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Dale's Depot

Model Railway: Wiring of Layout (3/3)
(DCC)

April 2, 2009

I ordered 5 Tsunami decoders for 5 of my locomotives from The Dispatcher in Calgary. I also arranged for their installation by Dave Bedard when they arrive. Here is a table describing the planned implementation.

Road Number
Model
Decoder
CN 1720 GP7 Tsunami AT1000 sound (EMD 567)
CN 7847 Alco RS-3 Tsunami AT1000 sound (ALCO 244)
CN 9408 Alco FA-2 Tsunami AT1000 sound (ALCO 251 V12)
CN 6707 Alco FA-2 Tsunami AT1000 sound (ALCO 251 V12)
CN 8414 USRA 0-8-0 Tsunami AT1000 sound (Light Steam)

May 12, 2009

I received an email this morning indicating that the 4 decoders for my locomotives have arrived. Fantastic! Now I need to make arrangements to take my 5 locomotives (plus the one decoder that I obtained at the SuperTrain show) into Calgary to have them installed.

The diesel locomotives will all be "matched" for speed so they can be lashed together in various combinations.

The next step is to set up a time for meeting with the person who will be installing them. He also lives in Calgary and works with the individual who ordered the decoders. The person ordering the decoders is known as The Dispatcher and the person installing them now calls himself The Installer. They obviously are having a little fun. I like it. I have the clear impression that both individuals are extremely competent in their respective roles. ...

I now have the process worked out for how I will pay for this. The next step is to set up a time for delivering the locomotives to The Installer. ...

I am just off the phone with The Installer. I will take the locomotives into Calgary on Thursday. Everything is unfolding smoothly.

May 14, 2009

I visited The Installer who will be installing decoders in the 5 locomotives that I dropped off at his house. Everything seems in order and I should be able to pick them up the first week in June.

June 4, 2009

I am now back from a trip to Calgary to pick up 4 of my 5 locomotives that have had tsunami 2000 DCC decoders installed. The 5th remained behind in Calgary as the decoder chip "fried" when it was tested. I have run the 0-8-0 steam locomotive on a piece of test track - the sound is incredible. Steam locomotives are much noisier than diesel. But I now need to put all of my locomotives on hold while I fix up my layout.

July 9, 2009

While passing through Calgary on our way to Edmonton I stopped off and picked up my diesel locomotive 6707, an Alco FA-2 Diesel. This completes the insertion of decoders into my locomotives.

August 18, 2009

This was an interesting afternoon. I was having problems running my steam locomotive along a section of track in the Coaldale Yard.

Troubleshooting was an adventure.

I first thought it might be the locomotive since my diesel locomotive ran fine on that section of track. I cleaned all of the wheels and contact points. That seemed to help a little but it still stalled out on one switch.

I then thought there might be a problem with the switch so I switched the switch with another in a rarely used section of the layout. But I still had the problem.

I then began to key on the actual track. By placing a postcard under various sections of track I was able to finally solve the problem. Apparently the track needs to be very level in order for the wheel contacts to remain solid.

I spent about 4 hours on this, and ran the loco over the problem area at least a hundred times as I watched to see what was happening.

I now feel quite confident in the locomotive and will assume that any future problems will have something to do with the track.

In the process, I learned how to control the sound levels with the locomotives that have the Tsanami decoders. This can be done with the hand controller and some special cv's (control variables). Neat. It is now obvious that I need to remember which locomotives have which decoders as some of the commands are unique to the particular decoder. I continue to learn.

August 19, 2009

I finally got around to cleaning ALL of the track in the Coaldale Yard. I then began running diesel switcher CN 7984, an S4 switcher on the track to see if there were any problems.

S4
Photo from database

Here are 3 photos that I took while running CN 7985 in the Coaldale Yard:

s4

locos

locos

The short answer is yes, there was a problem. But not the kind I was expecting. The unit traversed a number of tracks without any problems but then it suddenly simply stopped and shut down. That caught me off guard. Why?

It took me a few minutes to realize that when I finalized the track layout in the Yard a few months ago I made a couple of "minor" changes as I realized that the tracks were too close together. One of these changes involved setting up an end-around capability so a locomotive could come into a section of the Yard nose first, drop off the cars, and then switch over to an adjoining track and reverse out of the section. Great idea.

But, I now realize, this also created a reversing loop situation. As a result the locomotive totally shorted out as soon as it entered this part of the layout.

However there is also good news. I had an extra "reversing loop module" (a small electronic component that could sense a possible short and change the polarity of the section in a fraction of a second) as a result of changing my layout in a different part of the layout. I doubted that I would ever use this module - now I need it. I will install this during my next session.

