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Fixing A Track Power Problem
Josh asks readers:
“I hope this doesn’t sound stupid but I can’t get power on my HO tracks. I laid the track, and it seemed to operate smoothly. Even after I wired up my points it was working ok. I tested everything again before laying the ballast. After the ballast dried I tested it again with my only loco (yes I’m new to railroading!!) and got no power to the track. I then tried taking away some of the ballast near the contacts, but I still couldn’t get it to run. I feel embarrassed asking for help because I’ve probably made a stupid mistake somewhere along the line, but I’m stuck and don’t know what to try from here. Please help.”
27 Responses to Fixing A Track Power Problem
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It may be your locomotive. Do you have a test light or a volt meter to test for power at the track?
Yeah, that is what I was going to suggest – use a volt meter perhaps start with the locomotive then go from power pack to leads then along track. Somewhere you may have mixed positive and negative so your track is neutralized from power. Is your track continuous or in zones with insulating connectors?
You said yours trains ran fine before laying the ballast.If this is the case I think what has happened is that the glue you used to fix the ballast is on the top and sides of the rails and is acting as an insulator.Try using a scotch brite pad or track cleaning eraser on about 2 feet of track.Make sure you aslo do this to the inside flanges of the track.Let me know if this works.
Hi Josh
Did you solder the wires to the track or just lay them under the rails, if the later then the glue has become an insulator. I solder the wires to the bottom of the rail joiners then fit them to the rails and solder them in place only soldering them on the out side of the track before laying the ballast. hope this helps.
a few questions, how did you glue the ballast down ? are you dc or dcc ? did you clean the track off after you applied the ballast ? do you have power at the track feeders ? then go from there….
Hi. If you glued the ballast down or painted it (you say “after the ballast dried”) is there any chance you have glue or paint on the tracks? Of you used a dilute PVA to secure the ballast, it will act as an isolator if on the track.
Hi Josh, sounds like you have got the ballast adhesive between the contacts and the rail causing an open circuit. If don’t already have a multi-meter I would purchase one and check the voltage coming from the controller and check for voltage at the rail. Also if you are using dry contacts to power the layout I would advise that you solder the power supply wires to the rails. Regards Geoff
Josh not stupid, sometimes we do something which when finished, all of a sudden something else stops working. Suggest the following. Get (2) Pieces of wire and a 12 volt lamp, or a test lamp used for car fault finding. When you make the track alive, you should get a glow from the lamp, if you place it across both tracks.
When glueing down ballast, sometimes you may accidentally get glue on the track, this will stop power getting to the wheels of the engine, and therefore it will not go. Check the track first to see that it is clean and clear from glue, clean with a track rubber if needed.
If you cannot see any voltage at the tracks, then start by looking for power at the power supply.
Remembering that the transformer has 12 volts negotive and 12 volts positive connections, starting at the transformer, you should see a light when placing both wires across the output of the transformer. If that is so you have power coming out from your transformer (obviously switched on) then leave a lead on one side of the transformer say +ve, and follow the other lead, testing as you go along to see if the lamp still glows, at various points along that lead, especially each side of any joins in the wire.
Follow the lead until your test lamp stops glowing, then the fault should be found at the point between when it glows and stops glowing. If it seems to get all the way to the track, and try in several locations along the track, to make sure it gets around the whole track.
You should now try from the other terminal, say -ve, Connect one wire to the -ve, output lead and then follow the +ve wire checking at each connection to see if it glows right up untuil the track. If it stops glowing at any point, then you have found the area where the fault is.
You need to make sure that the power gets from transformer to track, and all around the track.
I know this sounds long, but for fault finding in electric circuits, this is the process required to be followed for fault finding. A voltmeter could also be used if you have one, or a voltage setting on a multimeter.
Good luck and happy modelling.
Hi,
Is there any ballast that has got stuck in between the point blades, as this would cause a track problem, I had this myself on our layout which was just a speck of dirt which was invisible to the naked eye. We got a small paint brush and cleaned in between the points. If that does not work perhaps lay a couple of wires connected to the track from where the problem lies.
Hope this will help you.
Gloria.
Josh, same thing happened to me, so I “backtracked”… I tested my transformer at the output terminals using alligator clips and a streetlight – got power. Then I did the same with the track – no power and breaker on my transformer tripped. So I checked my wire connections – all good & tight. So next I started inspecting my track inch by inch. What I found was a small piece of metal screw was half buried in my ballast and up against my rail, shorting it out.
