I am not an electric genius. In fact, the less I have to deal with it the better. And unfortunately, it seems the rise of DCC, reversing units, and powered switch machines, have made what used to be a challenging but somewhat understandable subject and turned it into one that has, at times, threatened to ruin the hobby for me.
Case in point: last yearI decided to change an area of my layout that had been one long spur leading in a vast sweep up onto an upper area of my layout where once I had a locomotive there I had to either reverse it back down or use the turntable. Instead, I decided to take one of the upper spurs off the main one and extend it in a continuing path back down into the main line - creating a reverse in the process. I also began replacing my Atlas turnouts with hand made FastTrack ones and reconnecting Tortoise machines at the same time.
In the course of doing so, I installed an AR1 to handle the reversing duties, something that still isn't functioning in a foolproof manner but which I am hopoeful to correct soon (perhaps more on that later). Where I am currently in hair pulling mode is that my locos (lets just dwell on my Atlas S3 switcher) seemnot to want to operate properly since I completed the new section. When I turn on my Prodigy Advance, I will get sound and eventual movement from the loco only to then have it stop and a slow ticking sound coming out of it accompanied by the light ticking on and off as well. The ticking will proceed to get faster and faster until the handheld indicates a short - although the ticking will continue. What the hell is going on?
I have currently unhooked the wires from the reversed section and the AR1 hoping that by doing so it would eliminate any shorting from there. No change.
Now, I am about to once again recheck the wiring of the new turnouts and Tortoises to see if something is amiss that I failed to spot the last ten times I checked them. I may even disconnect the Toirtoises and switches to see if eliminating them helps in any way - purly as a way to try and isolate the problem.
So, does any of this sound like something familiar? And based on what I have described, can anyone give me a suggestion as to what might be amiss and where I should proceed to check next?
Honestly, if I knew of someone local who was good at dealing with these types of things, I would happily pay them to come in and find the problem and maybe even fix it.
Just went through the same thing myself except for the clicking! Is the loco in the reverse loop when it stops and starts to click? I had my locos stop also but the thing to remember is the AR1 has a voltage adjuster on it that may have to be played with to provide more voltage to that portion of the reverse loop to allow the loco to function! Its explained how to set the adjustment in the AR1 instructions!
No, the clicking stuff occurs on the main line. At this point, the reversing section, and AR are disconnected. I have played with the voltage adjuster on it.
At this point, I have introduced a short into the line and for the life of me I don't know where. And just to be safe, I went over all the track to give it a good vacuuming to clean off any potential debris that might be causing issues.
I am wondering if I should go over and now isolate the newest turnout and tortoise to see if doing so allows the rest of the line to function properly. Then I will know the problem most likely lies in those two areas.
Start disconnecting one thing at a time until the clicking stops. When You start to hook things back do it the same way you did to find the problem, checking to make sure each thing functions correctly when it is reconnected. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
Check the gap's on the turnouts, I had a short caused by other things and a short grew across a couplde of gaps that were a bit close.
Thanks for the replies guys.
Yeah, starting to unhook until things stop seems to be the best course. Do you think having the frog wired through the Tortoise could be causing it. Have read that having it wired can sometime cause havoc with DCC.
Had an issue like that with the first one I made last year and it caused issues when coming onto the turnout. Now, the issues seem to be occurring away from it. I have already checked it this time around and all seems to be fine.
The clicking and corresponding light flashing is a weird one though - never seen that before. Typically a short just cuts everything off. Maybe this is what I have heard referred to as a "soft short".