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Re: PECO SL-U8364 #6 Diamond Crossing UNIFROG
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýI¡¯m pretty sure a dual frog juicer should work if you need to change the polarity of the rails as wheels go over it. Don¡¯t know anything about Unifrog.?Peter On Aug 2, 2024, at 6:22?PM, Tom Grassi via groups.io <trgrassijr@...> wrote:
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Re: Feeder wire
Like many others have described, I use 22AWG solid wires for my feeders. For soldering this to the rail, I strip about 3/8" of the end of the wire. I then use flat jaw plyers to flatten the last 1/8" of this and bend the end 90 degrees (or a bit more) then trim it square.? Put a kink in the unstripped portion of the wire. The kink is so it has some friction in the hole in the roadbed. Push the wire through the hole and turn it so that flattened hook on the end just sits on top of the rail base. Solder using a fine pointed iron and tug on the wire underneath to make sure you have a good joint.
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This makes a very inconspicuous joint on N-scale code 55 rail and is easier than soldering it to the bottom of the rail. Paint the track (I use Rust-Oleum Camo Earth Brown in a rattle can) and it virtually disappears.
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Tim Rumph
Lancaster, SC |
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Re: Alternative transformer for NCE
On Fri, Jun 7, 2024 at 05:40 PM, Michael Boyle wrote:
What are some tried and true alternatives to the P515 transformer?You could use the 167P18 transformer from Hammond Mfg. As a safety precaution, using an rrampmeter, it would be wise to measure the voltage at the output of your Command Station/Booster before using with engines. A lower voltage adjustment is possible... ?
Littlered
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Re: Tripping Breaker
Your understanding is correct, Jim Z.? The semicircle in the drawing is actually an oval (with a few spurs and sidings).? On the right, the tracks stop at the end of the drawing and are not connected elsewhere.
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We were successful in installing three remote control turnouts with my nephew -- DC is a bunch easier to understand and troubleshoot than DCC.? Hope to get out to my layout tomorrow. . . if I don't die of heat stroke or something mowing the grass. |
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Re: Tripping Breaker
DonV,
??????? Thanks for the AR verification tip with the loco headlight. I've been chasing down a PM42 set up for AR and kept getting different readings and sometimes it would work but it was slow and not consistent. I thought my wiring was screwy but found it unlikely. Using your technique I found it was the PM42 itself which was failing. Replaced it with another that the club had and all worked perfectly.? Thanks again for the diagnostic tip.? Phil..... Rappahannock River Railroaders. |
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Re: Tripping Breaker
So, Jim Z suggested photos help.? I've attached a drawing called something like Paper Mill Extension.? The top, right track is the WYE with insulations/breaks (blue lines) where that track returns to the oval near the top and where another turnout leads back to the oval at the bottom.
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At this point -- when I get back from visiting a nephew to install three remote control turnouts on a DC layout -- I think I need to make sure the turnout just past the WYE at the top is not the culprit.? It seems to be creating derailments and that may be the source of my short!
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I'll keep working on this, albeit slowly, and really appreciate the advice I'm getting.
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Re: Tripping Breaker
mwbailey,
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? Setting the breaker to 3 amps may just move the trip to the PowerCab?
instead of to the DCC breaker.? Tell us this - does the PowerCab 'blink'
when it trips when you power up?? If it does then your PowerCab is
already being overloaded during power up and uping the break level of
the breaker won't fix it.? You want -some- head room between the system
and the breaker but not too much.? Remember there is a breaker in the
PowerCab itself.? What you want to achieve is for your system (PowerCab)
to never power down - for the DCC breaker to handle the short ... that
way the system is always sending out the DCC signal.
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? You may be dealing with an overall over current situation.? To test for that
power off the PowerCab (or PowerPro) and take everything off the layout.
Now power up - if it doesn't trip then you are probably on to something.
? If it does trip with nothing on the layout - you have a wiring problem.? Or it
could be a closed gap.? It probably won't trip with nothing on the track.
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? I'm going to assume it is an over current.? So now power the system off,
add one loco/passenger car at a time and power up and see if it comes up.
Continue, each time you have to power off before adding the additional
loco/psgr ... just keep adding until it trips.? Let the system 'drain' at least a
minute during each power off (longer is better).
? It may -never- trip ... if this is the case you are probably dealing with an
over current being caused by any keep alives in the locos.? Keep alives
draw a lot of current when they are first powered - to charge the caps.
A good hint at this will be if you can add one loco at a time to powered
track and all is fine - but if you cold start the system (2 or 3 minutes after
it is powered off) it trips then this points at the keep alives.??
? The first thing is to figure out what is causing the breaker to trip - then
we will deal with what you do about it.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? - Jim in the PNW |
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Re: Tripping Breaker
OK, I think I set the breaker to trip at 3 amps -- if 2 amps is good, 3 amps ought to be better -- using CV. I don't know if I can determine for sure the breaker trip setting has been changed.
I ran a loco over the "south" track gap for the WYE with no problem. Of course, I'm not sure if I can know if the reverser did it's job or if the tracks were already "lined up". However, when I ran over the "north" WYE gap, which is near a turnout, I got a short and momentary (a couple of seconds) shutdown. As before, the breaker would reset and almost immediately trip again. The loco derailed at the turnout, so I think the next thing I need to do is find out why I got the derailment before going further with electrical issues!! |
peterebherron
Tim
littlered
mwbailey
Phil Friday
Jim Betz