Hey guys it has been a while since I have been on here ( but rest assure I am always thinking about trains)... I just put down all my track as I was just lacking a 3 way turnout and some right turnouts for the yard. I put my trains on the track and with the BLI trains I have they have been giving me 3 or 4 quick whistles which means there is an overload ( I think ) . Now mind you I have not really done much all summer long. So I am kind confused as too why they are having issues because I have not touched the wiring and it was working OK.
Now too let you know what I am using
I have A digtrax Zepher command and I am using copper wire ( #12 , 600 volts) for my base wiring to the Zepher. Before I stress out with wiring I think it may be better for my to get a book and just begin to rewire the whole thing.. Looking for any guidence as the bestway to deal with all thing Joseph
How many locomotives? Are they BLI sound? You might want to take a look at some of the information from the Digitrax web site since you have a Zepher.
JIM
Jim, Modeling the Kansas City Southern Lines in HO scale.
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
A 3-way turnout, you say? Who made it? These can be tricky critters. Most of the ones I've seen are power-routing, so the polarity of the frog rails will flip when you throw the points. This is generally OK if you're using it in a yard so that there is no power coming in from the other end, but if you've got feeders into the track beyond the 3-way, you may be causing a dead short.
I had some old brass Shinoharas that I tried to recycle ("Hey, it's only a yard," I told myself foolishly) but in the end I replaced them with Pecos. I wired up relays to work in parallel with the power-routing of the turnouts so my power would be reliable. This was tricky, but I did get it to work electrically. Physically, though, I got tired of poor point closure and derailments. When I put the Pecos in, I had to disconnect the feeders from the relays, because that was causing spot-shorts when metal wheels crossed the frogs. Peco turnouts in general have a very small insulation space at the frogs, and that gap is often bridged by wide metal wheels, causing a momentary short, or even a dead short if you're moving slowly enough.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
The fact that the BLI locomotive is getting enough power to toot the whistle indicates to me that the problem is with it and not your wiring or turnouts. If you had an electrical short in your wiring, the command station would shut down and the locomotive would get no power at all.
You need to read through the documentation that came with the locomotive to learn what the error is based on the number of toots of the whistle, or phone BLI and ask them.
Will Do..... Actually nothing is working today... I think the damn cats are screwwing with me... I have put off doing the re doing the wiring because I have not a clue on how it really works. I just have the wires from the turnouts going directly to the copper wire. I keep reading about buses and all kinds of other things that sound like they make sence but I need it super simplified.
The 3 way switch is by shinoroa ( or something like that ) and while I was at the last show here in Maryland I saw some one selling a nice set up for a 3 way switch with buttons that control the each turnout... J