I'm in HO with a NCE power cab. I've tried wiring two PSX-AR's, one at each end inside of the isolated area. I also switched the wires around eveyway but Sunday but can't get any thing to work. What would you suggest?? How would you do it?
Pictured is a ROUGH drawing.
Many thanks
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up
Bob,
I think the problem is inside your "X" area. You have crossed the polarity of the rails inside your reversing loop. On the rail from 5:00 to 11:00, the black needs to be on the same rail. The same thing goes for the rail at 7:00 to 1:00. Put the black rail on the same side of the track all the way through your crossing and I think your problem will go away.
Let me know if I've confused you...
Don Z.
Research; it's not just for geeks.
Don,
In order to do that, would you connect a PSX-AR to the track running from 5 o'clock to 11 o'clock and a second one for the 7 to 1 oclock??
Yes, I belive that is correct. Make sure to gap both sides of each track. The 90 degree crossing in the center should be already isolated from the opposing route.
Yo Don,
I can understand the logic of connecting 1 to 7 o'clock and 5 to 11 o'clock. That was what I thought I was doing.
All lines going to the 90 degree crossover are isolated, but the crossover itself isn't. When the crossover is isolated how will it be powered? If it has to be isolated the crossover may have to be cut out with a razor saw along with the road bed and with possible damage to the foam base underneath..
If it does have to be isolated, a guy has to do what a guy has to do.
Well it's 11 PM here on the East Coast so I hope we can continue this discussion tomorrow.
What brand is the 90 degree crossing? Have you used a multimeter to test the crossing?
To be continued....
each route through the crossing should be internally insulated from it's opposing route. move the insulated joints from the frogs on the switches and put them on all eight rails on the crossing. then hook a reversing unit on each route through the crossing. the dcc reversing units don't work like a reversing switch on dc. the dcc reversers don't change polarity to the rails but tell the decoders to reverse the polarity on the decoders themselves to keep the locos running in the same direction. when i put in a reversing unit on a wye on my clubs layout i had to move all the insulated joiners to make a new reversing section.
If the 90 degree crossover is an Atlas or Peco there is no need for additional insulation because both brands are already adequately insulated.
Insulate at the turnouts on both ends and connect the PSX-AR only to one end of the line. Unless you are going to have two trains within the reverse loops at the same time, you only need to have one PSX-AR connected to both sets of rails.
Hello to all,
The isolated rail joiners are at each turnout entering the center scetion. The 90 degree crossover is by Atlas and is not isolated.
After reading every one's suggestions I went back to one of my original wiring configurations as per attached drawing.
The loco traveled from 11 O'clock to 5 O'clock but stopped at the isolated turount and likewise it went from 1 O'clock to 7 O'clock. It wouldn't enter coming from those two turnouts either.
Hope this helps with the diagnosis!!
Thanks,
You are causing a short with the way you have wired the X part of your layout. The track going from 7:00 to 1:00, for example, needs to have the red feed on the same side of the track through the crossing. The crossing is isolated; that means that the crossing route does not interfere with the opposing route. The plastic parts you see in the crossing is what is isolating the crossing within itself. If you rewire the "X" rails so the red runs the full length of the "X" on the same side of the track, your problem will go away.
I revised your diagram...note how the red side runs through the crossing. Make the change and your problem should go away. All of the turnouts need to be gapped from the center section.
Mystery of all mysteries. When I changed the wiring I got a dead short. but by changing the polarity from 11 to 7 with the positive rail on the left eliminated the short with the polarity from 1 to 5 as you suggested. The loco worked perfectly from 7 to 1 and 1 to 7 and went from 11 to 5 BUT stopped at the isolated turnout. I tried switching the wires around on the PSX AR but the only way I could get it to work at all is how it is pictured.
When I was in the Navy a group of us were gathered around in the engine room because of a problem. I was just out of boot camp. The Comander in charge finally said (curse words left out) "I've got a lot of good ideas if I could only think of them". I broke out laughing and with eveyone staringing at me I tried to disappear.
Now if I could only think of a good idea.
Don's drawing has it wired correctly. The only thing I see wrong is that there is only 1 PSX-AR hooked to the 7-1 track. You still need another PSX-AR to connect to the 11-5 trackage. That should take care of your problem.
Bill
Have you tried staggering the rail gaps as recommended by Tony in the documentation that comes with the PSX-AR?
No, I didn't follow the instructions to the letter (what else is new) but I have a good excuse. I had already glued the track down.
I'm going to try Don's and Bill54's suggestion today, hopefully.
Thanks for your replies.
I'll post the results and a picture of the double reverse on the layout. I'm feeling confident.
Finely sucess !!!
With Bill54's suggestion I installed the second PSX-AR and used it to change the polarity of the track as suggested.by DonZ.
"They" say that confession is good for the soul and in this case I thought that every one should know that I had pitched you a curve (no pun intended)it. While getting the 4 sections of track with 2 S curves to meet in the center it put such a strain on the plastic rail joiners that I replaced one set with metal to get the track laid. Because of the length of time between working on the layout I had forgotten about them. That was what caused the dead short when I followed Donz's suggestion. When I did the above and the loco still would only run on 3 of the legs. This could only mean that the 90 degree crossing was defective or I had another problem, perhaps a insulated rail joiner had broken. That's when I found the metal joiners. I'm sorry for whatever problems this may have caused in diagnosing the problem. Believe you me, I got plenty of exercise going under and getting up from uner the layout.
Attached is a photo showing the loops. The layout looks like my work bench but now I can really get on with finishing the track work.
Many thanks to every one.