Smail question
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Bill Wilken
My railroad is divided into four power districts. Track voltage is identical in all four districts. Regardless of power district all locos respond properly to commands in each power district. If I connect a Circuitron Smail to the track, then test #1 and #8 pins for voltage, the voltage at the pins is identical in all four power districts. The Smail, moreover, responds properly to DCC commands in three power districts, but it will not respond in the fourth. Does anyone have any idea what is going on?
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wirefordcc
Hi Bill,
Can you take that 4th SMAIL and test it by itself on your bench or attach it to track that another SMAIL is attached and see if it works? I'm wondering if you don't have the address in it that you think you do. Allan Gartner Wiring for DCC
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2 questions: 1) How big is your layout? Perhaps post a drawing in your
reply, to show location of the Command Station and routing of the
Track Bus in each power district. Highlight 4th district.
Include you name and message subject ("Smail question") in the
drawing. If the Groups.io server strips the drawing from your
message and puts it in the "Photos" folder it will be easier to
find. 2) How long is the Track Bus (Command Station to far end) in the
4th district? The above will help us directly help and spend less time on '20
Questions'. Dave McBrayer --------------------
On 02/07/2021 12:31 PM, Bill Wilken
wrote:
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Dave McBrayer Castro Valley, CA
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JoAnn Donaldson
My Layout is based on the NMR Magazine Red Oak Line. I subdivided it into 4 power groups using an PM42. Each group is isolated using insulated plastic rail joiners. My lay has two hidden tracks and two working tracks. This way if someone is assembling cars on the hidden track and accidentally shorts the tracks, it doesn't interfere with the running tracks. All four tracks show the same voltage level. I have attached a drawing showing my layout. The Red marks are the insulated plastic rail joiners. I also including a picture of my Digitrax Control Setup. You can see the Wire Bundle come off the PM42 in the middle with two going to the front and two to the back of the layout.
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Bill Wilken
Dave, Thanks for your response. I hate to admit it, but after looking very closely at my wiring, I discovered that I had inadvertantly grabbed the wrong gauge wiring from my wiring bin when installing the main bus for the power district that was having the problem cited. As you know, thin braded 12 gauge wire superficially bears close resemblance to non-thin braded 14 gauge wire. While the 14 gauge wire that I had used is just too "skinny" to carry the DCC command signal to the Snail. BIll
On Sun, 2021-02-07 at 13:50 -0800, David McBrayer via groups.io wrote:
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JoAnn Donaldson
Dave McBrayer, I hope you got my response to your request. I know the track layout is crude but it does represent my layout with the four Power districts. JoAnn Donaldson
On Monday, February 8, 2021, 5:54:21 PM CST, Bill Wilken <bill.wilken@...> wrote:
Dave, Thanks for your response. I hate to admit it, but after looking very closely at my wiring, I discovered that I had inadvertantly grabbed the wrong gauge wiring from my wiring bin when installing the main bus for the power district that was having the problem cited. As you know, thin braded 12 gauge wire superficially bears close resemblance to non-thin braded 14 gauge wire. While the 14 gauge wire that I had used is just too "skinny" to carry the DCC command signal to the Snail. BIll On Sun, 2021-02-07 at 13:50 -0800, David McBrayer via groups.io wrote:
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JoAnn, I have not seen your drawing; not embedded in a message, nor in the 'Photos' folder for this group. --Dave McBrayer
On 02/09/2021 8:45 AM, JoAnn Donaldson
via groups.io wrote:
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Dave McBrayer Castro Valley, CA
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Bill, I'm not clear on what you mean by 'thin braded' and 'non-thin
braded' wire. The terms are not familiar to me. I am familiar
with the terms 'stranded' and 'solid' as descriptions for the
nature of the conductor in an insulated wire. However, unless you
have a 'large' layout 14 gauge (AWG) wire is usually okay. Castro Valley, CA USA ---------
On 02/08/2021 3:54 PM, Bill Wilken
wrote:
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Dave McBrayer Castro Valley, CA
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Bill Wilken
Stranded it is.
On Tue, 2021-02-09 at 09:41 -0800, David McBrayer wrote:
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JoAnn Donaldson
I will repost it. Thanks JoAnn Donaldson
On Tuesday, February 9, 2021, 11:16:11 AM CST, David McBrayer <d_mcbrayer@...> wrote:
JoAnn, I have not seen your drawing; not embedded in a message, nor in the 'Photos' folder for this group. --Dave McBrayer On 02/09/2021 8:45 AM, JoAnn Donaldson
via groups.io wrote:
Dave McBrayer,
I hope you got my
response to your request. I know the track layout is crude
but it does represent my layout with the four Power
districts.
