@cocker posted:

I have a cruise lite. Will it power a older American flyer DC open-frame motor that draws 1.5 amps. Thanks

NO!  The Cruise Lite is pretty wimpy, if you have a motor stall, it'll be gone in a flash!  If  you're going to try this, use a 2A trip PTC in series with the motor to give the Cruise Lite a chance to survive such an event.

Thank you John.  Answered my question

A cruise lite is rated for 4 amps, 5 amps peak. Its more than capable of driving that motor. The other question is will it work with that motor. It doesn’t do well with three pole motors. Cruise may not work well, if at all. As suggested above, Carl Tuveson is the go to guy for S scale TMCC applications.

Pete

My experience with the Cruise Lite suggests that it's marginal for a motor like that, but since it's not my board...

I installed a cruise lite with ERR Diesel RailSounds in the Lionel

JOHN DEERE RS-3 LIONCHIEF REMOTE CONTROL FREIGHT SET (RS-3 DIESEL #1837)SKU: 6-81480

works great, runs for hours pulling 25 + cars.
I did install a PTC on the AC input, I think it was rated 1.5 A.  Haven’t had any stalls or issues.

In my opinion, and from the rated spec. The Cruise Commander Kit would be the best solution, if you have the room.

Thanks to all. This forum is a wealth of information

After two CC-Lite boards ate their FET's, I started installing a PTC in series with the motors on every installation of the CC-Lite.  I rescued one of the CC-Lite boards, but the other one was a goner, it cooked the PCB traces and screwed up the whole area around the driver FET's.

I've since rescued a couple more CC-Lite boards that I bought dead and revived, but I've seen enough of them cooked to know that they're way more sensitive to an overload then the full Cruise Commander.  The only Cruise Commander's I've had to replace FET's on have been from obvious faults, typically a motor lead shorted to ground or a motor short.  I've actually had to replace a couple of the bridge rectifiers that cooked on the full Cruise Commanders as well.

Most Mabuchi 3xx can motors draw a couple hundred milliamps free running at their rated 12V power, so anything that's drawing 1.5 amps IMO is not suitable for the Cruise Lite.

The question was asked, and I answered it with my experience with the subject board.   Having installed at least twenty-five of these when they were available, I think I have a fair experience base with the product, I venture to say more than most.  I know I have invoices for 30 purchases of them, and I only have a few left, so the rest are out working, or they've already been cooked.

I would never question your experience.

You’re the one I look for, and trust for advice on this site.   I was just throwing in my two cents.

John,you have way more experience in the electronics then me. I’m old school on post war flyer. I value you answer and won’t do this project with the lite board. Thank you for you your explanation and posting it for me. Thanks!