Bob,
Did you ground one side of your layout (low voltage) power? If so, it makes sense that touching the ungrounded side of the layout power with a grounded trouble light would cause some problems. Which, I guess, it did.
Ed
Would taking the ground wire from the Digitrax 100 "booster" to the wiring conduit for the benchwork outlets be good enough?
I have been having mystery glitches that sometimes only resolve when turning the power off then on again. (Locos not responding even though they're getting track power, etc.) Would taking the ground wire to the conduit be adequate?
Thanks, Jim
Raised on the Erie Lackawanna Mainline- Supt. of the Black River Transfer & Terminal R.R.
I don't think your glitches are related to grounding - more likely a signal issue. Does this happen in the same area of the layout? And how long is the bus line to the locations where the control issues happen? Do the bus wires run along that conduit for the lighting?
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Hi Randy. My buss is short as the layout is only 17' long and 8' wide. There are 3 power districts with PSX boards for short protection.
Basically, there are intermittent times when I'll have to shut down the system to "re-boot" in order to get locos to respond even though they've been given power to the track (cab lights are on, etc.)
This is sometimes during initial powering up but also if the battery saving indication is shown in the throttle and I have to replug in. (I think that indication is r-ps or something similar-not home right now to remind me.)
I sometimes have to also hit LOCO again to re-access the cab address and get the loco to again respond even though it's address is showing and the throttle beeped after plugging in.
This is a radio system with a 100/dt400. I recently realized that I now had some fascia up in front of the antennae location but everything operates fine otherwise even with other guys in the aisle during a session-plus I get similar behaviors when plugged in, having to hit the select loco button again.
I will be moving the antennae to a higher/open location when the lst city structure gets built this winter. In the meanwhile it works in every other regard so I don't think that's the issue.
After seeing this thead about grounding (my ground wire has been off for awhile) I wondered if that could be the problem. I'm going to, on the advice of my wiring buddy, attatch it to the outlet conduit. The outlets and conduits run along the aisle side. The power buss and feeders are futher in mostly centered between the L girders.
I'd not thought about it being in one area of the layout. I usually experience this in the classification yard because I start most trains there. I'm pretty sure it's happened on the mainline occasionally also either after a plug back in throttle notification or initial fire up. I have an upper city yard but haven't run up there lately.
Hope I answered everything. This "glitch" occurs about once per day on average.
Thanks! Jim
Sounds more like a radio signal problem than anything. For one, turn off the power save in the throttles. Also, do you have a PS14 powering the UR91 or UR92 (you didn;t say if it's simplex or duplex)? And if you also plug in more than 1 or 2 DT400s or 3-4 UT4s, I'd power the UP5's as well. Do NOT follow the diagram in the UP5 instructions and run the one wire, that makes the ground side be the Loconet cable. Instead you can run, or tap off an existing 12V DC bus and attach coax plugs to power each UP5. Radio Shack has the right connectors, I have a few packs but everything is buried in my basement so I don't have the RS part number handy. It's a 2.1mm I think.
Thanks Randy, I'll look and mull this over and talk with my wiring guy and get back to you in a couple of days.
I'm using a PS515 which came with the Super Chief system. I'm simplex (one of my throttles is a dt402 but simplex only.) I'll have a total of 3 or 4 throttles max for sessions. Usually 2. I didn't know anything about powering the UR90s. I'll look into that too. What happens (or doesn't) if the loco net is the ground?
Would it be a good idea to ground to the outlet conduit until I accomplish that?
Does the power save cause problems/glitches? It's a pain having to climb down to plug back in anyway and have thought about doing that. I'll look up the CV and get that done.
What does powering the U91/2s give us. Just a better track signal?
Thanks, Jim OP, sorry if I've high jacked your thread a bit, but your questions made me wonder if the missing ground was causing my issues.
Power save causes problems because the throttles forget what they are controlling.
UR90? Or do you mean UR91? Because a UR90 is IR only, not radio, and it's direct line of sight - you have to point the top of the throttle at a UR90 for it to work properly. UR91 is simplex radio. Powering them actually powers the radio. Otherwise it is powered by the Loconet cable, and the UR units draw near the maximum allowed per device. Too much load drops the voltage - the power is only flowing through that thin telephone wire. Low voltage on the Loconet causes problems when you plug other throttle in.
If you run a wire through the power hole of multiple UP panels, you'd probably use something reasonable size - like #18 wire. But that's only the + side of the circuit. The ground continues to go through the #26 phone cord, so you still have voltage drop issues. It's way overkill to use a PS14 on every single UP5 and UR - the URs should have their own, but one PS14 has enough power to support multiple throttles plugged in, so one can feed more than one UP5. Best way to do this is to parallel additional plugs on the PS14 so you can plug in to the power jack on the side of the UP5 - 4 or 5 UP5's per PS14.
A good test is to look at the display on the DT400 when you plug it in. It will display Pwr and the voltage it sees - this will be the greated of power throught he UP or the battery. A tethered throttle does not need a battery. So use one without the battery and with everything operating, plug it in and see what sort of voltage you get. If it's 11V or more, things should be pretty good. If it drops much lower, then there are probably too many things plugged in to Loconet without power available to them.
Thank you Randy! I'll check the throttle sistuation plugged in without a battery.
I have to be away (in a few minutes) for the day but will let you know what I discover.
So glad you're closing in on your dream layout design!
Jim EDIT/ADDITION:OOPS: Oh, sorry about the typo. Yes there are three 91s/Simplex Radio.