Alright, first post hope this fits this section. I jumped back into modeling and started the 3rd layout in this house and I hope the last.Once I settled on a track plan I started laying track. ( Without thought!) It is (HO) (DCC) Now I already know turnouts are selective or fixed but I failed to think this before laying track.I have lots of older NIB items from years back I am using. I currently have a point to point section down 11 feet long with both fixed and selective mixed both directions, with runarounds and one cross over,don't know which ones are fixed or selective now that they are down. I did a quick check and found they short when thrown in a certian series. Question are should I pull the whole mess up and start over? Just go around and cut gaps till it gets fixed? Pull out the switches I think are the ones that are causing the problems? There are 9 switches down 4 are a stub end yard the others are involved in a passing and siding and cross over. steve:tb-err:
Some turnouts are not "DCC friendly". You might be able to add some gaps, without tearing it all out. I'm not expert enough on DCC to walk you through, so perhaps someone else might be better help. Boxcab E50
You likely are running into the case where power routing (selective?) turnouts connected back-to-back (as in a crossover or opposite ends of a passing siding) cause a short when they are not thrown toward each other. This is because the non-selected route turns off power by connecting both rails to the same potential, while the other turnout expects to feed power to the now-shorted trackage (This causes no problem for stub sidings, however). A quick fix (and my personal rule of thumb) is to double-gap all turnouts past the frog (both routes) and provide separate feeders to the trackage beyond.
Dstuard, I like your idea. I think the problem is at the crossover.If I use the same rule of thumb you use are there any exceptions to this? What I am asking is even if I do this will something else cause problems down the road during track laying. steve
I do the same as Doug. Insulate everything and solder feeders to each isolated track section. For your fix, cut gaps until the short is cleared. Then add feeders to any dead rail sections. No need to pull it all up and start over. Martin Myers
Doug, Let me make sure i don't make me any extra work. Double gap both routes two cuts or four cuts? steve
both rails of each route = 4 cuts. Feed all turnouts from the points end and feed trackage beyond the cuts separately.
