Doesn't sound like it, unless you have the DC supply hooked up the same time you hook up the DCC. I'd like to hear what NCE has to say. Probably "send it back"?
Hooking it up to the layout is testing it. Even a three foot section of track works. You need a loco as a load for a proper test. Connect the multimeter to the track on the AC scale and look for maybe 12 to 16 VAC. My Power Cab shows 13 to 14 VAC with one loco on the track. Rich
I'll 'test' ot before attaching to the layout. Question for Rich: Why is a loco needed to check power passing through the Power Panel? Thanks, Jim
Trouble shooting The controller sends out a say 14 VAC. If there is a weak spot, poor connection, high resistance, somewhere, in the PC board or track you will still see 14 vac, everywhere. With a load of some kind say a loco, the bad spot will stop the current from flowing or at least reduce the current quite a lot. Common trouble shooting procedure I and many others have used for many years. When our club switched to DCC, we had to do quite a lot of that. The older DC locos had can motors with flywheels and those locos would hardly hesitate when hitting a bad spot. A simple probing with the voltmeter probes on both sides of the suspect PC board would easily show up if there is a defect on the board with a load on the track connector. A crack on the PC board foil or a cold solder joint. Sometimes touching up the solder joints cure the issue. No voltage at the track connector with no load, simply work back toward the six pin connector that has the six wire cord. Same principle. Check both sides of the PC board. There is a break somewhere. I have done this many times over the years with different electronic type circuit boards. It is not difficult. I have a lighted Optivisor,, a lighted, dual magnifying head set to do visual inspection. Rich
The hits just keep on coming. First, thanks all for the great advice and tips. Check this out: I got my Power Cab and Power Panel from NCE last evening. This is a working loaner off their wookbench. I hooked up their stuff and I got moving trains and sound. To do the whole check I hooked my "non operating" Power Cab and Power Panel and guess what? I have moving trains with sound on my layout that I have NOT had for 3 months! Any thoughts? Absolutely nothing has been done to the layout. I haven't cleaned it, touched wiring, nothing since all this started. Jim
The simplest explanation is that your layout is possessed!!! Beyond that, I would be suspicious of the cable and RJ connectors making intermittent contact. Bill in FtL
I would bet on an intermittent connection of some sort is the culprit. I know tough guess, but this could be a simple data cable connector or a loose track bus wire that causes excess power draw. Remember the Powercab will only run at 1.7 amps and shut down or melt at 2 amps. I would disconnect everything and reintroduce one aspect of the layout at a time until you have issues of any kind. The horns of this issue will likely not strike until there is a load so you will have to add some load via a simple 1 amp auto bulb or a sound loco. If I remember correctly your layout is not very large so long runs is not the issue. Have you done any recent wiring? Remove that completely and see how things go, then add it back in later. Shoot it may be as simple as a frog polarity change that could be feeding back into the main track bus. Do you have any reversers or auto frog polarity changers like the frog juicer. This could also add to the problem. What size wire are you using for track bus and track feeders? I'll look back in the thread to see if you already posted that info.
Also, if you have everything running OK try throwing turnouts to see if there are any change in running characteristics. This would be simply a frog that is not isolated completely.
Thanks guys. John I will try the turnouts. For now it all works. Thanks to NCE for putting up with me and I will be mailing back their stuff tomorrow. Jim
