I found the cause of the short from earlier: I mis-wired the yard somehow and when I flipped the Atlas turnout (used throughout layout) a short. Before removing wiring, should I isolate the DCC-powered stub-ended yard? I have two turnouts' diverging tracks connected to each other that lead to the yard--one turnout comes off the mainline and the other leads to the yard throat and engine facility. I thought to isolate one rail w/ a plastic joiner, unless that's pointless.
I read earlier about the topic and it seems that the OP needed to isolate if running multiple locos. I plan to have a loco arriving from the main and a switcher in the yard.
If I need to isolate the yard, how to provide power to it and check for shorts?
Thanks!
I routinely wire the rails between all of my yard turnouts to be individually powered. I know some prefer to either isolate ladders with power-routing turnouts, especially on stub-ended yard ladders, or they gap or do something else. I also gap, and that way inadvertently mis-lined points won't cause a short here and there when a metal wheel crosses the turnout.
However, I don't use plastic. I eyeball the gap to be about 1mm long, and just make sure that the rail heads are well-matched for height and alignment horizontally. I won't use plastic joiners (tried them once and hated the fat look), and I'm much too lazy to fashion plastic fillers. So, I just make slight gaps where I need them, and leave them open.
selector However, I don't use plastic. I eyeball the gap to be about 1mm long, and just make sure that the rail heads are well-matched for height and alignment horizontally. I won't use plastic joiners (tried them once and hated the fat look), and I'm much too lazy to fashion plastic fillers. So, I just make slight gaps where I need them, and leave them open.
I find once track & rail painted and ballasted, can't easily see the insulators & just leaving a gap is OK if the temperature in the layout room doesn't vary by much to let the rail expand if the room gets hot.
Ron
It's not usually necessary, but consider isolating the yard with its own breaker. That does make it easier to debug problems and shorts.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Why not just correct the wiring so that the yard wiring is in phase with the mainline wiring? No need for insulators in that event.
Rich
Alton Junction
What Rich said
Thanks everyone! Yes, I figured out the cause by removing all the yard wiring. In doing that, I figured out another problem: why I could not switch turnouts b/c they were against each other.
The good news is I have nothing to purchase.