Hello all,
I’m very new to the model railroading, and have designed my first layout. My problem is that I have a reversing loop, and as soon as I connect it to the rest of the track, I lose all power to the entire track. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanx.
To the end of my knowledge it would be because of so much track on one hook-up. Now I don’t know if you have several rerailers plugs in or not but that happened to me and that was the problem.
I only have one rerailer plugged in, I’m assuming that a rerailer is the section of track that is hooked up to my controller?
Sorry I’m very new to this.
Yes that is it. What kind of controller do you have?
Unless you’ve wired it properly, the problem of "power loss’ is due to the circuit breaker in your powerpack sensing a short where the differing polarities between the main and the reversing section short out.
[oops]
Any reverse loop, or other reversing track section like a wye or a turntable, must be isolated from the main and provided with its own reversing switch. After this switch is set to proper polarity, then you can enter the reversing section from the main. When the motive power is fully within the electrical block of the reversing section, then you reverse the polarity on the main. As your train exits the reversing section, the polarity of the rails will be maintained correctly and you won’t have the “power loss” anymore.
Here’s a link to a website that explains and illustrates reversing sections:
http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips3/reversing_tips.html
You are getting a short circuit when you hook up the reversing loop. It needs to electrically isolated from the rest of the track and a reversing switch placed in the circuit.
Just follow one of the tracks all the way around the loop and see where it comes back out on the main track, it will be on the opposite rail from where you started, hence the short.
Beat me to it and a much better response to boot. [^]
Mustangn5, First of all, Welcome to the forum! Is the reversing loop electrically isolated. If not you are creating a short circuit. Take a look at a piece of track. Lets call the top rail the “North” rail and the bottom rail the “South” rail. If you short across the two rails, power will shut down as you have a short circuit. When you connect a loop of track back on itself, it connects what was the North rail to the South rail. Therefore, you need to isolate the reverse loop and have it electrically seperate from the rest of the track. You can buy plastic insulating track joiners to do this. Next you will need to be able to change the polarity of the mainline track using a DPDT (double pole double thow) toggle switch. When properly wired, you change the polarity of the mainline by throwing the toggle switch when the train is in the reversing loop. That way when the train leaves the loop, the polarity of the mainline track matches the end of the loop and the train will continue with no short. I have assumed that you are using DC. If you are using DCC it is a little different but still has to be isolated from the mainline track. For DCC I would advise that you use an automatic reversing unit, such as the Digitrax AR1.
I would advise you to buy a book on electrical wireing for model railroaders at your Local Hobby Shop. There are a lot of things you need to know about wiring to have a good running layout. It will save you a lot of time and frustration…!
Enjoy your trains!
Pathfinder,
No problem. As the problem was obvious, I figured there would be several responses.
BTW, very cool animated 4x4 in your sig line!
[tup]
I thought there would be lots as well.
And the sig is my Pathfinder heading to the woods (with me in it)!
Thanx very much for all the responses, the plastic rail joiners I assume connect my reversing loop to the rest of the track?
Also, I bought an Atlas #220 Controller to switch th epolarity, but I am not exactly sure on how to wire it. I will go out and buy an electrical book very soon, as there are a few other things I would like to add.
You guys have been very helpful.
Thankx agian
You assume correctly. And… You are very welcome!