Hi,I have 2 Bakatronics CA-1000 DCC Auto Reversing Units and I can’t make either of them work.I am in HO scale and I want to use the units for an out and back trolley line. I have the track properly gapped. The gapped section is about 14 inches long. The trolley is about 5 inches long. I am running a Bachman DCC trolley programed to DCC 3.Since I am not using an intermediate station stop, I assume I do not use the Green wire. The Yellow wire is connected to the feeders on the gap rails beyond the gapsThe Black wire is connected to the common railThe Red wire is connected to the rail between the 2 gaps.As soon as I plug the power adapter in, the trolley runs in a forward direction, regardless of where it is positioned on the track (I,e,, it doesn’t matter whether the trolley is in a gap section or not). It will only run forward. When it gets to the other gapped section it just keeps going. If I turn it around on the track, it just sits there. The headlight is not on.Regardless, the unit does not control the trolley. Non of the buttons do anything.Any ideas?Thanks,Abbie
Lefty
Hi Abbie.
I searched for the instructions for this unit online and found nothing. The website claims easy 4 wire installation. I imagine the green wire does something. Unless you can post the instructions, you may have to contact Bakatronics.
Pete.
Thanks. I don't know how to post a picture of the wiring diagram, but it is pretty straight forward. There are only 4 wires. One goes to the 2 isolated (gapped on one rail) end sections, One goes to the common rail. One goes to the gapped rail between the 2 isolated sections and the green wire which would go to an in-between station stop. I don't have an in-between station stop, so I am not using the green wire. Obviously, the connection to the 2 end isolated sections does a change of direction when the trolley reaches the gap and the in-between station stop would work the same way, but would not trigger a change of direction, so the trolley would proceed on it's way after a stop. I have reached out to Bakatronics. It's frustrating because I replaced a Tam Valley Shuttle throtle, which does the same thing with the Bakatronics until looking for greater reliability. Tam Valley does not support their shuttle throttles any more because they were to "problematic". I can attest to that. But at least they worked some of the time.
Sorry for not being too helpful. Just have a couple questions. Do you have to use your DCC system to power the trolley? Maybe the auto reverser needs to be programmed? What are the buttons for? Only one rail is gapped?
PS. As a young lad I had a Lionel trolley that reversed when the bumper was pushed in. The overhead wire mast would swing to the rear when changing directions. Pretty cool.
Yes, I am running the trolley on DCC, but the DCC system is generated by the Bakatronics unit, not my layout NCE system. I think the problem may be the trolley and it's decoder. I am going to try another loco on the line. And I remember that Lionel Trolley! It was so much easier!