LIONS do not *like* Gremlins, First they are ugly, they are green and they have floppy ears. Beyond that the like to eat wires and suck out the voltage. Some times they probe a wire or a connection with their tails and inject power where it is not supposed to be, or simply make shorts all over the place.
NOW on the Layout of the LION, everything was working purrfectly, and then all of a sudden it did not work any more and The Gremlins ate up a transformer and two rectifiers. Shot. Burnt. Kaput.
What is a lion to do. Him only has five transformers on this layout, and him cannot even tail which one is causing the problem.
SOLUTION:
Lion go to automotive store and buy an automotive fuse block and of course many fuses. All transformers tie one leg to a HARD GROUND, so we are only looking at the output side of the transformers.
#1 = -12v DC (This is where the problem was)#2 = +12v DC --- These two are the main power source for the GRS machine and all of the Tortoise Switch Machines... so lable them as the "Interlocking Plant">
#3 = +16v DC --- For all of the signals, relays and layout automation.
#4 = +600v DC --- For the Third Rail. (OK--So it is really 8-12 volts and connects to the right rail. Anyway it is what moves the trains.)
#5 = +12v DC --- HOTEL POWER : Station lighting, building lighting etc etc.
So the LION wires his power through the fuse block, and since him suspects the -12v circuit, him put a 12V automobile tail lite in series with this connection. If a short exists, the light will come on, if no short exists, current will simply pass through the bulb as if it were not there.
Turn the Power ON, Mr. LION! Oh My! The RED LIGHT IS BRIGHT! is short in the circuit. LION clipped all services from the bus and replaced them one at a time to see what circuit had the short on it.
GRS Machine is OK, Connect the 242nd Street complex and the red light comes on. OK, open the panels that have the 242nd street equipment in them. Remove the conductors and test to see which circuit at 242nd Street has the short.
ON NO Mr. LION the RED LIGHT is on, and NOTHING is connected to the circuit. Put your thinking cap on Mr. LION. Disconnect 242 from the main bus, light goes off, connect it LIGHT comes ON. BUT NOTHING IS CONNECTED to the other end of this cable. Scratch your Furry Mane!
The Problem IS the cable. Inspect the cable you silly LION! Wait, the cable goes behind this relay board. I cannot free the cable from behind the board. Some BEAST mounted the relay board right over this cable.
But it worked before. And Now it does not work. Maybe the cable was crushed when the board was installed, but it did not short. Maybe the expansion and contraction of the wood degraded the insulation withing the cable and it is shorting now while it was not shorting formerly.
Well, replace the stupid cable, you silly LION. Just clip it free at both ends and leave the scrap in place. Now find a new cable and install that.
HEY! RAILROAD WORKS AGAIN!
YEAH for the clever LION.
So you you got short gremlins you have to go back and test everything from the beginning. LION is glad to have found the gremlin so easily, after all with 14 miles of tracks and conductors in the thousands, there is a lot that *can* go wrong.
Now LION will up grade the four mane buses of him.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Lion needs to bite a chunk out of the beast who crushed the cable in the first place!
When we were having our kitchen re-done a few years ago I had to route a 110v wire around the outside of a window frame to get a light over the sink. I clearly labeled the window frame with big letters in red marker, and I took the installers over to the window and showed them where the wire was. When they were installing the trim, you can guess what happened. There was a loud bang and the lights flickered. At first they denied having done anything wrong. Then I showed them the hole where the brad went into the trim. They had missed the window frame entirely. That was a royal PITA to repair! I guess I should have held their hands the whole time they were working around the window.
Glad you were able to sort the problem out.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!