After getting the power problems of October 17 solved, I was looking forward to a problem free operating session yesterday. However… a problem free session was not to be! We did have full power for the entire session and we actually did very well in getting trains running and completed. There were problems however with a few throttles and getting turnouts to throw consistently. Additionally, signals were pretty much non operational. There was also some issues with the ability of the dispatcher, but that a topic for another time.
I was able to do some trouble shooting yesterday evening and I was able to recreate the problems we were having. I have six UT-1 Digitrax throttles. When four are plugged into the loconet there are no issues. Once I plug in a fifth throttle, one of the throttles goes flaky and the signals fail to operate. Just one of the throttles goes flaky, the other continue to work fine. Anyway, the Digitrax UP-5 Loconet Panels have provisions for a separate power supply. I connected a 12 volt power supply to one of the panels that two of the throttles were plugged into and the problems went away. Plugging a power supply into one of the panels only helps that panel. In order to get the additional power to the other panels I need to run a 22 AWG wire from panel to panel. So, that’s what I’ll being doing between now and our next operating session.
The Gravel Pit
8 years ago
Hi Darryl,
ReplyDeleteYes, this sounds like the problems we had when getting low voltage on the throttle bus.
We use the following solution for the throttle bus in Fremo setups:
http://home.comcast.net/~abrams_railroad/independent_power.html
But this requires a separate throttle bus to the real Loconet bus connecting boosters and other Loconet devices (usually only a computer interface at Fremo meetings, but could be eg a signal controller).
Your solution is the Digitrax recommended solution for home layouts.
Regards,
Colin
I hooked up track power to the rail A & B terminals of the UP5 panels and that also seems to fix the problem. I will still be adding the separate power supply.
ReplyDeleteDaryl
Yeah, I'd do both:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.digitrax.com/prd_up5.php
indicates that the throttles may loose power if the local track power is off. For example, you have a short and the circuit breaker kicks in for that section. Then you may not be able to control a loco running elsewhere... :-)
Cheers,
Colin