Hi,
Would track nails along side of a track joiner cause a short when
using a DCC system such as Digitrax?
Chris
Using track nails alongside a joiner, or spikes in immediate contact with a joiner, will not cause a short unless there is a complete curcuit from one rail to the other. I have used steel screws in contact with rail ends, to assure that the rails remained in alignment on a module border. Where the screws might reach the steel below the subgrade I installed plastic washers.
Going 'way back in model railroad history, there was one case where extra-long spikes went deep enough to contact the copper screen that served as a base for scenery. The rather draconian solution was to apply near-welding current to the rails, which caused the shorted screen wires to melt and break the circuit. I hope there were several people standing by with fire extingiushers while the fix was in progress.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Metal spikes into a track joiner will not cause a short unless there is something conductive beneath the surface. If you have metal brackets under the roadbed, scenery forms made with metal "chicken wire", or your wire bus right near the roadbed, there could be a path formed for current to travel and create a short.
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If you were careful to build with non-conductive materials, spike away with no worries.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
A buddy with a traction layout used extruded foam for his roadbed and basic landforms -- the kind where one side was aluminum (I assume) sheeting or foil -- and you guessed it it gave him a short circuit he could not find or detect. He had forgotten all about that one metal surface probably because he used that face down.
I wonder - are these new Woodland Scenics "shaper sheets" electrically conductive? If so we could see a return to the old metal screening-based short.
And yes another buddy had a short on his layout just recently that he could not find or trace, so he removed all rolling stock from the layout and applied 110 volts! He found the short. NOT recommended.
Dave Nelson
dknelson A buddy with a traction layout used extruded foam for his roadbed and basic landforms -- the kind where one side was aluminum (I assume) sheeting or foil -- and you guessed it it gave him a short circuit he could not find or detect. He had forgotten all about that one metal surface probably because he used that face down. Dave Nelson
And my wife was wondering why I went to the bother of peeling that foil . All of my switch point pivots penetrate through the foam roadbed to the plywood below.
Crisco1......It has been three days........Have you found the problem?
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up