Wiring Problem

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Starman

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Sep 21, 2006
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Last week i was in the process of rewiring my layout that i have built for my 5 year old grandson[which by the way is DC] and i seem to be getting a overload on the control box[which by the way is a tech 2].I am running 2 trains on this layout and before it ran fine but now i seem to have lost power to the main track.My question is can i have some wire crossed somewhere that may be causing this or do i need to go back and just start from the beginning and trace wires.It was running fine before i added this other section oh and by the way this is a 8x16 layout with 10 blocks and turnouts. Please give me some direction i can go to solve this problem.
starman
 
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Nomad

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Sep 26, 2006
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You say it was running fine before you added and wired the new section. Unhook the new wires noting which rails they are connected to and see if it is ok now. If it is reattach the wires opposite of the rails you had them hooked to before. That should to it.
Good Luck.

Loren
 
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Starman

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Sep 21, 2006
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Grwesome,
Does it make any differance that i used plastic rail joiners to block the sections.My problem is that i have power to one section but not to all the track and i have undone wires and redone wires and i still get a overload on the powerpak.
 
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60103

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When you have plastic rail joiners, you need to have a wire (feeder) on each side of the plastic joiner. These normally go to separate blocks (unless they're for something like all-rail-frog switches) and feed from separate block switches.
You haven't done something like add a reverse loop, have you?
Can you disconnect the whole of the new section simply?
 
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Nomad

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Sep 26, 2006
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Starman, plastic rail joiners should be no problem.
Did you check to make sure there were no tools or bare pieces of wire laying across the track? Sounds silly but that has happened before.
You might have to disconnect all the block wiring at the on and off switches and then reconnect them one at a time. When the short appears you will at least know what block is causing the problem and can check for the problem in that block. Maybe a crossed wire or a bad off and on switch.

David, good point. I did'nt think about a reverse loop !

Loren
 
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Starman

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Sep 21, 2006
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When i get home tonight i will try and post a pic of the layout that i have done but i don't think i have a reverse loop.
 
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Starman

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attachment.php
Here is a pic of my track plan i do not have the 2 inter loops but i do have the outer loop and i do have one siding on here but it is not in this pic as i added it after the plan was done.
 
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Starman

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Ok grewsome i must have done something wrong caused it did work last night but i will try again and see if i can get it right. I tried to work on my layout before work today and i got some of the blocks to work but not all of them.I do have the track coming back into the main line but the one coming back is a block also.
 
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Nomad

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Starman, if you only have three blocks now, I would unhook the wires and then rewire one at a time. When it shorts out that should be the one with the crossed wires. Swap them around and you should running trains again.

Loren
 
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Starman

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Hey grewsome i have a question to ask could a bad selector cause overload problems and make it so you don't get power to one side of your track because i notice that when i hook up the third selector for the new blocks i would get the overload and when i have it unhooked everything is fine except i don't have power to one side of my track.
 
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Nomad

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Sep 26, 2006
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It is very possible for the selector to have an internal short. Try hooking the power feed wire temporarily to to the selector where a block does work. If the short is gone you found the problem !

Loren
 
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