you can’t keep a finger on the heat sinks, then the unit is heading for premature failure.
Another user of Piko digital ( no names Tony ) does not have any problems in the hot weather at all.
Bizarre!

To be continued.......

Malcolm

 

[Greg Elmassian]

ok, so suggestion on the fan, find a small one, DC, 2 leads and find a fixed DC inside, and run the fan at 1/2 speed (1/2 voltage) would be what I would do.

1/2 speed virtually no noise, and it should be effective enough, lots of small fans on amazon... I would guess there is something like 18v dc somewhere inside... what is the raw input from the external power supply? that should be easy to tap into.

Ahh... doing a bit of research, looks like the external power is 20 volts dc, so maybe your choice would be to get a small 24v dc fan.

now you can try to force the air in, but better to mount it internally as an exhaust fan if possible

https://www.amazon.co.uk/40X40X10mm-Brushless-Cooling-Cooler-0-06A/dp/B08FXDCJYW/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1TBUEM1BZCIBY&keywords=24+volt+small+dc+fan&qid=1660511598&sprefix=24+volt+small+dc+fan%2Caps%2C248&sr=8-4

Greg

 

[scook]

Just did another test, much cooler day than yesterday

Drilled 5 holes in the base, and propped up the sides to provide a gap for air to go in,

Ran well under 2amps for 2 hours, casing wasn’t too warm, just the silver plate on the top

A soon as I started pulling over 2 amps within 5 mins cut out again ,

Sam

 

[PhilP]

Just a thought..

Trying moving the transmitter away from the Central Station. About 18 inches.

PhilP

 

[scook]

just check that the transformer is giving out 23v to the central station, not the 22v stated on both units
Sam

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Phil can you explain how moving the transmitter would help? Is there a story about the transmitter affecting the Central Station? (anything is possible).

Sam, that extra volt should not be an issue in a properly designed unit, but shutting down at 2 amps is bad.... sorry, it seems to be getting worse.

Greg

 

[PhilP]

Phil can you explain how moving the transmitter would help? Is there a story about the transmitter affecting the Central Station? (anything is possible).

It should not affect it, but....

Sticking a transmitter next to another device (all of them full of oscillators) could be 'cooking' something?

It also costs nothing, except time, so worth a try.


The only known really big bo-bo Piko made, was when then (early-on) went from a CS design which would accept AC as well as DC, to DC only input to the CS.
Initially, they did not make this abundantly clear, and it did not go well, if any AC output power-pack, was connected to a DC-only input CS.

 

[Dan]

I see the bottom of the unit is mostly flat. First thing I would do is put spacers under the bottom at the mounting screws and use longer screws. My guess is if the bottom could run cooler maybe the unit would run cooler. Quick and dirty way is use a toaster oven rack under the unit.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Dan, take another look at the underside with the cover off, post #12

 

[LGB333]

Is your unit still under warranty? If so arrange for a replacement from your supplier. If not cut a few air holes in the base and add feet to raise the unit of the deck. The unit isn't waterproof and the internal voltages are only about that on the track and other exposed wiring.

I just now happened across this older August 2022 postings. I had the same problem in 2019 trying to operate a Massoth Reverse Loop Module on my garden railway using the Piko DCC Command Station powering the layout. Everytime a locomotive would enter the reverse loop, it would trip the Piko command station. I tried my Massoth DCC command station and it worked fine. I contacted Piko America and they informed me that I was using one of their first generation Piko command stations that had the old electronics in it and that was the problem. They advised me to ship my old unit back to them and they would exchange it for a brand new, current configured unit plus $150 or somthing like that. When I received the new Piko unit, hooked it up to my layout, the problem was solved using the reverse loop module with a locomotive entering it. So you probably also have the older, first generation Piko unit that you might want to replace.