Hey guys, Does anyone have any pictures of what their solder points of the feeder lines at the track look like? I think I did a few pretty good but a few of the others probably show way to much wire and it looks like it may be hard to camofluage. Should I be taking the wire down through the roadbed or beside the roadbed?
See Photos 3 and 4 for an example. http://www.pennscalers.org/Modules4.htm Drill a small hole right next to the rail for the feeder. Once painted, the feeder connections are practically invisible.
Thanks DStuard....those are just the pics I was looking for. I definitely need to redo a few of my first solder joints, they look nothing like yours, but I had pretty much moved to this in my latter soldering points....Thanks
Jeff: This is a photo of half my switching yard, All the Kato Unitrack has been completely weathered and ballasted. Each section of Unitrack has feeders soldered to each rail. You can see the feeders soldered to the rails where the track hasn't been completely ballasted. Have fun... Stay cool and run steam....
In your excellent web document you stated "[FONT="]Note that I put tape over the joints of the joiner tracks, and also over the points of any turnouts (since I use Peco turnouts which are power routing via the points, getting paint in there can be problematic). Touchup to these areas can be done later with a brush, if need be" Since you only taped the joints, how did you remove the paint from the top of the rails. Owen Kane [/FONT]
First, let me give credit where it is due. The photos linked are from the Pennscalers group, not my club or layout. They would be the ones best to describe their exact procedures, but soldering feeders to rails is a pretty generic process. As to cleaning paint from the rails, I just use a metal edge (screwdriver blade or equivalent) to scrape it off, followed by a final cleaning with a bright-boy.
Well, I've got most of my feeder wires dropped and connected to my buss lines. Still hooked up to the MRC 2000 DC Power though. I have the PowerHouse Pro but I'm afraid to hook it up, should I wait to plug it in after I get the reverse module in place? Will it hurt the system if it shorts out? I bought the PSRev...still quite intimidated by all of this electrical mumbo jumbo.....If DCC is easy, then I can't imagine what full blown DC was like...
Need assist on wiring my reverse loop Guys, I've tried researching and reading all I can on this, still am not sure enough of myself to give it a try. The red lines I have marked are where I indicate that from what I've read this is where I think I should create my gaps....is that correct? Also, is there a certain place that I should connect the wires from the track to the reverse module too? I'm sure there is but I'm unsure of where that is....
Jeff If I am not mistaking the reverse loop is as shown in the attached diagram.Between the two black bars. The wiring would be as indicated in the reverser doccumentation. I use digitrax do not sure about Tonys stuff.
But if this is my whole reversing section, then with the argument that my reversing section should be longer than my longest train, I won't be able to have but 8 or 9 cars on a train......is that correct?
I believe that is the longest train you will be able to run through the reversing loop without shorting problems. You can run longer trains on your pike, just keep them out of the reversing loop. Remember how we all told you that DCC wiring was easy? Grin intended. Wait until you try to do block detection with DCC. This was an interesting thread to read. I tend to take so many things for granted. Joe Daddy
Hey Joe, So you agree with OKane that my reversing section is that which is basically within my two mainlines? If that's correct then I should place gaps in the track in this area (blue marks on the image) and the reversing module somewhere in the area of the red mark? You're right, your'e takin way to much for granted....I just don't get this wiring stuff....confuses the time out of me and with the cost of everything I'm scared to death of messing something up....
Jeff, I think you have it figured out! And chill out on the worrying! That is why you went DCC, because they have that wonderful short circuit protection. It is likely nothing will burn, but you will loose a few more strands of hair while you scratch your head, or your ... to figure out what you did wrong. This is fun, yesterday, you did not know what rosin core solder was, today you do. See how smart you are gettin! :shade: Best, Joe
Jeff I thought that was right. As far as the longest trains are concerned, it is my understanding that if you have trains with cars that have all metal wheels or passenger cars that are lighted then you need to be concerned. One of my planned reverse loops is about 5 feet. I am not expecting any issues I hope, but I will try and set a small loop up to see what happens.
1 more question Alright, I'm gonna give this a shot, but I have one more question. If I make my gaps where indicated with the blue marks (see image) won't I have then increased the length of my reverse loop and allowed myself room for a longer train to go through the loop? Shouldn't I do this so as not to limit myself? Or is there a reason why I don't want to do this? As I look at the picture I see why this might not work. It looks like if I'm coming from a clockwise direction I would hit the reverse section long before I passed onto the turnout....is that the problem? Is my reverse loop solely between the turnouts?
I just wanted to mention that looking at your layout drawing, you only have a one way reverse loop there. as in, you can reverse once (from one direction), but not reverse back (train coming from the other direction). will that be a problem?
Er, No, thanks! Jeff, It does not have to be only between the turnouts, but there are some rules you must follow, The reversed section of track must be completely isolated/insulated from all other tracks where trains will be independently operating. Other trains must not come across the gaps while the reverser is operating. Other sections of track that become entangled into the reversed section like the switch leg portion of your mainline on the bottom, will run a fowl of your reverser when a long train enters from the the bottom left heading to the right. If you use plastic wheels on all you rolling stock, you can ignore this. (very difficult, read expensive, to have either all metal or all plastic wheels on the railroad. Conclusion, IMHO, you are asking for WEIRDness, something I never do intentionally. Keep the gaps inside the two turnouts.. Joe (just my opine)
Joe Thanks for the explanation I knew there had to be a good reason not to do what Jeff was suggesting.
I've got the reverse loop wired, the Powerhouse booster and PS wired, I'm not showing any errors according to the booster status. The problem now is that I don't actually have a DCC engine. I've got an Atlas U23b and thought I'd just throw a decoder in it, unfortunatley I don't have the correct decoder and Powerhouse won't run my DC engine. Thanks Joe Daddy, OKane & others. I really appreciate your help, I've wired things up as you suggested and it seems to have worked. I didn't doubt you guys at all....really, just my ability to screw things up. I'll post back as soon as I have trains running. I've got a few "loose wires" I can work on while I'm waiting on the new decoder.
