I have been wrestling with a problem since last evening with the new portion of my layout, which is powered by a Digitrax DB-200+ and a PS4. The problem was that the PS4s would trip when a locomotive would travel between one of the orignal blocks (powered by a DC-100, a DB-150 and a PS4) and any of the blocks in the new section. Travel between the old blocks was fine and travel between the new blocks was fine. I checked to ensure the polarity was correct on the track feeds and all other wiring. Travel between the existing PSRev and the new blocks also would cause the tripping. On a whim I decided to move the Loconet cable going to the new booster and plugged it straight from the DB-200+ to the DC-100. Everything started working fine. After checking on Digitrax’s website, I found the following notes on the UP-5 panels:
Two RJ12 6 pin LocoNet jacks in the back of the panel for hooking up LocoNet devices that use RailSync.
Two RJ12 6 pin Throttle jacks in the front of the panel for hooking up throttles and other LocoNet devices that do not use RailSync.
I had been plugging the Loconet cable to the DB-200+ into the front of the UP-5 to do temporary testing before running the cable permanetly and plugging it into the back. The missing rail sync signal was the issue. Hopefully I can avoid someone else wasting time like I did.
Don’t use the side jack for anything that uses Railsync either. Only the two jacks on the back are truly wired in parallel and pass all the signals. the rest are rather convoluted through a bunch of diodes to provide throttle power from 3 possible sources - Railsync lines, track power via the screws on the back, and a 12v power supply connected to the coaxial jack on the back (like the PS12).
Another tip - make sure all your Loconet cables are wired correctly so they do not flip the Railsync lines. This will only cause further frustration when you get shorts craossing power disctrics and you KNOW you wiered both Rail A wires to the correct rail, and both Rail B wires to the correct rail. The result of a flipped signal on the Railsync lines is the output of that booster will be 180 degrees out of phase with the command station, thus a short when a loco crosses the gaps. The Loconet tester Digitrax supplies is not sophisticated enough to detect this - evidenced by getting a ‘good’ reading on a fresh out of the package 6p6c phone cord from Walmart. I don;t use those cables as-is anyway, I buy the 50 or 100 footers and cut them up to the lengths I need and install new ends on the cut ends.
Another tricky one - the BDL-168 also needs correctly phased Railsync for transponding to work. Transponding is a bit touchy to begin with, and a flipped cable there will be REALLY hard to figure out
I started using CAT5 cable with RJ12 plugs on the first portion of my layout. It works Ok but CAT5 is somehwat stiff. I’ve got a 25’ flat cable I am cutting up for smaller jumpers an
I had a similar problem a while back that took me months to figure out! I have two digitrax boosters that would sometimes… but not always, reverse rail A & B!! When a train would cross into a power district from one booster to another I would get a short. I use Tony’s PS fours for each booster.
I finally realised that one booster was reversing itself but couldn’t figure out why. I finally set both boosters to disable automatic reversing and haven’t had a problem since.
When the condition would occur I could place the Digitrax tester across the gap of one rail and it would light, showing that somehow rail A and B were flipped. I pulled my hair out on this one.
Randy may remember trying to help me on this. I think by default the Digitrax boosters are set for auto-reversing but I use PS-Rev’s for the two reversing sections.
I don’t have DCC yet, but Digitrax is one of the systems I am considering. What is “RailSync”? Is this some other hardware/software I will need to get if I go with Digitrax? Thanks for helping.
Rail sync is just a signal that exists on the Loconet bus to synchronize the boosters. You need nothing special. Actually what I ran into was pretty obscure and not something you should run into under normal configurations.
You don’t NEED a reference connection between boosters, but be aware that the auto-reversing works by sensing the phase mismatch RELATIVE TO THE COMMON (labelled ground and that’s a REALLY bad term to use). The common reference if you DON’ hook a decent size wire between the GND terminals of the two boosters is the two wires in the Loconet cable used for ground. Kinda flimsy. The PM42’s generally do ot function well if you don’t connect the proper GND wire and try to rely on the Loconet cable. Two boosters without auto-reverse, also probably no problem since there’s nothing to detect with respect to the common.
None of the Digitrax boosters is auto-reversing by default. You have to connect (I think, don;t have the manual handy to look) Config A and Config B to GND on the DB100/150/200 to make them auto-reverse, and on the DCS100/200 there’s an OpSw setting.
I joined the Yahoo group today. Still struggling with a couple of basics like is the only way to add a locomotive via the Ident function and using the programming track ? Or can I manually add one ? Where can I find additional decoder XML files. I am running v1.6.1 but I see where 1.7.5 has additional decoder pages.
1.7.5 Beta is what I am running. On the group pafe is a “FILE” tab the decoders are there just download and add. I always use the program track since it is the travk that all locos are added ro the layout on.
1.7.5 Beta is what I am running. On the group pafe is a “FILE” tab the decoders are there just download and add. I always use the program track since it is the travk that all locos are added ro the layout on.
This is what you can do with panel pro:
The 2 yards will get their own computer and diagram. Great FOR FREE program.
