*** Hello stirling.
What is hot? are we talking warm or nearly too hot to touch?
If its just warm then probably no issue at all. If its getting hottish - ie close to too hot to touch, there is a problem. Warm is a natural state as all the power electronics are in the handset, and its dissipating between 10 and 25 watts of power depending on load. (a couple of amps at 12 & a bit volts = 25 watts)
If it gets hot there one of two things is probably happening. too high an input voltage or a partial short on the layout. It is also of course possible there is a unit problem, but lets sort the first two first.
Some questions and easy tests.
1/are you using the original power supply - if so, its not that - if not, you should be, or at least using one of the SAME spec as the original. What are U using"
2/set up the ammeter in the handset - it is part of the cab setup procedure. It will show current draw.
3/What does it read when no loco is running? If its more than 0.1 or so amps with nothing running, you may have a loco or layout issues
4/As a check, now take all the loco's and stock off the layout and read it - what does it read?
5/As a check of the layout: leave all the locos and lit coaches etc off, disconnect the powercab from the layout. use your multimeter set to ohms and let us know what it reads.
6/ As a final experiment, connect the powercab to a separate bit of track with one loco on it and run it back and forth. Does it still get hot?
If the answer is (A) more than a little warm and (
it worries you, then can you take it back to the dealer to verify its ok or not?? If not, and U bought it overseas, then no big deal, NCE is really good with warranty support and will help you directly.
DO let us know...
Richard