PRODUCT REVIEW: ELECTRONIC TIMER
Manufacturer: LGB of America, 6444 Nancy Ridge Drive, San Diego, CA 92121. Price: 53750 automatic electronic a.c.-d.c. timer $58.95 suggested list.
MANY OF US enjoy watching trains or trackside devices operate automatically. Until now it was necessary either to adapt commercial components from smaller scales to our large scale models or to build what we wanted ourselves. LGB's 53750 automatic electronic timer now fills that void.
A typical use for such a device would be at a passing siding, where you may program one train to stop automatically at a station and then leave the station after a pre-set interval. You might also use a timer to make a passing train automatically activate trackside accessories such as building lights.
The unit characterizes LGB's high quality standards. It comes in a durable brown plastic case with hinged weatherproof covers over the terminal strips and the time control slide switch. All visible electronic components appear to be of very high caliber. The unit measures 4 3/4 inches wide by 4 1/4 inches deep by 2 5/8 inches high with the lid closed. Its black plastic base has holes for four mounting screws.
The heart of the timer is an electronic switch allowing an internal relay to operate for a determined time after it receives a start impulse. That time may range from any setting between about three seconds and four minutes. You hook it up to the a.c. terminals of your power pack, connect another pair of wires to an electrically isolated track section, and as many as three additional pairs of wires to whatever else you want to control. In some cases you must use a standard LGB 17000 track contact or other switching device at each end of a track section to complete the circuit; many possibilities exist.
When the train passes over a track contact, the timer activates. When the preset delay time has elapsed, the train will once again run at its previous speed. If you use the timer in conjunction with a momentum power pack, the train will slow to a stop and accelerate gradually for a much more realistic effect.
Our sample came with no track contacts so we were unable to perform a test. In the past, all LGB products have performed excellently so we would have high expectations of the timer.-RR
