Hello everyone, as bad as i hate to say it i have just discovered another problem with my DCC turntable. If i have a loco on the turntable the loco runs back and forth the length of the turntable bridge. As soon as the locos front wheels touch the track of the leading track to the turntable bridge it shorts my DCC system down. If i push the loco on across the gap onto the lead track the DCC system comes back on and the loco runs fine. If i reverse the direction of the loco it runs fine until the rear wheels touch the bridge and then it kicks the DCC system again until i push the loco on across the gap onto the bridge, then it resumes as if theres no problem. I thought these Walthers turntables had a built in auto reverser??? Its as if the polarity is wrong once the loco moves from the turntable bridge onto the aproach track leading to to the turntable. Anyone have any idea what might be causing this? I have checked and rechecked my wiring and track feeders to ensure they are all the same. I am at a loss......Thanks!
If you rotate the bridge 180 degrees to the same track, I'm willing to bet you don't have the same problem ?
DCC IS still "polarity" sensitive and needs to be wired like DC when it comes to reversing sections. The beauty of DCC is that you can buy auto-reverser modules that will do it for you. You probably just need to connect one of these modules between your main power bus and the turntable bridge and be good to go.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Mark, thanks, i will give that a try sir. What auto reverse unit is a good choice?
I use DCC Specialties OG AR. It's electronic. Digitrax has an AR-1 but uses a relay to change polarity. Either one will work. I use the DCC Specialties one because I had 2 AR-1s fail. I think NCE has an electronic one as well. Joe
Joe, Mike...Thanks for the help....I think i may have just figured out my problem after looking at the diagram included with the turntable directions lol....Judging by my feeder wires on my roundhouse tracks as compared to the feeder wires on my main layout i have somehow gotten the feeders backwards on the roundhouse tracks....All of my feeder wires for the 13 roundhouse stalls are fed from the 2 main bus lines into a 13 connector block for each rail, one white and one red. I am thinking if i just swap each of the 2 main bus lines feeding the connector blocks for the roundhouse feeder tracks around (Red to White) this should correct my issue with polarity??? At least im hoping so. I am still having the issue of my turntable retaining the settings once the power is removed. Every time i plug the power back into the turntable my controller flashes E0 and i have to re home it as well as re program the stalls....Anyone else have this issue?
Just an update....swapping the white and red feeder wires around corrected my problem....Thanks!
Don't feel bad Trainzman2, I did the same thing and I'm a licensed broadcast engineer. (over the hill, of course).
It boils down to my formula with electrical stuff. I ask myself "what is the stupided thing I could have done", 9 times out of 10 that is what iot is. I once wired a whole 4 story apt house only to blow a breaker on the last thing done, tuned out I was so glad to finish the job I had pluged both eires into the same side of a plug, easy fix but I had done counless others just on this job correctly.
LOL...I hear you guys and can relate and agree. Thanks again for your suggestions and help!
Glad you got it fixed.We've all been there, we've all done that.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!