Too many unknowns here. I thought that he was initially testing his layout in DC as stated earlier in this thread. But, now it is obvious that he is testing in DCC. Also, are his turnouts power routing? It appears so, but proper use of the multimeter would determine this. Your earlier diagram, greg, of the three alternative turnout routes is very instructive. The OP should study those more closely. This layout is either mis-wired or there is a need for gaps on the inner frog rails to deal with power routing turnouts.
I am using DC right now as my starter layout until I set up my larger layout and plan to switch to DCC. I just tried proraming a loco with my NEC DCC controler on a one legnth ttrack and loco was working with intial set up and then when I tried to follow the directions to save the train with its own number now the loc doesnt not work. I did a factory reset and now I get nothing as well.
I agree, stick to DC for now. I think if you put all the turnouts on the âstraightâ position there should be no shorts. If you activate one turnout to change a locoâs direction towards another section, and it shorts, you need to put insulated rail joiners on the turnout, as explained by others. You will probably need to add feeders to the isolated sections.
Once you fix the layout in DC mode, you can start thinking about DCC.
Since you are just beginning, if youâre like me, all the talk of cutting and putting in gaps or insulated joiners gets confusing.
Even though this is for Peco turnouts, I think it will also work for you. If I am wrong about this, someone please correct it. Iâm not an expert at this!
At the least, it shows where to cut a gap or put in an insulated rail joiner. (If you can cut a small enough gap, the joiner isnât really needed.)
Having first gone with DC and then upgraded the layout to DCC, I would suggest sticking with one. DCC has a somewhat steep learning curve and requires your track work and electrical being spot on, but the the joy of having multiple locos running simultaneously.is worth it!
If, indeed, the Kato turnouts are âpower routingâ, then the Peco Electrofrog illustrations are applicable. The two âinner frogâ rails would have to be gapped to avoid dead shorts. I am not familiar with Kato turnouts, but they are supposedly power routing.
And, yes, solve the shorting problem before trying to program or reprogram DCC decoders.
I hear you but if I do the enhanced track layout that I posted that I created on Anyrail CAD I wanted to move to DCC to individually control locos. But in my temp try at DCC programing on a separate track last night my loco first worked when I first turned the NEC controller on but then tries to assign a train name and now nothing. NEC factory reboot isnât working either. You know if I can reset the loco maybe?
