The ramp goes to another level where there is going to be another pair of reverse loops. One will be a main line and the other will be a passing siding. On the upper section there will be an engine facility as well as a switching yard. There will most likely be a couple other small sidings for some industries.
As for the gaps, I usedt plastic insulators to set up areas much like there would have been for DC power blocks. I did it so I could diagnose shorts easier as well as put the reversing sections where I need to. Right now I have the leg running up the center and the one joining that one too.
Could you suggest the best places the best places to make into reversing sections.
As I tell people in software reviews when I catch bugs in their code, “Every mistake I find is one I’ve made many times myself.”
I have to say that I was terribly disappointed that the fix was this simple. I was hoping for something much more dramatic. [(-D]
Rich
Although you took some nice photos of the layout, without a track diagram it is difficult to be certain of the turnout connections. And, if you have already gapped the reversing sections successfully, there isn’t much reason to second guess your set up.
But what caught my curiosity was your use of two PSX-AR’s. I only find one reversing section. Unless, you have that second PSX-AR for a second reversing section when you complete the connection of that elevated section of track.
If you go back to that photo that I posted for you on Saturday labeled middle.jpg, I see the reversing section of track as the track that the red loco is riding on. Those two sections of track feeding into the reversing section of track would need to be gapped as well as the turnouts at either end of that reversing section.
When you eventually connect that elevated section of track back onto the main line, that will create another point of reverse polarity.
Rich
???
Well being I disappointed you guys with such a simple fix, maybe this will be more of a challenge. I’m frustrated at this point.
I have one section of track that is giving me an issue with the auto reverser. The train will enter this section, stop for about 1-2 seconds then proceed on. Its almost like there isn’t enough power or something. Both locomotives will do this. As well in the same section of track, randomly the locomotives will short out and shut down the NCE power cab untill I move them. They short out on a piece of flex track that is a gentle curve. No turnouts, nails, or anything else that conducts electricity that I can see on the tracks. Its not a consistent failure, very intermittent.
I attached a diagram of the track. Sorry but its the best that I have for a track diagram. I tried to color code things; red is where I’ve gapped the rails of the lower section, blue is gaps on the upper section, oragne is where the trains shorts out in either direction, but only on the straight of the turnout, and yellow is where there is a pause and intermittent short.
JnJ,
First I want to say, you have a nice little layout going on there. I like your trackplan. For the amount of space, it looks like it will a fun railroad to operate.
Now to your new problem. I also have the PSX-ARs. But I have the NCE Powerhouse Pro with 5amps. I remember when I first installed them. I read in the manual, about being able to adjust the power if you have a lower amp system like your NCE power cab.
Look at your manual again, I think you have to set some jumpers up to do this.
Also, where are your feeders on this section? And do these feeders to your main bus, or they go to the PSX-AR?
Re-check these wires, maybe disconnect them. And you should be soldering all these connections right?
JnJ,
From your description of the problem, it sounds like the system is shorting, then resetting itself, permitting the loco to move on. It could be a power setting issue with the PSX-AR or a wiring/gapping issue, or both.
You seem to have way too many rail gaps, so it is difficult to tell exactly which tracks are part of the reversing section.
The blue colored rail gaps are fine. They isolate that loop on the bottom left.
But, the red colored rail gaps seem to be all over the place. Can you specify which tracks are part of the troublesome reversing section?
Had this troublesome reversing section worked at all before it starting acting up? A little while back you seemed to have everything operating correctly.
Are you satisfied that the reversing section is wired correctly and that there are adequate feeder wires?
Rich
I have to agree with Rich. You made way too many blocks and gaps for that sized railroad.
I have a 15’x22’ HO layout, and the only place I have gaps are the reversing section. Never had the “need to isolate sections” for easier troubleshooting.
You made things harder on yourself. Simplify things, and get rid of all those gaps, except of course for that reversing section.
The K.I.S.S. method. (keep it simple stupid)
Ctaching up on this thread because I also use PSX-AR reversers. That work flawlessly EXCEPT for one loop. This is in HO, so none of that frog weirdness involved, with a NCE Powerhouse 5 amp system
This doesn’t happen all the time. I have tried some adjusting of the jumpers, which seemed to help. But often when I first try to use the loop when the system is powered up, it will not work, loco stalls. I used to spend some time analyzing it when it happened. Now, I just ignore it, get the 0-5-0 out, then proceed as normal. For whatever reason, once the PSX-AR “learns” what it should be doing by failing, it seems to work after that, at least for the power session. Mostly, because sometimes it just stays stupid and still causes trouble, but that is less frequent after the jumper move I made.
