I had wired one section of my layout (NCE )and was running trains… then I was watching one of the Model railroader DVD’s and they mention using scotchlok connectors instead of soldering… I bought some did 2 more sections, nothing runs, the light on the NCE flicks on and off or the unit shuts down…
I check my feeder wires to make sure they were not crossed, and then I started to wonder and I could be way off base… but could those connectors be causing the short/stoppage or is there maybe a wire loose…
The suitcase connectors may not be for the size and type of wire you’re using them with and are causing a loose connection. Suitcase connectors work best with stranded wire.
I used suitcase connectors for a while but stopped because I was having trouble with them. No matter how tightly and cleanly they were crimped together, they would eventually lose contact. Now I solder everything.
Only two possibilities that I can think of: you have mistaken a connection and placed it to the wrong terminal, or you have a strand that is loose and bridging to another terminal. If you are not using stranded wire, you have a wire going to the wrong terminal.
I suppose their is a third possibility, if extremely remote: could one or more connector have faulty wiring internally?
Okay, one last possibility [:-^] Check the entire trackplan to ensure you haven’t left a screwdriver, an NMRA track gauge, another piece of wire, even a small section of trimmed wire end that is wedged into a turnout…, a truck on a rolling item that is derailed and bridging.
I hate to say this, but with all that shorting, you may have skunked the programming in the decoders. You may have to do a hard reset of them and start afresh. I know this happens at times. Before you do all that, though, a clear-minded close look and metering where it counts might reveal something.
I don’t see why “locos” would all have the same issues unless it is a power feed problem, not dirty track. Dirty track applies to a location, and will affect a loco here, another here, maybe both over there. Not all around a layout.
“Suitcase connectors” AKA “scotch locks” AKA “posi locks” or any derivative of the word were invented by deranged electrical engineers with extreme mental problems. Apart from using them for an emergency repair of your car when it’s broken down at 3AM miles away from home, they serve no function I can fathom. Throw them all in the trash where they belong and a use proper electrical connection, that is to say solder with heat shrink insulation. For connectors use a Deans type plug or something similar.
OK, this is one area where I am very opinionated and inflexible in my thinking. If you want to use the scotch locks, then do so, but be prepared to have mysterious connectivity and corrosion problems for the life of your layout. Why spend hours and $$ on quality track and locomotives only to go cheap on the wiring that holds it all together? You’d be better off to have the whole get up manufactured by Lucas Electric of England than use the scotch locks.
Caveat- this is my opinion, if you don’t agree then that’s OK with me.
This debate goes on and on all over, and I think being dogmatic is not very useful. This solution works for a lot of people and doesn’t work for some… like anything, there are a million ways to skin a cat (sorry PETA). Call me silly, but I BET that the problem discussed above is HUMAN error, not failure of the scotchlok’s.
Very true, Brian, and I find no fault in your position. But as I stated, this is my opinion but an opinion based on many years of experience. I am aware that as with most everything else there are those that have a great experience using the scotch loc, but I will be dogmatic about electrical connections. This is a personal way that I am, I believe in solid, soldered and heat shrunk connections, anything else will eventually fail and cause hours of troubleshooting and head scratching that is unnecessary. I’ve seen too many failures with the quick connects to honestly recommend them to anybody. Human error can never be discounted as a factor in anything, but the quick connects only add a mechanical failure rate that to me is not acceptable.
PETA? Isn’t that an acronym for People Eating Tasty Animals?
Look over your track very carefully. Perhaps one of the two sections completes a reversing loop? If not, check your feeders to make sure you’ve got them all tied to the correct buss lines. It sounds like you installed a short somewhere. If there are turnouts in the new sections, throw them one by one and watch for the short to clear up with each one. Perhaps you have a short through the frog of one of them.
If nothing else works, cut the feeders at the connectors one at a time (hopefully you have some extra length so that you can re-connect when you find the problem) until the short clears up. The cut that clears it will be your shorting feeder (unless more than one is shorting).