Also, you may want to wire your turnouts separately from your track – that way you get constant power to your turnouts, variable (speed) to your track, and can isolate problems more quickly.
Hope this helps
Good luck
Steve
A large model railroad club in my area was fortunate enough to get a lot of free material to use as ballast and they were excited because the same amount of ballast would be very expensive if they had to purchase it. Their excitement was short lived when they discovered that none of the trains would run after they used the material. The problem turned out to be that the ballast was made up of electrically conductive material and shorted out the whole railroad in that area.
That’s most likely not your problem or you would have noticed short circuits over your whole railroad so I suspect, as others, that the glue used for the ballast is the problem. There are many instructional videos demonstrating the correct way to ballast track and by following those procedures there shouldn’t be any chance of glue coating your rails.
All the comments already made are good – try them. Having trouble shot many syst, hobby and industrial, pick a point and follow the path. Personaly, I start at the source, power pack, and work out to the rail at all segments one at a time. Keep note of what you find. The gluing process may have allowed the dampness of the glue mix to cause a short, but the fault light on the power pack would have lit.
2 things to do first – measure the voltage at the power pack first. Second, disconnect the wires from the power pack and attach a pair of wires to it and ,with the engine carefully cradled, touch the wires to the drive wheels and see if the engine runs. If that fails, you know quickly where the problem exists. If all is fight at that point, start the point by point process beginning at the power pack and moving out to the connection point and then to each segment of rail. You will quickly find the value of a test light. Contact me if I can be of further help.
When something like this happens you should:
1 – Never panic!
2 – Use pure logic on your approach to fixing the problem.
This said, let’s start:
A. You’ve got the power on the wall plate, then a 2-conductor cable to feed the power pack. From here you got a pair of wires that are attached to the track and feed it with the power needed to run your trains.
B. With an inexpensive multimeter (AKA V-O-M…) borrowed or of your own, check, in succession:
B1. — the output voltage of the power pack; IF OK GO ON W/ NEXT TEST /// If there’s no power (0 thru 14 Vdc) the problem lies on your power pack;
B2. — the other side of the wires (the one that connects the wires to your track); IF OK GO ON W/ NEXT TEST /// If there’s no power (0 thru 14 Vdc) the problem lies on your pair of wires;
B3. — then check the exact point on your track THAT CONNECTS TO THE POWER PACK WIRES; IF OK GO ON W/ NEXT TEST /// If there’s no power (0 thru 14 Vdc) the problem lies on your connection between the wires and the track;
B4. — now, just leave the point of connection of the power wires and move the probes in full contact with the track and towards east and west (or North & South…); IF OK GO ON AND PLACE AN ENGINE ON THE TRACK AND IT SHOULD WORK;
B5. — IF THE LOCOMOTIVE DOESN’T MOVE, THOUGH, THEN YOU MIGHT HAVE A HIGH RESISTANCE BETWEEN THE POWER PACK AND THE TRACK OR ON THE JOINT TRACK-POWER WIRES (the voltage is there, but you cannot have any useful current from the circuit.) THIS MIGHT BE MORE DIFFICULT TO CORRECT BUT FIRST LET ME KNOW THE RESULT OF YOUR TEST FOLLOWING MY INSTRUCTIONS ABOVE.
Cheers!
Carl
Josh,
First, and foremost check that the power supply/transformer has an output using any of the methods mentioned above. If it does, then simply connect jumper wires that have alligator clip connectors on one end to the power supply and then clip the wires to your track. This is a quick and easy way to verify that the track is getting power. If it is, then start looking at what may have caused your open at the source of power connection originally…
The biggest mistake you can make is to assume where the disconnect is. Test the power supply where it leaves the power pack, where it enters the tracks, on the tracks themselves and at the locomotive itself. It’s really a bummer to search the tracks only to find out the power never made it to the tracks in the first place. A voltmeter is helpful … and they are cheap at Harbor Freight or Radio Shack although eventually you’ll want a really good digital meter. But a 12 volt auto light bulb with pigtails soldered to it does a good job.
Try the quarter trick, just lay a quarter across your tracks, if it shorts than you have power to that section of track, if anything I bet it’s the glue from your ballast, like the others said, get a track eraser and rub you track, that will rid you of the glue on track trouble. Hope this helps you, Good luck on your railroad!!
Hi Josh, we all had tons of problems, don’t worry.
I am thinking that you might have some glue between the rail sleepers and the rails. In this case solder the rails together just a little bit.
Also you can check if the glue didn’t somehow separate the wires from the track when it hardened. In this case try making a new connection (again solder).