The only thing a little different is that the PSX-AR was twinned with a wye on the deck above, but I never tried to use both at the same time, so that shouldn’t be the problem. IIRC, I installed my spare PSX-AR to control the lower loop only to see if that helped. Didn’t make any difference, so likely not a specific issue with one PSX-AR. Points toward a gap issue, but I can’t figure out what it might be. It’s just a loop of track nothing weird other than it starts off one side of a small industrial area and goes around back to the other side. My guess is that it’s either a jumper config or a gap issue
I don’t know if it’s the same issue that the OP has now, but sounds similar.
Anyone have a better take than the manual does on setting the jumpers?
Right now, I’m laughing at myself. I figured after building and tweaking my large and elaborate saltwater reeftank that this would be a breeze to build. On top of that I’m well versed with DC electrical after 17 years of working on cars and building cars for people with disabilities. So with that said, I feel like a complete idiot who can’t figure out how to make a two wire train system run without shorting out…
My reasoning for the many gaps was to make things easier to trouble shoot when something failed. I’ve learned that was a dumb mistake the hard way, lol. I also wish that I had found this forum before I started building and wiring this layout. Probably would have had less confusion over those two stupid wires!
So… can someone or someone’s give me suggestions on where the rail gaps should be placed. My logic was obviously wrong. The thought process I was going with for the many gaps on the bottom level was for this reason: the lower level is one large reverse loop starting from the ramp to the upper level.It contains at least two other reverse loops inside of the large one. I figured that because there were so many loops, it would be best to make sections of the loops reverse instead of the whole loop. At this point I’m convinced that there is a better way to wire and gap this.
I have installed the jumpers on the PSX-AR’s by soldering a small wire to terminals 1 and 2 of connector J6. I think I screwed up on something though. I set CV49 to 1 instead of 0. I was told to jump the J6 and then set CV49 to 1 by tony’s train exchange. Reading the instructions they differ. My bigger problem is this. When I installed them I had to set each with a unique address then set the CV. Well in my infinite wisdom I failed to write down the address that I used and now I have no clue to what I used. How do I undo my stupidity?
On another note, is there anyone who has been replying to this post in the Vermont area? If so would you be willing to mak
If I follow your diagram correctly, the blue gaps are fine and that represents a reverse loop.
As to the red gaps, you only need to gap the rails in three places. The first two sets of gaps should be placed at the ends of the divergent tracks on those two turnouts colored yellow and orange.
Then, if you trace down that yellow colored section of track past the two red gaps shown on your diagram, once those two gaps are removed, you can place the third set of gaps anywhere on that curve all the way around to the next turnout.
So, leave the blue gaps, remove all of the red gaps, and then gap in the three spots that I just mentioned. The second auto-reverser controls the resulting reversing section.
All of the track outside of those two reversing sections (blue and red) should be wired the same way, in phase, to form the main section of the layout.
Rich
Regarding the PSX-AR. There should be a way to reset it back to defaults. I don’t remember, just call Tony’s trains and tell them what you did.
In my experience, the best way to wire a layout with one or more reverse loops is to draw a two rail track diagram, using a colored coded schematic. For example, if you color one rail red and the other rail blue, the two rails should always match colorwise. Whenever there is mismatch in the color of the rails, that is a point of reverse polarity.
It is also helpful to limit the number of rail gaps to the minimum number required to completely isolate the reversing section.
It is also helpful to limit the size of the reversing section to be as lon
So if I understand you right Rich, gap the rails like in the above picture. The red sections would go to the output of a reverser and the blue would go to a main bus feed. Would this work the way I have it drawn out? The other question I have is: the section I labled A is fairly short. Would it make more sense to move the gaps to the other side of the turnout that is on the right and blue? Then gap the the other two tracks? Other than the short section, I think the way I have it drawn out will work.
Are auto reverseres supposed to work in either direcion? What I mean by this is; do you always have to enter a reverse section in the same leg or can you pick either leg you want to?
Part of the reason I chose this layout was so that my daughter and I could run trains in multiple directions and sections before she gets bored of watching a train go in a circle.
I spoke with Tony’s today. The PSX-AR doeen’t actually get programmed to a specific loco ID but rather you use a loco ID that isn’t in use by any of the locomotives in your collection. Then you go to CV 49 and set it to what you need to. The guy I spoke to said that if you jumped out the appriate pins of J6, then its not necesary to set the CV 49.
No, what he means is that you draw the plan with both rails showing. Take a red pen, and put it on one of the rails, adn trace the entire layout without lifting the pen. Take a blue pen and do the same with the other raill. Follow turnouts in both positions - botht he straight through and diverging routes. If ever the blue line touches the red line head on (blue)—><----(red) you have a reversing section
Try it on a trvial layout - simple oval. Make the red line the outside raila nd the blue line the inside rail, You will see they can’t possibly touch, so all is good.
Now add the ‘classic’ reverse loop - put a turnout on each long side of the oval with a diagonal track connecting them. You will see red touches blue in the moddle of the diagonal track, on both rails.
Now try with your actual track plan and find the reverse loops.
–Randy