I need help again. Just hooked up an MRC 3.5 amp DCC power booster to my new layout through a Tony’s Trains PSFour and I have no power to the four districts its connected to. I’ve checked all the wiring and it seems to be OK (obviously it probably isn’t) but its hooked up exactly like my other PSFour that’s hooked to the main Prodigy Advance console which works fine. The “Pilot” light on the booster is blinking when I power it up and that does not seem right to me - I think it should be buring steady. What does this indicate? (Note: I have two wires going from the “Main Tracks” terminals on the booster to the input on the PSFour and then two wires from each of the four outputs on the PSFour to the rails of the four power districts and the booster is connected to the Advance via the MRC supplied cable) The instructions that came with the booster leave a lot to be desired!! Alao, it may be my imagination, but my engine(s) seem to run a little slow on the part of the layout that works (slower than the indicated speed on the controller).
I am not familiar with MRC boosters but you can wire the original booster to the new PS4 to see if everything through the PS4 to the track is wired properly and then work backwards.
Good idea! I did that (wired my PS4 to the Prodigy Advance main console) and everything worked fine-power to the rails and the engines worked correctly. Does this mean I have a defective booster? I did have some problems with my original wiring and was getting an overload condition (overload light and pilot light flashing) until I fixed it. Could I have burned up the booste?
It’s possible but I doubt it. I’d look at the RJ45 cable that connects back to the Prodigy Advance console. I looked on MRC’s website but I couldn’t find a manual. Did they give you any type of troubleshooting guide for the booster ?
I switched cables and that didn’t do anything so I’m convinced the problem is in the booster itself. I talked to MRC this morning and am sending the whole unit back to them for repair or replacement. Thanks for your help. By the way, the blinking pilot indicates a short circuit.