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Finished Wiring, Ran Smoothly Then…KAPUT!
Chris writes:
“I am still working on my 19×13” HO layout and after wiring the whole thing with a 14 gauge bus line and 18 gauge track feeds every 3-5 feet, everything was running smoothly on the entire layout with my MRC DCC 3000. Until one day last week when my most expensive engine stopped moving and another started sputtering with connectivity, yet a third train kept on running. I took off the MRC and put on one of those cheesy transformers and the engines worked a little. So now I’m guessing it’s time to update my transformer. Any thoughts? The part that convinced me was that it’s all been working nicely since upgrading the bus line and feeders.”
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10 Responses to Finished Wiring, Ran Smoothly Then…KAPUT!
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From what you say, most likely is the track or loco wheels need cleaning, but also check the pickup contact from the wheels/axle to the internal wires. Please let us know if this helps.
Transformers nornally last forever, unless they get dropped or overloaded.
Clean the track!
You can check the transformer by putting an external load on it like a 12 volt bulb. Pay attention to the transformer capacity and the wattage of the bulb. If it gets overheated, you can say that it is shorting inside which is very rare. Since you made some changes, go over them one by one. You will find something like a poor connection somewhere. Is it possible that it happens only when you change the position of a particular turnout? If so, it could be a wiring fault.
Chris,
Buy yourself a decent volt meter and learn how it functions. Check your power supply and all connections from there to your loco. If you do this in an orderly linear manner you should find the problem. It could be your power supply, poor connections at any point after the power supply up to the track. It could be dirt on your track or on your loco pickup wheels. If your cars are running with plastic wheels you most likely have a dirt problem. It could be a combination of any of the above.
Good luck. If you are running with plastic wheel sets on the cars look to upgrading to metal wheel sets. They run a lot cleaner.
Until I installed a 5Amp booster to my system I had sound locomotives cutting out, stopping and rebooting my system. Booster corrected 95% of my problems
Have you considered that you may have had a short circuit with a small metal object lying across the track. Your multimeter should give you a reading that will advise you.
If one engine runs it’s not your transformer. The most likely problem is your pickups on your engines from the wheels. Clean the sides of your wheels should fix this.
If one engine runs OK but 2 more run poorly it’s more likely that the 2 running poorly need wheels cleaned or even lift the cabs off and check for dust, loose wiring, no oil ect. If the transformer was bad and connected to the same track that all 3 ran on they should all run.
Clean the track and loco wheels and pickups
If the behaviour of the problem locos is the same everywhere on the layout, but there is one loco that works fine, then it is logical that the problem locos have a fault, most likely a matter of wheel cleaning.
For the sake of fault diagnosis, it is wise to have a means of isolating sections of a large layout, to find out where the problem is.
Ensure that your power supply is sufficiently powerful if you intend to run all the trains simultaneously.
The power supply maximum output current must be at least equal to the the sum of the maximum stall currents taken by all the locos that will be running at the same time.