A couple of weeks ago I posted a few times while making my decision to buy the NCE powercab. Initially I was very pleased with it. Then I went on vacation for a week, now I’m back a problem has appeared. The red LED indicating power to the tracks keeps going off and the trains are stopped dead in their tracks. It does not appear to be a short as this would shut the whole unit down. The digital display keeps reading exactly the same while there is now power to the tracks, but nothing can be adjusted until power is restored.
I’ve wiggled every connection I can to see if anything is loose and nothing jumps out as an obvious poor connection.
Are you saying that a train is running, and then stops when the red indicator goes out? Or does the red indicator go on and off while no train is running? Or does the handset display stay on when the red indicator goes out?
And try plugging the transformer into another wall outlet. I’ve had wall outlets go bad.
These are the most common problems. Are you using the flat cable plugged into the left socket on the panel? Look into the sockets and check the little gold pins to see if any are bent or loose. Remove all the locos from the tracks and see if the red LED stays lit. Perhaps a wheel is shorting on a frog or switch point. Check these and let us know what happens.
How many locomotives do you have on the layout – you may be overloading the Powercab’s power supply and the internal circuit breaker keeps turning it off. The stock transformer is only around 1.5 Amps. You may need a power booster or more hefty power supply if such is available for the Powercab.
thanks for the responses. I’ll try and answer all the questions.
Maxman, the red indicator light goes off both when trains are running and when they are not. The handset display stays on when the red indicator light goes out. Wall outlet is fine, power is still being recieved by the unit as handset stays on.
Pete, yes I’m using the flat cable plugged into the left socket. The trains do run when the light is on. The led light stays on when trains are removed from the track, and the LED going off and on continues regardless of whether there are any trains on the track or not. I can’t see any evidence of bent pins in either of the 2 sockets.
Cacole, The maximum number of loco’s I’ve tried to run is 2. As I mentioned in the response to Pete above the LED goes on and off even when there are no trains on the track.
Did you buy the system at a local hobby shop? If so, take it back, explain what is happening, and ask if they’ll swap it for a new one. That’s what the owner of one of our local shops would do.
If this was a mail order purchase, give NCE a call during the day on Tuesday and give the explanation. I’ve called them in the past and have always been satisfied with the results.
Of course waiting won’t make you happy, but if it is a nice day where you are you can always grill a steak or three and have some potato salad, chips, and beer.
Prompted by Pete’s comments about shorts I’ve done some more investigating. A little more history on the thing… I’ve very much in the beginings stage of my layout. When I bought it I basically had a fairly large loop set up och Bachmann N/S easy track and it ran fine. I’m a Brit and I’ve just returned from vacation visiting family in the UK and I stocked up on Hornby stuff while I was there. I’m now building a smaller layout essentially for my son/me to play around with based on the Hornby track mat plan using the track from their sets and a couple of extension kits. The plan built is basically that on the following link: http://www.hornby.com/track-91/r8224/product.html
So no I realize I have added that extra complexity to it with a few switches to boot. The following was done with nothing on the track. I tried disconnecting the wires from the track completely. The LED stays lit and now seems stable on (sorry NCE, looks like it’s a problem my end!). Then I attached 1 wire back to the track, LED stable on, then the other. At this point the problem comes back. I then started to change the switches aand that seems to make the problem happen. Move the switch from the main line to the siding the the LED goes off, move it back and after a pause it comes back on.
So now I think I’m exposing my electronic ignorance! I’m going to research this, but in the meantime if anyone knows how to overcome this I would appreciate the help!
Now it is definitely beginning to sound like an intermittent short. What type of turnout (brand) are you using and how are you powering the siding? And is it a stub siding or double ended?
Dan I would not worry about the number of locos so much. I can run two double header short trains with sound and with another loco are two siting on the layout.
If you mean that the Power Cab keeps recycling or resetting it must be a short or an open circuit some were. The panel Red light indicates the “PC” is supplying power and the locos should not run if the red light is off.
I would try to isolate a section of track to run the locos on to see if the problem goes away. An old trouble shooters motto, If you have power in but no power out break it down into smaller sections until the problem is isolated.
Try wiggling the connectors if something is shorting or open intermittent.
Thanks all again. Maxman, the turnouts are Hornby and right now I am only connecting power in one spot so the sidings are not wired seperately. I do have a link between the outer and inner oval to transfer power. I’m not sure what you mean by stub or double ended sidings. There is only 1 track on the sidings if that’s a clue.
One thing that is confusing me is if a create a short by either touching the 2 connector wires together or by bridging the two rails then the whole system shuts off, handset and all, but this problem only results in power loss to the track and the LED going out. Can anyone explain this if both are caused by shorts?
Oh and yes it is beautiful here today so trains or no trains I can see the bbq being lit regardless!
Two ovals linked? Does the problem occur when you throw the two turnouts that connect one oval to the other?
And by double ended, I mean when you come off the main onto the siding and continue forward, would the engine run off the end of the track (stub ended), or is there another turnout that allows the engine to return to the main (double ended)?
And are the Hornby turnouts constructed such that the frog is electrically dead (insulated), or are they of the power routed type where the frog polarity is switched by the position of the point rails?
I’m not sure of the answer to this. Try wearing long pants and see if the problem goes away [:)]
Problem occurs when any turnout is thrown, not just into the inner oval, and remember it happens seemingly randomly also without throwing the switches.
The turnouts have insulated frogs.I have run a train succesfully through the 2 turnouts from the outer to inner oval.
It doesn’t sound like an open circuit. A short would likely be the case. If you have a camera post a pic of your layout and a close up of a turnout you are using.
One of the reasons that a short isn’t shutting down the entire layout is if you don’t have a buss with multiple feeder wires a short may not be enough for the protection to kick in because of the added resistance of the track and each joiner in between.
If I understand one of Cooped’s posts correctly, the track diagram is as shown on the link he gave: http://www.hornby.com/track-91/r8224/product.html. At first glance there does not appear to be a trackplan there, but if you look to the right and just below the large track component picture, you’ll see a small track plan. If you click on that, a larger version appears.
Also you said there are wires connecting between the inner and outer loop. make sure that the wires didn’t get crossed. Start by disconnecting the wires to the inner loops. It’s possible that when you throw the switch if the wires are crossed, throwing the switch might result in the short.
The wires connecting the 2 ovals seems to be the problem (right on the money there Hamltonblue), although they were correctly placed. When I removed the connecting wires no more problems. I am confused now as to why, the outside rails were conected and the inside rails were connected so I’m haviong trouble figuring out why this was causing a problem.
The tracks are not fixed down yet, I’m still experimenting with the final layout plan. I’m planning on using bus wires in the end for power feeds.