Should there be electrical continuity between rail? I tore down my old layout and moved it to another building. The engines worked fine and then suddenly stopped. No lights, no sound, no nothing. I checked for a short and there was continuity between the rails. Is this normal or did I screw-up when rewiring from the main buss to the rails?
Every section of track has continuity from one end of each rail to the other end of the rail.
But continuity does not necessarily extend from one section of track to another unless the rails are soldered or touching each other or connected by rail joiners.
The surest way to establish continuity across the entire layout is to add a pair of feeders to every section of track. Just be sure not to cross wire any feeders.
Rich
Alton Junction
If there is continuity between the left rail and the right rail on a section of track then - yes - you indeed have yourself a short.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Disconnect your power supply and remove all equipment from the rails before making this check. Any track powered accessories also must be disconnected. If you are using power routing turnouts, the position of the points can cause continuity and not be a problem.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
What Kevin said. Could also be one of the turnouts got damaged in the move or disloge in the move And now shorts
Check the turnouts closely
shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
mkepler954The engines worked fine and then suddenly stopped. No lights, no sound, no nothing.
This is ambiguous. Did they work fine on the new layout, once or does this refer to the old layout.
[quote user]did I screw-up when rewiring from the main buss to the rails? [/quote]
Possibly, but I'm having a hard time visualizing this. When I moved my layout, the buss stayed connected to each module. It was disconnected from the Powercab. Each black wire in a module is connected to the black buss wire in the next module. As is the white wire.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
The trains worked fine for several weeks while I was still doing the rebuild. The old layout had to be sawed to lessen the weight and to fit thru the door of the new room. Consequently, I had to cut many of the buss to track wires. I'm going to disconnect every wire from the main buss not connected to the rails. Hopefully, that will fix it.
If things were working during rebuild then stopped, I would only undo the wiring back to that point and see if it works again. if it does, then add one small connection ata time til it stops working again. That would point to somewhere around that last connection is the problem. No need to undo everything unless a new wiring plan will be implemented. when I moved mine, I did the reconnection little by little I have my track in the visible areas hand laid. So I was also expecting hidden gremlins to appear in those turnouts. They appeared in the ladder tracks of the yard. shane
Before doing anything else take a good look around and make sure you haven't left a tool across the tracks someplace.
Well, the best advice that I can give, is to make sure that you don't wear your electric shorts if it's raining outdoors.
Wayne
doctorwayne Well, the best advice that I can give, is to make sure that you don't wear your electric shorts if it's raining outdoors. Wayne
well now. That would be shocking. Maybe even enlightening. The. Again,he might be the type that gets a charge out of that
C'mon, Shane. Lighten up...
i would disconnect the power source and check the resistance between the rails . it should be infinite unless there is a short. blocks help yu determine where.
did you recently add rolling stock that could possibly have a shorted axle or an axle installed backwards in a metal truck?
There was an issue at one of the clubs that I participate with that all of the sudden had a shorting issue. A few of the fellows were troubleshooting not able to find the problem I asked has anything changed in the last day or two and one of the fellows said yes he had added some cars in a siding
We removed those cars and found that one of those cars had metal trucks with one axle reversed in one of the trucks.
In all of the years that I have been installing intermountain metal wheel sets, I've come across maybe three axles that have been shorted from wheel to wheel in about 400+ axles
Hello All,
dbduckThere was an issue at one of the clubs that I participate with that all of the sudden had a shorting issue. A few of the fellows were troubleshooting not able to find the problem I asked has anything changed in the last day or two and one of the fellows said yes he had added some cars in a siding(.) (D)id you recently add rolling stock that could possibly have a shorted axle or an axle installed backwards in a metal truck?
I added a Märklin flatcar to my DCC layout, unknowing that the car's axles are not insulated for A/C running. I swapped out the wheelsets for insulated Intermountain metal wheels, problem solved! (I do know Trix is the two (2) rail, DCC-friendly, version of Märklin, but this particular car was not available in the Trix line.)
dbduckIn all of the years that I have been installing intermountain metal wheel sets, I've come across maybe three axles that have been shorted from wheel to wheel in about 400+ axles.
Out of over 200 Intermountain wheelsets I've only encountered one (1) that the insulation failed causing a short.
I'm not saying it can't happen but it's worth checking out with a multi-meter or continuity tester (beeper).
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
Any more BRIGHT ideas guys???
I found the short after disconecting EVERY wire going to the track. Must have been well over 100! One wire was the culpret. Now to reattach them all. My back is killing me!
Just to make sure it doesn't happen again I would connect 5 to 10 wires check for a short if it's clear 5 to 10 more check again repeat until all wires are connected and no short exist
Congratulations on finding and fixing the short. And, thanks for reporting back to us. That is always appreciated.
Color coding wire is the best way to avoid, or at least solve, this type of wiring problem. A different color wire (e.g., red and blue) should be used for the pair of bus wires, and those two same colors should be used for the feeders. That practice will come close to eliminating most wiring shorts in the process of layout building.
mkepler954One wire was the culpret.
That is all it takes, just one, and the whole layout shuts down.
At least it was something that could be found.
Congratulations in the successful effort.
dbduck-that's exactly what I've been doing. Don't want to screw up again!
richhotrainColor coding wire is the best way to avoid, or at least solve, this type of wiring problem.
In addition to making sure the N stays N and the S stays S (or however you want to designate each, i.e. Rail A: rail B:) I recall a suggestion once that involved using a surplus piece of rolling stock, flat car or gondola come to mind, and paint one side of this car in a distinctive color and the other side a different color. Matching the wire colors probably would make even more sense.
This car never leaves the rails during wiring of the layout. You can move it around the layout and be sure the proper orientation to each rail is always correct. I sure could have used this handy trick a time or two.
Regards, Ed
mkepler954 I found the short after disconecting EVERY wire going to the track. Must have been well over 100! One wire was the culpret. Now to reattach them all. My back is killing me!
You didn't disconnect them all and then test did you ? Or is your luck like mine ? .... it's always the last wire ?
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