I am fairly new to the hobby and am getting into for son. I am building out first real layout and have the track laid down, soldered, glued to the track bed and balasted across the tunnel sections. The remainder of the track is only laid out on the risers and connected but not soldered anywhere. When i test the train with his prodigy express2 contoller as it travels past one of feeder wires in the balasted section it loses power (noise stops and train slows) but the comes back on as soon as it is past. NOTE I DO NOT HAVE THE MAIN BUS WIRE RUN YET AND AM USING THE FEEDER WIRE IS STALLS AT TO POWER THE TRACK. It also loses power at one of the crossings (90 deg crossing) and one of the turnouts. The turnout sometimes actually overloads the command station and I need to power down and re progam it to the corrrect train to get going again. Before I carry on I was hoping i could perhaps get some tips to resolve this and do it right going forward. Thanks in advance.
to the forum, your posts are delayed while you are in moderation and this one could have used some proof reading.
The slowness over the ballasted area may be a function of poor connectivity of the rail joiners or just dirty track if you didn't clean it after ballasting. I'm not clear on how many feeders you have. Do you mean by slowing past the feeder, the engine is actually on the same piece of track as the feeder or on the next section?
If there is going to be enough power anywhere, it ought to be the rail where the feeders are. Are both tracking being fed at approximately the same place?
SteamieloverThe turnout sometimes actually overloads the command station and I need to power down and re progam it to the corrrect train to get going again.
Turnouts shouldn't overload the command station unless there is a short at the turnout. That could be from the wrong feeder, the need for an insulated joiner on the frog rail of a Peco turnout, DCC unfriendly shinohara turnouts or other known problems from Peco frogs or a reversing section that you have not discovered.
We need more information.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
When the train loses power after the feeder wire, it sounds like you may have a loose connection in one of the rail joints. If the rail joints are soldered to each other, check to see if the solder is still holding in the affected area. On the 90 degree crossing, I would say that something may be lifting the wheels off just enough to break electrical contact. I recently had this issue with a rerailer, and certain locomotives were particularly sensitive to it. Run the engine over the crossing at the slowest possible speed so it stalls on the area where it cuts out. When it stalls, cut all power and look to see if any of the wheels are lifted of the rails. Another way to test this would be to take a piece of paper or cardboard with a perfectly straight edge and see if it lifts off the rails in the affected area. As for the turnout overloading the system, it sounds like that turnout may have a short in it. I hope this helps, but maybe someone with more electrical knowledge then I will have a better idea.