voltage drop

[falk55]

I model in HO.
The problem I am having is a voltage drop at the rail joiners.Is there anything that would improve the contact,such as a tuner solvent? What is compounding the problem is the track is painted and some of the paint probably wicked under the joiner.So much for painting more track in the future.the track is also ballasted.
Any help would be appreciated.
Gil

[MisterBeasley]

I would try soldering it in place. Yes, you'll have to scrape away some of the ballast. Hopefully, the heat of the solder will burn off the offending paint, but in any case the solder should flow in enough to make a good connection. Get a decent soldering gun - don't try to do this with either a pencil iron or a torch. While you're at it, solder in some feeder wires and put in more direct connections back to your power source. If you are having trouble at a particular place which is very visible, and you don't want to disturb that bit of trackwork, then put in feeder wires a little further down the line where they won't be seen.

[cefinkjr]

Good rule of thumb to follow: If it's a separate piece of rail, it gets a separate feeder. Rail joiners are fine for keeping rail ends aligned but relying on them to connect two rails electrically is asking for trouble sooner or later.

Chuck

[Texas Zepher]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cefinkjr

Good rule of thumb to follow: If it's a separate piece of rail, it gets a separate feeder. Rail joiners are fine for keeping rail ends aligned but relying on them to connect two rails electrically is asking for trouble sooner or later.

[#ditto]
If one is going to solder anyway, solder a wire to the rail and send the power in that way. This way there is no problem with painting the rail either.

[Ibflattop]

Ya also might try a rail jumper. a wire from one rail passes the opening and connectes to the other rail. Kevin

[cefinkjr]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Ibflattop

Ya also might try a rail jumper. a wire from one rail passes the opening and connectes to the other rail. Kevin

And that, by the way, would be a quite prototypical solution. Many (all??) roads required jumpers on all non-insulated joints for track circuit continuity.

Now, to make them HO scale, you would first drill about a #200 hole in the field side of both rail heads, cut 0.068886" of 0.002870" diameter braided wire, and ... OUCH (I just bit my tongue!!).
[;)]

Chuck