I have a friend that build a standard ho track setup for his son that circles a entire room, about 50 foot of track. It dosent work on the original X former. There must be a way to run that mutch track. ANYBOBY whats the solution
#1 Buy an MRC transformer/power pack. (I should ask what is the make of the existing one?)
#2 What metal is the rails made of?
#3 Be prepared to add a couple of sets of "feeder wires" in a couple places around the layout.
This is DC, you are talkin 'bout, correct?
what do you mean when you say it doesn't work on the original transformer?
does the train run partway around the room then stop?
does it slow down in certain areas no matter the throttle setting?
does it not move at all? if not does it buzz when sitting on the track?
what kind of track are you using?
The train is the Santa Fe Flyer model with original controller. It looks to be 16volt AC. the track is appx 70 ft. It dosent move. I am well versed in electrical theory. are there any drawings to instruct me
Hopefully the track is not connected to the ACCESSORIES 16VAC terminals (push to open, release to close). If it is, that explains why locomotive will not move as the locomotive is equipped with a DC motor.
I am 700 mi away from my friend. The controller seems to have an acc hook up that is 16 VAC ,The controller is DC I am told I need to section my track with parallel connections Any diagrams out there for this .
You are very difficult to understand; but believe what you are referring to is a section of track called the "terminal section" which for EZ track also serves as a rerailer.
That said, you don't need that section if you know how to solder. Are you as well versed in soldering as you are in electrical theory?
As I have said I am a electrician not a train man. I also am pretty good at soldering .That said what I wont to know is how to go about feeding this long track.
One does not even need to be an "electrician" to figure out or understand this stuff and how or why it runs.
Let's first make sure you hook up to the DC and not the AC terminals of the power source, okey doke?
What I would do then is buy yourself a couple of multi position barrier strips and a coil of red and coil of black stranded wire, 18 or 20 gauge the size of the coil depending on how many feet of each color you will need for what you have for track.
You connect one wire from the DC terminal to one strip and the other wire to the other strip. I suspect both of the wires you currently have are red, so mark one with a black permanent marker or something else that designates it as different from the other wire.
Make "jumpers" (since you say you are an electrician I won't elaborate on that assuming you know what I mean, unless of course you ask me to, then I will be glad to elaborate ) for one side of the strip and do the same but with the other wire to the other strip.
Then take your red wire, connect however many feeders you want to make and connect them to terminals on the one barrier strip. I like to use spade crimp on connectors for that. Run the wires to where you want to hook them up to various sections of track. Now you have 2 choices: 1) you can solder the wire to the underside of rail joiners or 2) solder the wire directly to the sides of the rails. If #2, make sure you put a heat sink on top of the rail while you are soldering. Use non acid paste flux on the wire and rail and rosin core solder. I like to use heavy, wide Zinc washers for the sink. All of one color wires go to the same rail, ie: North (top) or South (bottom). Repeat the process for the other colored wire you buy, to the opposite rail side and other barrier strip.
All of this is easily findable on YouTube as well.
Others asked you some questions as well, it would be wise to provide answers to those as well.
first things first. has your friend checqued the output of the power pack's dc terminals to ensure they are in fact putting out dc voltage, and if so, what the voltage output is. if the power supply isn't working none of the other stuff will matter.
see my original post with the questions, and answer those. that will help us troubleshoot instead of just guessing what the problem is.
Quote from: jward on December 18, 2015, 02:03:24 PM
if the power supply isn't working none of the other stuff will matter.
...except this:
Quote from: jbrock27 on December 17, 2015, 08:35:26 PM
#1 Buy an MRC transformer/power pack.
Please note for the record, you're not the only one to have asked questions and not the first one to suggest getting the other questions answered:
Quote from: jbrock27 on December 18, 2015, 01:58:18 PM
Others asked you some questions as well, it would be wise to provide answers to those as well.
But then again, with regard to your recent round of questions, he is an
electrician right, so one would think he would have covered those already, right?