One other thing, if you are on DCC, check if the power track has a condenser in it, this will block the dcc signal. If this is the case remove the condenser.
Good luck,
Lucian
Josh, Easy to check to see if there is power. Disconnect from your track leads temporary. Put 2 new leads on and touch them to each of the 2 rails You should get power and your engine should run. Then like everyone says you may have got glue in your connectors at the rail, either that or the wire has broke from the connector at the rail. Prove it by the above method. Then check to see which wire broke or got glue in it by metering the wire lead at the transformer and to each rail to determine which connector is not working. Suggest doing this without the transformer connected and checking with the OHMs setting.
As you lay your track I suggest that you run a pair of buss wires under your layout and using phone wire hook up drops every 4 to 8 feet apart. This gives you several connections to the rails and it keeps from loosing power the farther away from your power source you get. Your buss wires should be NO. 16 or heavier. I use stranded trailer wire. The phone wire for the drops from the rails to the buss wire are short enough that heavy wire is not required,
If using only one connection to your rails, the more track you have the more connectors you have and the more power drop you have. If going through switches you can loose even more.
from Newman
I just was thinking that is this any engine or all the engines giving you this trouble?
Newman
It could very well be the glue …. All the above is great counsel .. MP
Hi Josh I solder every dropper to the track I don’t rely on the joiners for contact they can fail.–I have never had a problem doing it this way
Hi Josh. Don’t know the type of power pack you have, mine has a
Reset button that will pop out if the track gets shorted. And needs reset. Some times it get over looked. Welcome to the hobby Josh
I’m sure once your up and running you’ll lobe it
There has been some good ideas for Josh and his problem. I would like to “hear” see what the trouble was with the track power problem.
To see what Josh actually did to correct the trouble.
Josh, I believe, should find other modelers in his area of living He could attend a few meetings/ sessions so he can learn first hand. It may mean a bit of traveling but he could come home with a wealth of knowledge from that meeting.
Disconnect and test the resistance of each individual feed wire. They both should have the same resistance.
First off, there is no need to be embarrassed for asking questions or asking for help. We were all new to this hobby at one time or another.
Remember: “The only really stupid question is one that was not asked.”
Alright. Since your train ran on the layout before you glued down your ballast, I would do as Mr. Chisek suggested of using a Scott-Brite pad or a track eraser and clean the tops and insides of your tracks, and I would add to that by cleaning your engine’s wheels as well. Also check for any ballast that may have fallen into the areas of the turnout where track rails meet, and make sure they are clear of ballast or other garbage.
If that does not solve our problem, then I would check the following: Make sure your power pack is plugged into a working power mains. and disconnected from your layout. Turn the power pack on and check to see that it is working. I Suggest that you get a basic multi-meter and set it for 20 volt range and measure the voltage output of your power pack. For “HO” model engines, your power pack should be putting out about 12 volts D.C., +/- 2 volts.
If that checks out okay then reconnect the power pack to your layout’s track. Turn your power pack on and check for any wires that are very hot or burning/melting wire insulation, or your power pack humming loudly or physically REAL hot. if so, TURN POWER OFF! You have a short somewhere. Disconnect your power pack and with your multi-meter set for continuity or on “resistance” scale, check for shorts across your main track rails. Be sure that your branch line and siding tracks are not connected to the main line track that you are testing. If your meter reads “0.o0” or you hear a buzzing sound from the meter’s continuity setting, you have a short. Locate and fix it. If things are okay, then check your sidings and branch line for possible shorts. If things check out okay there, then check the wires from your power pack to your turnout switch control board and from there to your layout. Check for any loose wires or wires that are not suppose to be connected.
If you do not find and solve your problem after checking what I suggested, then the problem lies with your engine or your rolling stock. Your engine may have an open or disconnected wire or you have a short across your engine’s wheels or one of your cars may be shorting your tracks. Your local hobby shop, that has a model train department, maybe able to check out your engine and/or cars for a small fee.
MAKE A SECTION OF TRACK SEPARATE FROM YOUR MAIN TRACK AND WIRE IT DIRECT FROM YOUR POWER SUPPLY AND TEST YOUR TRAINS ON IT.FOR YOUR MAIN TRACK WIRING, CONNECT POWER WIRES TO YOUR TRACK EVERY 4 FEET OR SO, IN PARALLEL.
A Lot Of Love posted here in the comments. I Am So Very Proud of the way you help each other. You are an Example of How The World Should Work, Nothing But Peace and Love.