August 27, 2009

I bought 2 terminal pieces of track yesterday so I can wire the reversing loop module.

I installed the reversing loop module and began running a locomotive to test the track in the Coaldale Yard. There appear to be three types of problem. One involves some stalling of the locomotive in the area where most of the switches are located. I replaced all of the joiner strips in this area of the layout and that seemed to help, but there are still some problems here.

The second involves the operation of the locomotive as it enters the reversing loop. I am not sure of this at the moment. It may be part of the first problem, then again, there may by a problem with the logic of the reversing loop.

And the third involves the connection of the DCC controller to my power bar. It is difficult to get a firm connection. I am not sure what is causing this at the moment.

November 14, 2009

I am back from a quick trip to Calgary and the Trains and Such model train store.

Yesterday when I tried to power up my layout I was unable to get any power out of the transformer. I was unable to determine if the problem was with the cables or with one of the two power modules. I took everything in with me and it only took a couple of minutes to determine that cable that connects to the power outlet was no longer passing any current. The fellow at the shop simply replaced the cable and said he would send the defective cable back. No charge to me. Fantastic!

November 16, 2009

I encountered a problem yesterday evening while trying to run a couple of my locomotives. In one case I was unable to "wake it up" so it would respond to my commands. In the other case the locomotive "had a mind of its own" and wanted to run at a particular speed and direction without responding to my commands for change.

Clearly, I need to have a better understanding of how to communicate with the decoder in the locomotives. This is a technical issue, not one of actually knowing what I want the locomotive to do next, but one of knowing how to tell it what I want it to do next.

The issue is complicted somewhat by realizing that I have two different types of mobile decoders in my locomotives: Quantum and Tsunami. I need to keep a record of which decoders are in which locomotives:

Date Installed
Number
Prototype
Decoder
Sound
12.27.2007
CN 6700
C-Liner
Quantum QSI
version 7
12.02.2009
CN 1706
GP-7
LokSound
V3.5
12.02.2008
CN 7985
SW4
LokSound
V3.5
06.04.2009
CN 7847
Alco RS-3
TSU-AT1000
ALCO 244
06.04.2009
CN 1720
GP-7
TSU-AT1000
EMD 567
06.04.2009
CN 9408
Alco FA-2
TSU-AT1000
ALCO 251 v12
06.04.2009
CN 8414
0-8-0 Steam
TSU-AT1000
Light Steam
07.09.2009
CN 6707
Alco FA-2
TSU-AT1000
ALCO 251 v12

Everything appears to be working fine at the moment. I have added a power cord to the main connection to the house outlet so now one simple toggle switch can turn the entire layout on and off. Every little bit helps.

November 17, 2009

I have been working on the layout for about 4 hours today. The major task was to clean all of the track on the outer mainline loop as well as the complete Coaldale classification Yard. This should eliminate one explanation for locomotive stalls, particularly over switches.

I definitely had a short circuit in the track wiring within the Coaldale Yard. I took a close look at it and realized that I did not have a reversing loop situation and I removed the DCC reversing loop module from the circuit and now everything is working fine.

I had to refresh my memory on the ID# for some of the mainline switches that are under DCC control. Basically switches 8, 9, 14 and 15 are the critical ones, with #8 set to open and the other three to closed for mainline run through. The switch control panels for both the Coadale and Jasper Yards are working perfectly. The remaining switches are manual throws and this is working well.

I am still having some minor problems with starting up some of the locomotives under DCC control. I think this has more to do with how I shut down the system from the previous run than with what I am doing when I begin a session.

I am also having a couple of minor problems with locomotive stalls over a couple of the switches in the Coaldale Yard but overall it is really working smoothly. I finally have the feeling that I have an operational layout and can begin focusing on the actual running of locomotives and trains.

However the next major task is to complete cleaning all of the remaining track on the layout.

Then there is a sequence of test runs to verify that the rolling stock all runs without problems over all sections of the layout. The first step is to simply run the locomotives. Then once that all seems in working order I will try running a consist of 4 cars, then 6, and finally 8. I am expecting a few of the cars to give me problems but I should be able to fix them so they work. This all takes more time than I expect, but it is very enjoyable and engrossing.

December 1, 2009

I am confused, again.

I thought I noticed a problem during the last session with the reversing loop around the Jasper Yard. Diesel locomotive CN7847, an Alco RS-3 unit, was shorting out while travelling out of the reversing loop behind the Jasper Yard. Yet all other movements in and out of the loop seemed to work fine.

