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DCC Autoreversers and sound

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  • Member since
    June 2014
  • From: East Central Florida
  • 480 posts
Posted by Onewolf on Friday, March 15, 2019 8:05 AM

gmpullman

 

BigDaddy
To me, it sounds like his AR circuit break function is kicking in.  What would he do to sort that out?

I believe he uses Digitrax. Maybe he has not set up the "Digitrax" jumper on the PSX-AR and the command station is briefly cutting out?

https://www.dccspecialties.com/products/pdf/man_psxar.pdf

3. Digitrax users should install the Digitrax Configuration Jumper wire from Terminal J7-3 to J7-4. Once installed, move the program jumper to cover pins J3.1 and J3.2 and apply DCC power to J1. Wait until D6 stops flashing, remove power, and restore the Program Jumper to cover J3-2 and J3-3.

 

I have the older DCC Specialties PS-REV, not the X series which can be programmed using CVs. I select sensitivity and delay the old fashioned way, with jumpers. I don't recall any special requirements when I wired them way back when. I have a Digitrax DCC system and it has always played well with the reversers.

Good Luck, Ed

 

My layout is running a Digitrax DCS-100 as the primary DCC controller (provides no track power) and five DB-150 boosters (for track power and one for turnout control).  And then it has two PSX-AR and four PSXN for track power district breakers/reversers.

I did the Digitrax configuration on the PSX as described in the PSX manual and everything works fine except for the reset/stall when traversing in/out of PSX-AR track sections when the polarity needs to flip.

I have not attempted to debug this issue as it is number #57 on the 'to-do' list of minor issues. :)

Doug

Modeling an HO gauge freelance version of the Union Pacific Oregon Short Line and the Utah Railway around 1957 in a world where Pirates from the Great Salt Lake founded Ogden, UT.

- Photo album of layout construction -

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
  • 9,094 posts
Posted by BigDaddy on Friday, March 15, 2019 7:44 AM

I pm'd Onewolf and invited him to join this discussion. 

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Thursday, March 14, 2019 11:45 PM

Or the crew had noise-cancelling headphones on?

Headphones  Headphones

Cheers, Ed

da1
  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Alberta, Canada
  • 219 posts
Posted by da1 on Thursday, March 14, 2019 8:32 PM

BigDaddy
  ...someone posted in a recent thread that the sound on their locos stopped when the reverser kicked in.

The problem was likely that after auto-reverse the sound was 180° out of phase with the operator's ears.  It can be corrected by either auto-reversing back to original phase, or either standing on your head or operating from Australia.

...

...

... sorry.  Couldn't resist, even if April 1st is two weeks away.

D

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Thursday, March 14, 2019 7:49 PM

BigDaddy
To me, it sounds like his AR circuit break function is kicking in.  What would he do to sort that out?

I believe he uses Digitrax. Maybe he has not set up the "Digitrax" jumper on the PSX-AR and the command station is briefly cutting out?

https://www.dccspecialties.com/products/pdf/man_psxar.pdf

3. Digitrax users should install the Digitrax Configuration Jumper wire from Terminal J7-3 to J7-4. Once installed, move the program jumper to cover pins J3.1 and J3.2 and apply DCC power to J1. Wait until D6 stops flashing, remove power, and restore the Program Jumper to cover J3-2 and J3-3.

 

I have the older DCC Specialties PS-REV, not the X series which can be programmed using CVs. I select sensitivity and delay the old fashioned way, with jumpers. I don't recall any special requirements when I wired them way back when. I have a Digitrax DCC system and it has always played well with the reversers. 

 

Good Luck, Ed

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
  • 9,094 posts
Posted by BigDaddy on Thursday, March 14, 2019 7:25 PM

Thanks Ed, that's what I wanted to know.

Not that my question is answered, I'll hiijack my own thread

Onewolf wrote in the PSX PSX-AR thread that he was using both, but:

Onewolf
The only problem with my layout related to the PSX-ARs is when sound locomotives enter/leave the PSX-AR blocks and polarity has to be flipped then sound locomotives completely stall/reset/restart. It's annoying, but I haven't had a chance to research/fix that issue.

To me, it sounds like his AR circuit break function is kicking in.  What would he do to sort that out?

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Thursday, March 14, 2019 7:13 PM

BigDaddy
What happens when an engine traverses the reversing section with the AR1?

My AR1 is located near the rest of the power supplies, command stations and breakers for the layout. You can hear a barely perceptible "tick" as the relay energizes or de-energizes as the case may be. Later tonight I'll park an engine on a siding off that leg of the wye and see if there is a "hiccup".

Again, I normally don't have any other engines sitting on that leg while a train passes over the reversing gaps so there is no issue with sound interruption. As far as the train moving into and out of the reversing section it is a smooth and uninterrupted transition.

Cheers, Ed

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Thursday, March 14, 2019 6:37 PM

gmpullman

My entire engine storage/servicing facility is fed through a PSR auto reverser. As engines enter or exit the service tracks which form one leg of a reverse loop, there isn't the slightest hint of sound or headlights dropping out from the two-dozen or so locomotives sitting in the yard.

I have four PSX-AR units on my layout, and the sound never cuts out. The track inside the reversing section is the portion that flips the polarity to match the adjacent track. It happens so fast that a locomotive entering the reversing section enters to a matched polarity, so nothing to interrupt the sound. A locomotive exiting the reversing section exits from a matched polarity, so nothing to interrupt the sound.

Rich

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
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Posted by BigDaddy on Thursday, March 14, 2019 6:27 PM

gmpullman
In another spot I use a less sophisticated Digitrax AR1 which is relay-based. In that case it is on a wye and I don't have any standing equipment, normally.

What happens when an engine traverses the reversing section with the AR1?  I was considering that one because of cost.

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Thursday, March 14, 2019 6:12 PM

My entire engine storage/servicing facility is fed through a PSR auto reverser. As engines enter or exit the service tracks which form one leg of a reverse loop, there isn't the slightest hint of sound or headlights dropping out from the two-dozen or so locomotives sitting in the yard.

In another spot I use a less sophisticated Digitrax AR1 which is relay-based. In that case it is on a wye and I don't have any standing equipment, normally.

I use a disk with a cam-operated limit (micro-) switch on my turntable. It is mounted on the shaft directly under the pit. Even there the transition is so fast that I never see any pause in the sounds or even a blink of the headlight of an engine as it is being turned.

Good Luck, Ed

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
  • 9,094 posts
DCC Autoreversers and sound
Posted by BigDaddy on Thursday, March 14, 2019 6:02 PM

I don't have one.....yet.  But someone posted in a recent thread that the sound on their locos stopped when the reverser kicked in.  They did not know if that was normal.

I would think that it would be 100% chance of stopping, unless there was a keep alive or the like, but I have been wrong before.  What really happens to the sound?

I ask because I am working on a CMR turntable that has a reversing section in the pit rails.  That section is relatively small and I don't think I need it for the roundhouse, so if sound stoppage is inevitable, I don't need to power that section at all.

Mel actually has a better way to power this turntable but I'm not up going that route.

 

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

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