Yesterday and the day before, I set up and ran my new NCE DCC system with no problems. Today I installed a PSX-AR reverse board from Tony trains. Two lines from main buss to board and two lines board to yard. I turned on the power and my engine (on the main line) would not run. I could hear it buzz for a few seconds like it had power and even ran a half inch or so and then would die out, like a breaker was tripping. I removed the main buss wires from the board and tried running the engine again. Same problem. Did I mess up the decoder in the engine or mess up the PSX-AR somehow? I did put cuts in the track to issolate both ends of the yard.
JWK,
Can you either post a diagram of what you are working with or describe in in words? Try putting the loco on your program track and see if it responds to any programming commands. Can you read the address and some CV's? If so, the decoder is probably fine. If not, it may be damaged.
I put it on the programing track and it is reading the decoder ok. I took a old DC engine and put in a decoder and programed it. When I put it on the main track, it did the same thing. It ran for about an inch then shut off then ran again then shut off again, etc...
I am getting a fast red flashing status light which says I either have no DCC output or low input voltage. My power pac worked fine before I tried hooking up the reverse loop board. I've disconnected the board and still get the flashing light. Does anyone know how to correct this fault?
A few questions.
1. Are you sure that the yard is completely isolated from the main layout, gapping all of the affected rails?
2. Is the PSX-AR wired correctly or did you inadvertently reverse the input and output wires?
3. Are any feeders from the yard connected to the main bus wires, causing the short?
4. Which type of NCE system, Pro Cab or Power Cab?
If all of the above check out, there could be an issue with the PSX-AR.
You mention that the short is affecting the loco on the main line. Usually, the short occurs when the loco tries to cross the gap into or out of the reversing section. So, my guess is that the wiring is messed up or the reversing section, the yard, is not completely and properly gapped. Somehow, the reverse polarity is reaching into the main line.
In your last reply, you mention, that the "power pac" worked fine before you tried hooking up the reverse loop board. After you disconnected the board, you still get the flashing light. Let's clear up some terms here. When you say power pac, I think DC, but you are running in DCC, correct? Also, when you refer to a "board", I assume you mean the PSX-AR, correct? Lastly, when you mention the "flashing light", I assume that you are referring to the blinking red light (i.e., short indicator), on the DCC command station, correct?
Rich
Alton Junction
Thank you very much Rich for bringing me back to the basics. After an hour or so of sluth work, I found that I had wired one connection from the yard to the main incorrectly. One snip of the wire corrected the fault. Thank you again for that reminder also to wire the reversing loop board correctly. Also, the flashing light on the command station I thought was a fast flashing was really the slow flash. (I found this out by unplugging the "pigtail" between the power and control plugs, that was the fast flashing fault red light.)
Good work, JWK. Congrats on solving that problem.