DCC Turnout #5 Problem

[keesu]

Dave,

Thanks for the encouragement; perhaps it'll be enough to keep me going a little longer.  The Walthers car I referenced doesn't have lights and is not designed for a lighting kit, unlike most of the other cars in the El Capitan set.  I'll try rotating the truck and see what happens.  As always, I appreciate your input.

Keith

[Jerrys HO]

Keith.
I agree don't give up sometimes the frustration overcomes you , but when it's all figured out there is a certain feeling of accomplishment that somehow makes you forget why you got so frustrated in the first place. Patience does pay off in the end and you will soon learn why this is the Greatest Hobby in the World.
By the way I have been through the Bachmann turnout's inside and out and out of now 17 of them only 2 still need a little attention.

Jerry

[Doneldon]

Keith-

I understand how disappointing it is in the early stages of model railroading. You want nothing more than to run a few trains around in a circle and it just doesn't seem to ever get there. Be patient, however. It will get there. You will get there. Like any endeavor, there are a million things which can go haywire to baffle and frustrate a newbie. But it doesn't take long to get beyond those issues so you can experience the REALLY BIG frustrations. No. Just kidding. After a few false starts you'll find that your trains are running better and better. Will there be a time when everything goes perfectly? Probably not. But most things will work just fine and soon you'll be enjoying your trains most of the time with only the occasional glitch.

One thing which will make an immediate improvement is getting your trains off of the floor. While I envy the youth which you must have if you are able to do model railroading on the floor, I'm aware that floor railroads have lots more gremlins than do the ones on a table or on a shelf attached to a wall. The dirt and fibers on even a clean floor will quickly infest your equipment and cause trouble. That's even true for EZ Track, which is about the best thing for a floor layout. Toss in the sore knees, the achy back and the embarrassment of needing help to get up for the hundredth time today and you'll see why I offer this suggestion.

Dave is probably right about the trucks on your Cap transition car. Even though the car doesn't carry lights, it's cheaper for the manufacturer to use the same undercarriage and trucks for all of the cars than different ones for each, especially since very few people, even very few MRs, would know or notice the difference.

Passenger cars commonly have one truck rigged for electrical pick-up from one rail and the other truck rigged for the other rail. If one of the trucks gets turned 180^o, it becomes a dead short from one rail to the other. That would explain the click you heard when the power went off; it was the circuit breaker in your power supply.

Hang in there. You won't be sorry you did.

                                                                    -- D

[Jhanecker2]

 keesu :  Follow the advice Doneldon & Jerry gave you . The Universe is not  perfect or was ever designed to be perfect . Every endeavor  has a learning curve and if you stick with it you will eventually learn how to overcome  adversity. Failure  can teach you  as much or more than success. Instant gratification  is seriously overrated and nothing worth doing ever comes easy . J2.

[jbrock27]

So much for the "easy" of EZ track...

[Jerrys HO]

So much for the "easy" of EZ track...

Sounds like his last problem was with another brands rolling stock.

[jbrock27]

Perhaps, perhaps not.  It would be helpful if keesu got back to us to let us know.  Unlike what I would call 85% of the posters that come here, who never do.  So we therefore have no idea if any advice given was worth its 2 cents or not.

[keesu]

Hi, All

OK, i've decided not to give up after all given the encouragement you've all provided.  Doneldon, I do plan to get my track off the floor in the near future as you suggested; I only set it up that way because I wanted a temporary layout as I learned the basics.  And I'm not as young as you might think, my naivete about the subject belying my actual age. 

As for the problem with the El Capitan car, I decided to remove the trucks and place them on the track separately and then together and found no problem, so I figured it had to be something in or on the body.  I noticed little metal contact points under the trucks that I assumed transmit power to the car.  I placed little pieces of Scotch tape over them, and the problem was solved!  I should probably open the car to find the real offender, but I'm afraid I won't be able to reassemble it properly as has been the case when I tried to install lighting kits.

Thanks again for all your advice.

[Jerrys HO]

keesu

That's what Doneldon was talking about. those metal contact point are where you would attach the leads for adding the lights. One of the trucks must have spun around.
You can get it back together correctly it just takes a little patience.

Jerry

[jbrock27]

k good to hear from you further.  Keep up the persistence in your problem solving and as previously stated by Jerry & Doc you should be rewarded with success.  They among many others here, have a great working knowledge of EZ track, EZ track switches (turnouts) and DCC.

[Jerrys HO]

And we have knowledge of rolling stock!

[jbrock27]

Yes indeed, the Bachmann Silver Series, being among them

[Bob_B]

Hi, All

OK, i've decided not to give up after all given the encouragement you've all provided. .......

I feel your pain keesu.
I have a rather large DC Z scale Marklin layout with about 25 turnouts and it all works flawlessly. As I age and my eyes strain looking at 220:1 I recently bought a considerable amount of Bachmann HO EZ Track for DCC operation.
So far I have four turnouts and two crossovers and for the most part it all runs great, even on the floor. However for some reason one of my 4-6-4 locos derails on the left crossover but not the right. It can be frustrating but I'm expanding my layout to the point where I can avoid that crossover with that loco and move on.
I have a dual oval, soon to be triple oval layout with sidings in the centre running 3 diesels and one steam. A mix of Bachmann and BLI.

If I get frustrated I just have a break and come back to it later rather than bin everything altogether ;-)

[Doneldon]

Keith-

The trucks themselves aren't the problem. It's the fact that they have to be properly oriented right and left or they will be connected by the car's chassis and cause a short. That's why the trucks can be perfect by themselves but short out when they're installed on the car the wrong way. There's another unusual short which may help to illustrate this.

Metal-body or metal-undercarriage freight cars which run just fine can short out if they are connected to other metal cars which have their trucks installed so that they are on the opposite rail from the first car. How can that happen? It happens when both cars have metal couplers which have continuity with the cars' frames. One car has its non-insulated wheels on the north rail and the other has its non-insulated wheels on the south rail. Electricity travels from the north rail, through the truck and into the metal car to the metal coupler which is hooked to the metal coupler on the second car which is connected to the second car's frame which is connected through the truck to the non-insulated wheels on the south rail and bzzzt. Breakers trip, the trains stop and it's very hard to find the problem because each car alone, like each of your trucks alone, has no problem. They can couple with other cars uneventfully as long as those other cars have the "same polarity." Heck, you can even short out when there are intermediate cars which have electrical continuity from a metal coupler on one end, through a metal chassis or floor, to the coupler on the other end. This is why most rolling stock today electrically isolates trucks, metal frame parts and metal couplers.

                                                                                                                                                 -- D