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power from rails

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  • Member since
    February 2007
  • From: Christiana, TN
  • 2,134 posts
Posted by CSX Robert on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 7:10 AM
One thing you need to be aware of is that the Kato #6 turnouts are power routing, which means that they will need feed power to theleg of the turnout thatit is not aligned for. From look in at the Kato Manning Oaks layout and the location of switches and power feeds, if you have an engine on a spur then you need to make sure the turnout is aligned for that spur to get power to the engine. There is also a passing siding on the right hand side of the layout that. If both turnouts at the end of the siding are aligned for the through route, the siding will not get any power, and if both turnouts are aligned for the siding, then the through route will not get any power.
  • Member since
    July 2008
  • 1,206 posts
Posted by mfm37 on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 11:12 PM

 Disconnect all of the blue and white wires from the terminal strip. Pick one (and only one) pair of wires fron the rail joiners. One blu and one white. Connect tose to the poaer pack and se if the engine runs. If it does, connect another pair and test again. Continue connecting them one pair at a time until the engine does not run. When that happens, disconnect the last pair and swap the colored wires. Reconnect the blue wire to the terminal that has the white wires and the white wire to the terminal that has the blue wires. Test the engine again. If it works, you can either leave it that way or straighten out the colors at the track and at the terminals.

Martin Myers

  • Member since
    October 2007
  • From: New Jersey
  • 82 posts
Posted by njtaxland on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 9:09 PM

this is what I have done so far, I checked the rails with no power on it meaning the  the whole layout with a meter and all is ok, the ohm on was good, I then did as you said by disconnecting all terminals the trying one at a time and it was the same result, the terminal unijoiners have two wires one blue and then other white, I hooked the white to a terminal strip one one side and the blue on the other then one wire to the power pack on one side of the strip and the other on ther side, same reuslt the engine did not move, I then tested the engine it was ok, I put another engine on and the same results.I have six power switches all hooked up tpgether then to the power pack acessory hook ups and they work just fine. I have checked all connections to the terminal unijoiners and all are just fine. I am getting frustrated with this, I have been trying everything that I can think of for the past week almost everyday and no luck. I am about to take the whole thing apart and put it all back in the boxes and calling it a night......

  • Member since
    October 2007
  • From: New Jersey
  • 82 posts
Posted by njtaxland on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 5:42 PM

thanks for your reply,  I might have not explained correctly, I just had it wired up to cab 1 then I tried that when it didn't run I then wired it up to cab 2 and received the same reseults, as per your thoughts, I will do as you say and see if  in fact there is a crossed wire.

  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
  • 13,757 posts
Posted by cacole on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 4:29 PM

 Without a diagram of the wiring it's hard to understand what you have done, but it sounds like the wires are crossed somewhere and causing a short circuit.  Both cabs should not be connected to the same wire, but it sounds like that is what you have done.

Disconnect all the wires.  Connect only one set of wires to one cab and to one track terminal and see if the locomotive runs.  If it does, then connect another track terminal.  Keep connecting the track terminals one at a time until you figure out which one is wired wrong because the train will no longer run.  Then reverse those two wires and see if it will run.

 

  • Member since
    October 2007
  • From: New Jersey
  • 82 posts
power from rails
Posted by njtaxland on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 3:37 PM

I have a question on elect. I have my track down Ngauge, Kato track, I have 5 terminal unijoiners hooked up, three go to a 3 way extenion and the other 2 are wired to a terminal strip which in turn is wired to my Tech 4 MRC 280I have wired it to cab 1 then cab 2 and I get the same results the engine does not move. I am hopeing that someone may help me. All this is on the Manning Oaks layout that I got from kato...

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