Trip current was set to lowest they go and response was set fastest they go.
Each one individually failed when connected to just a short piece of track, independent of the layout. Failed as in a short on this isolated piece of track caused the system breaker to trip, not the EB-1. So definitely dead EB-1s.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I believe that the key to this mystery will be NCE's response to Gary after the four failed EB1s are received and analyzed. When Gary called NCE and was directed to send in the EB1s, NCE initially felt that nothing was wrong with the EB1s from the information that Gary gave the tech guy over the phone. NCE seems convinced that the EB1s could somehow be restored to good working order without actually replacing components on the circuit board. That would surprise me.
Rich
Alton Junction
SouthPenn Maybe I missed it, but what is the trip current set on the EB-1s? What is the time delay set at?
Maybe I missed it, but what is the trip current set on the EB-1s? What is the time delay set at?
I don't recall that Gary messed with the time delay setting, so the factory default is set to 16mS (16 milliseconds = 16 thousandths of a second).
Gary, as I have indicated before I cannot provide any more advice than the observations that Rich, Henry and Randy are offering. But, it does appear that the problem may be with the wiring and not the circuit breakers. and, if it is the wiring, then you will end up frying new circuit breakers.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
I'll bet NCE gets lots of breakers returned that function normally but were installed improperly, so that was a canned answer.
Just for grins I am looking at a suitcase connector that I need to get rid of on a turntable I bought. How do you pry that little bar up without imbeding a sharp object in your non dominant hand?
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
richhotrain gdelmoro Can’t go up and down stairs again right now. I’ll do it as soon as I can. May be in the AM. OK, sounds good. If you reconnect the yards to the booster and short the Main, the EB1 should shut down the Main but leave the yards powered as long as there are no crossed feeders between the Main bus and the yard(s) feeders. Rich
gdelmoro Can’t go up and down stairs again right now. I’ll do it as soon as I can. May be in the AM.
Can’t go up and down stairs again right now. I’ll do it as soon as I can. May be in the AM.
OK, sounds good.
If you reconnect the yards to the booster and short the Main, the EB1 should shut down the Main but leave the yards powered as long as there are no crossed feeders between the Main bus and the yard(s) feeders.
Yes that is exactly what happens. With the two yards connected directly to the booster and the main through the EB1 a short on the main Tripp’s the EB1 - Booster remains on - EB1 starts flashing as long as I leave the short in place.
Remove the short - EB1 resets LED solid
Gary
And YES both yards have power and I can run locomotives.
gdelmoro richhotrain gdelmoro Can’t go up and down stairs again right now. I’ll do it as soon as I can. May be in the AM. OK, sounds good. If you reconnect the yards to the booster and short the Main, the EB1 should shut down the Main but leave the yards powered as long as there are no crossed feeders between the Main bus and the yard(s) feeders. Rich Yes that is exactly what happens. With the two yards connected directly to the booster and the main through the EB1 a short on the main Tripp’s the EB1 - Booster remains on - EB1 starts flashing as long as I leave the short in place. Remove the short - EB1 resets LED solid
Now, you just have to wait to hear from NCE.
Just had a chance to send them Thursday. Now the wait....
Has this situation aged you that much, Gary?
Seems to me NCE's response only leads down one pathway.
A) The EB-1's check out fine and work in our shop, there must be something wrong with your wiring
B) The EB-1's are busted; we've never had anyone burn up four breakers before, what have you done to the wiring?
I would not hook up any new circuit breakers unless and until you are sure that the wiring is bullet proof.
BigDaddy Seems to me NCE's response only leads down one pathway. A) The EB-1's check out fine and work in our shop, there must be something wrong with your wiring B) The EB-1's are busted; we've never had anyone burn up four breakers before, what have you done to the wiring?
How do we explain the EB1 working on the main line? It also works on the other two districts. Of course it is hooked up to only one district at a time while the other two are connected directly to thr booster.
We know you had yard feeders that went to the main bus. If you hadn't fixed those, what would be happening differently right now?
We don't know why the 4 EB's went udders up and I don't think NCE will be able to tell you. It could be a coincidence, but I don't believe in coincidences.
In all my years on this website, this is going to go down as the most famous thread.
BigDaddy We know you had yard feeders that went to the main bus. If you hadn't fixed those, what would be happening differently right now? You short the main, the EB does it's thing and cuts off power to the main and the errant feeder. The yards still have plenty of feeders so they still work. The controller doesn't shut down because the EB is working properly We don't know why the 4 EB's went udders up and I don't think NCE will be able to tell you. It could be a coincidence, but I don't believe in coincidences.
Henry, I can’t rmember if I posted this or if it was a conversation with Rich but the feeders I thought were connected to teh mainline bus were not. Unfortunately, between my mobility issues and eyesite I took a quick look where both the Main and Yard busses cross and it appeared that the feeders were connected to the wrong bus. As it turns out they are mainline feeders connected to the mainline bus at a point where there is only inches between 3 mainlines and 2 yard tracks. My mistake.
bearman In all my years on this website, this is going to go down as the most famous thread.
If this is fame... You can have it!
From all our testing so far, the wiring is good. I have one EB1 that works on each district individually as well as connected to each district and the other two connected to the booster. Continuity and voltage tests show no cross wiring.
PS: the fourth EB1 was one I had that I thought was good but when we hooked it up it was not.
I guess I missed that it was tried in all 3 districts. Your threads are too long, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
It's entirely possible that the damage to the EB-1s happened back when you had other wiring issues, since resolved, but by then it was already too late for the EBs.
gdelmoro If this is fame... You can have it!
rrinker It's entirely possible that the damage to the EB-1s happened back when you had other wiring issues, since resolved, but by then it was already too late for the EBs. --Randy
If that is the case, and any possible wiring issues are resolved, then hook up whatever circuit breakers you get after you hear from NCE.
Just got off the phone with NEC. My tracking number tells me the breakers go there 3 days ago. The Tech support guy unceremoniously told me they are at least 6 weeks before they will get to my repair.
I asked if they were short handed or if there were that many problems that they just cant keep up.
He said it was the busy season
Gary, so they were shorted out? But there is no why or how?
No, they haven’t even looked at them yet. Looks like it will be at least 6 weeks before they do.
Oh boy. Hey, Gary, this thread is getting to be really long, can you start a new one?
Ok
gdelmoro Just got off the phone with NEC.
Just got off the phone with NEC.
bearmanHey, Gary, this thread is getting to be really long, can you start a new one?
Maybe like "waiting for results" or something along that line?
Gary, I have a question that I have been pondering over when this thread was starting getting hot and heavy into the "what happened?" phase.
I read, a few pages back, that you originally wired this layout for DC. If that's true, would you mind explaining how you did it? Did you devide it into "blocks"?, and if you did, did you only gap one rail to seperate the blocks? By the way, if you did it this way, the rail without the gaps is the "common rail" you asked about.
And if you did all of this, what did you do to the wiring when you switched over to DCC?
I'm just really curious about all of this. I'll be waiting along with the rest of you for the info from NCE.
Mike.
My You Tube