I have a used Lionel O-31 remote control track section and I’m not pleased with it’s operation. Is there a way to wire these track sections so that it can have fixed voltage available to it all the time? I’ve read the instructions and only saw a way to set it up as an isolated block by insulation the center rail with plastic pins.
Maybe my control track is just on it’s last leg…
When a moving train passes over it, it doesn’t seem to have enough power to uncouple the cars when using the voltage the train is running at. If I give it enough power to uncouple then the train is going way too fast. I have to stop the train on it, put the engine in “neutral”, power up the transformer, and then it will release a car.
Yes, you can power them from a fixed accessory voltage. You have to disconnect one of the wires between the track and the controller and then supply the controller with the accessory voltage through that wire. For the UCS (with center electromagnet) this is the second wire from the right, viewed from the top and from the controller side of the track. For the RCS (without electromagnet) use the rightmost wire.
Be sure your transformer common is connected to the outside rails of the track.
I had read your response several times, and read the instruction booklet several times, and hooked it up wrong initially.
Originally I ran the wire from the fixed voltage post on the transformer to the 3rd screw on the track section. Wrong! The train went shooting down the block section.
I re-read your post again and finally clued in to what you were saying about “supplying the controller with the accessory voltage through that wire”. Connect the third wire to the transformer and leave the third screw on the track section empty!