JoAnn Donaldson
On Monday, February 8, 2021, 5:54:21 PM CST, Bill Wilken
<bill.wilken@...> wrote:
Dave,
Thanks for your response. I hate to admit it, but
after looking very closely at my wiring, I discovered
that I had inadvertantly grabbed the wrong gauge
wiring from my wiring bin when installing the main bus
for the power district that was having the problem
cited. As you know, thin braded 12 gauge wire
superficially bears close resemblance to non-thin
braded 14 gauge wire. While the 14 gauge wire that I
had used is just too "skinny" to carry the DCC command
signal to the Snail.
BIll
On Sun, 2021-02-07 at 13:50 -0800, David McBrayer
via groups.io wrote:
-- Dave McBrayer Castro Valley, CA
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JoAnn Donaldson
I am building my version of the NMR Magazine Red Oak Line. I am using a PM42 to split the layout into four Power Sections. The Red dashes show where I have plastic Rail Joiners to separate the four districts. JoAnn Donaldson Dallas, TX
On Tuesday, February 9, 2021, 6:07:06 PM CST, JoAnn Donaldson via groups.io <joannplano2005@...> wrote:
I will repost it. Thanks JoAnn Donaldson
On Tuesday, February 9, 2021, 11:16:11 AM CST, David McBrayer <d_mcbrayer@...> wrote:
JoAnn, I have not seen your drawing; not embedded in a message, nor in the 'Photos' folder for this group. --Dave McBrayer On 02/09/2021 8:45 AM, JoAnn Donaldson
via groups.io wrote:
Dave McBrayer,
I hope you got my
response to your request. I know the track layout is crude
but it does represent my layout with the four Power
districts.
JoAnn Donaldson
On Monday, February 8, 2021, 5:54:21 PM CST, Bill Wilken
<bill.wilken@...> wrote:
Dave,
Thanks for your response. I hate to admit it, but
after looking very closely at my wiring, I discovered
that I had inadvertantly grabbed the wrong gauge
wiring from my wiring bin when installing the main bus
for the power district that was having the problem
cited. As you know, thin braded 12 gauge wire
superficially bears close resemblance to non-thin
braded 14 gauge wire. While the 14 gauge wire that I
had used is just too "skinny" to carry the DCC command
signal to the Snail.
BIll
On Sun, 2021-02-07 at 13:50 -0800, David McBrayer
via groups.io wrote:
-- Dave McBrayer Castro Valley, CA
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Joann,
If you are running sound locos in HO or larger - be prepared for the PM42 to not 'recover' from a short when you have more than one loco or a lighted passenger train on the layout. The PM42 was designed way back before sound decoders were first available - and it has not been updated since! - Jim
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JoAnn Donaldson
I am not running sound locos. My layout is N Scale and all of my locos only have basic DCC in them. So far they run great. I have accidentally shorted one of the hidden tracks while my son was running a freight on the front side. The track that shorted was Power Segment #1 and he was running on Power Segment #2. I have used this DCC Power Pack and PM42 on three different N Scale layouts with NO problems. JoAnn Donaldson
On Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 11:04:54 AM CST, Jim Betz <jimbetz@...> wrote:
Joann, If you are running sound locos in HO or larger - be prepared for the PM42 to not 'recover' from a short when you have more than one loco or a lighted passenger train on the layout. The PM42 was designed way back before sound decoders were first available - and it has not been updated since! - Jim
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JoAnn Donaldson
I have uploaded two pictures under the Album "My Red Oak Line". One picture is my crude drawing of my N Scale Layout. The Red dashes are the where the insulated rail joiners are to create four Power Districts. The second photo is my Command Station setup and buss wiring. JoAnn Donaldson
On Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 3:32:27 PM CST, JoAnn Donaldson via groups.io <joannplano2005@...> wrote:
I am not running sound locos. My layout is N Scale and all of my locos only have basic DCC in them. So far they run great. I have accidentally shorted one of the hidden tracks while my son was running a freight on the front side. The track that shorted was Power Segment #1 and he was running on Power Segment #2. I have used this DCC Power Pack and PM42 on three different N Scale layouts with NO problems. JoAnn Donaldson
On Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 11:04:54 AM CST, Jim Betz <jimbetz@...> wrote:
Joann, If you are running sound locos in HO or larger - be prepared for the PM42 to not 'recover' from a short when you have more than one loco or a lighted passenger train on the layout. The PM42 was designed way back before sound decoders were first available - and it has not been updated since! - Jim
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