Thanks jbrock. The set-up my friend has is the E-z track with original controller #44605A.The train stops app. 20ft away from the rerailer .I could do what jbrock has pointed out to me,But I am 700 mi away.can he install more rerailers and power the track from them. Is there another way to connect power, some mechanical means as a clip on terminal. Thanks for your help
You are welcome my friend, I am glad to help :).
Nickel silver or steel EZ track?
So soldering is out of the question for your friend?
And it sounds like he is losing continuity at that 20 ft point. Does he have a multi meter or continuity tester? Can he tell by visual that the joiners at that point are bad (banged up, misshapen)?
now we are getting somewhere. it sounds like you have rail joiners that are not making contact. does the train stop in the same place every time?
in this case, you could add extra feeders as others have suggested. I would first use test leads to jumper around the rail joiners one at a time where the train stops. if you do this with the locomotive in the dead section, it should start when you jumper around the joiner that is not making contact. I would then solder that joiner to the rails to provide more reliable contact. additional feeders to the dead section will add some redundancy and reliability.
the other possibility is if the locomotive stops in a different location every time. in that case, something is probably overheating and going into thermal shutdown. does your friend have more than one locomotive? if so do all of them exhibit the same behavior?
Quote from: jward on December 18, 2015, 11:29:05 PM
you could add extra feeders as others have suggested.
"
Others"? Ahhh, don't you mean, me ???
Quote from: jward on December 18, 2015, 11:29:05 PM
I would then solder that joiner to the rails to provide more reliable contact.
But as you have fondly pointed out many times in the past, this is going to verrrrry difficult if this happens to be steel track. And, if you read what is going on, doesn't sound like his friend is too keen on soldering, so, just sayin...
I would suggest he tell his friend to join the forum so answers can be gotten direct from the horse's mouth. 700 miles is nothing to the internet and a lot faster than trying to relay information through a third party.
Another fine suggestion :)
Richards Electric: Electrician here, at yoru service, Ma'am...
Hey Jim; what was it you asked me about?
Hey red hot dog; what does the motor say on it? I think if you look really good, you will see a "D.C'. thing there somewhere... And Like Hunt says...
Being as this is the season for giving, the house call today was free...
Rich C.
Quote from: Hunt on December 18, 2015, 10:51:17 AM
Hopefully the track is not connected to the ACCESSORIES 16VAC terminals (push to open, release to close). If it is, that explains why locomotive will not move as the locomotive is equipped with a DC motor.
They will move in a/c for not very long though.MAJIC SMOKE comes to mind .Been there long ago.Try it some time if you think it will not.
Ha! Johnny
Not sure, why, even as a joke, you'd suggest someone destroy their DC loco by running it on AC, J.A. ???
Now, if you told someone to take a hammer to their pancake motor driven diesel loco, that is a joke I could get into ;)
Uae a test light .A multi meter will work ,but will lie to you if there is a corroded rail joiner.The test light for automotive will not lie .IT WILL SHOW DIM on the bad side of the connection and a multi meter will not because the bulb in the test light is the load reading the true current and will find it much more accurately then the multi meter.
Johnny
You understand the multi meter was suggested to be able to check the power pack, if it has not been checked already, right?
Quote from: jbrock27 on December 19, 2015, 03:43:51 PM
Not sure, why, even as a joke, you'd suggest someone destroy their DC loco by running it on AC, J.A. ???
Now, if you told someone to take a hammer to their pancake motor driven diesel loco, that is a joke I could get into ;)
Did you miss .Been There! I did this my self long ago.Fair warning to others in a way they could understand Smoke is not good unless it is a pancake motor.That is normal thing for them especially if you run some a/c into them like I did .Kind of entertaining at the time.Would never give bad advise purposely Jbrock.
That's good that would not be your intent. And no, I did not miss you experienced it firsthand, but you also challenged someone to try it if they doubted you. Keep in mind not everyone here may be playing with a full deck, if you know what I mean...