I have an HO DCC system with about 250 ft of track. There are 5 4x8 tables in a "J" shape. There is one outside loop and two separate inside loops only connected to the outside by turnouts. I have attempted to connect the two inside loops directly together. I added turnouts and when I went to connect the last piece of track, the system totally lost power (ie. shorted out). When I disconnected the track, the power came back on. It does not look or act like a reverse loop situation. Can anyone suggest a way to correct this problem.
Dennis,
Just a guess without more info, but it sounds like your polarities are reversed between the inner loops and outer loop. Do you normally runs trains in opposite directions between inner and outer loops? It is possible you are setting up a reverse loop and not realizing it.
Do you have more than one power source, or DCC system, running this layout? When you connect them, you may be overheating power sources.
I have three loops on my layout. They are connected by turnouts. Each loop has it's own power source (think block wiring). I use insulated rail joiners between the turnouts, so each loop is electrically isolated from each other. To cross from one loop to the other, my power sources must be set to match polarities before crossing over the insulated rails.
Regards,
Jonathan
since you are running dcc, try swapping the feeder wires around on one of the loops that short and see if that cures the problem.