So here's a weird one. Set up the trains for the season and have been running for a few weeks w/o major issue. The other day one of my o gauge UCS track pieces started to spontaneously decouple the cars as the train went across.
only Other symptom that I could observe was the wire from the two button controller was hot, leading me to believe that a large amount of current was flowing through the controller for some unknown reason.
disconnecting the four wires allows us to operate the trains (but obviously no operating cars. All was working wonderfully with no reason to believe anything was wrong. Can anyone provide tips on how to get to root cause here? thanks.
If the wiring between the track and controller looks good, remove the two screws from the back of the controller to see if the internal wiring is satisfactory. Sounds to me like the wiring is faulty.
swede
Take the controller apart, and check the copper contacts. Sounds like they might be making contact. They should be open/not making contact when you're not pushing the button. The UCS track is staying energized, and if you don't fix it or disconnect it soon you're going to burn it out if it hasn't burnt out already.
which two wires will be closed when the button is pressed?
Michael6268 Take the controller apart, and check the copper contacts. Sounds like they might be making contact. They should be open/not making contact when you're not pushing the button. The UCS track is staying energized, and if you don't fix it or disconnect it soon you're going to burn it out if it hasn't burnt out already.
I had a similar problem when I moved my UCS from the original location, which is now under a tunnel. It suddenly started uncoupling cars. Never figured out why...
but I think originally it was mounted on screws on the bench work and something touched. Took the controller apart, didn't see anything. Now, it's back together and hasn't shown any trouble in months.
But, I have it mounted to the layout with 2 sided sticky tape now !
So it turns out it wasn't so spontaneous. A certain 8 year old boy might have pushed the button a bit too hard.
Glad you got it working !
It's amazing how many contacts are inside the controller, isn't it ?
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