This morning I decided to test the loop with another locomotive, CN1720, a GP7 unit. Everything worked fine. It moved in and out of the loop in both directions. I then replaced the unit with CN7847 and it shorted out again at the same location as before. However after that short I was unable to get my remote handheld cab to communicate with anything - either locomotives or switches. Now to go downstairs and try again.

December 4, 2009

I have had brief forays downstairs over the last two days but never for very long. There is clearly a problem with the reversing loop wiring but I haven't had a chance to have a close look at it until this morning.

So far I have been able to verify that diesel locomotive 1720 (a GP7) runs perfectly on the mainlines.

I then ran it onto the reversing loop around the Jasper Yard. It entered the loop without difficulty but when it tried to leave the loop is shorted out. I tried reversing the polarity of the power into the loop but that shorted out the entire system. I then tried removing the source of power totally from the loop. Done. I then put a locomotive on the track and it powered up! At the moment I have no idea where the source of electricity is coming from.

One possibility is that the reversing loop module actually provides power to the loop. That will be easy to test. I only need remove the connection of the two yellow wires to the loop and see what happens. ... Yes it does. I have then removed the other source of power from inside the loop and added it to the mainline circuits. ...

Genuine progress. It was clear that I also had a second problem - the handheld cab was not communicating with anything. I finally (desparate measures) looked at the manual and it said that might be caused by a Universal Consist controlling the decoders. This is solved by clearing the old consist by pressing CONSIST until "Cons oLd cLr" flashes in the display and then press ENTER. Done. That solved that problem. I think I accidently hit the CONSIST button at some time while running the locomotives and that set up this Universal Consist status. I lost over an hour trying to figure out why the cab wasn't communication but the good news is that I now know what to do if (when?) it happens again.

I am making further progress with the reversing loops. The one near Lone Pine and Prairie Dog now seems to be working. But there is still a problem with the reversing loop around the Jasper Yard. At the moment I cannot see what the difference is between the wiring for the two loops. I am beginning to think that the reversing DCC module is not working. Time for a break. Then I may try replacing it (I have an extra) and see if that makes a difference. ...

Success. There was one difference in the wiring between the two reversing loops. I changed the location of the plastic insulator joiners so the two loops were the same and now both loops appear to be working. There is still some final nailing of the track but I think I have solved the logic problem. If I am right, the entire layout is now working. ...

I have finished cleaning up the layout. All of the track has been nailed down and all of the electrical connections have been made. I will run a final set of tests tomorrow.

December 8, 2009

One of the features of this website is that it documents many of the little "difficulties" of maintaining an operational model train layout.

While running my consist of 7 tank cars I encountered a short while entering the reversing loop behind the Jasper Yard. That caught me totally by surprise as I was sure I had run a locomotive over this very section of track and verified that it worked fine. Anyway, I had a close look at the track and the connecting links in this area and noticed that I had two insulating connectors that were no longer needed. I couldn't see that they were doing any harm but I removed them.

In the process of doing this I then noticed that I had a slight kink in the track where I had placed a small section of curved track instead of a straight section. Fixing this then involved moving much of the track, including two switches, to a slightly new position. Unfortunately the two switches will now have to be rewired as the wires to them are too short to reach the new positions. I will also have to drill new holes through the table top for the wires to connect to the switches.

I still am not totally sure why the reversing loop is now working (or why it was not working before) but it is now working again so I will let sleeping dogs lie. I am pleased with the new track arrangement in the Jasper Yard - it simply looks a little cleaner.

Now to get the wiring fixed. ...

Done. The track in the Jasper Yard is nailed down and the wiring replaced and soldered to the control panel. Everything seems to be working but I have yet to give it the litmus test by running a train over all of the track in that area. I will try this later this afternoon.

December 11, 2009

During my last session I began to sense that there was a problem with my reversing loops. Under almost all conditions they seemed to work fine, but then on two occasions there was a definate short as the locomotive moved from one of the reversing loops to the mainline.

I spent some time this morning carefully examing the two loops and finally came to the conclusion that the problem had something to do with the track layout near the Jasper Yard. I have moved the location of the insulating connectors to the other side of a switch that connects the reversing loop to the mainline track. Now to test this out.

Overall, I am still pleased with the operation of the consists that I have run on the layout. Delighted would be a better word. Both locomotives and cars are running smoothly over the almost the entire layout with only a few sidings and spurs still to be tested. Similarly, almost all of the 50's era cars have been tested and are running smoothly. Even during this testing I am beginning to feel that I am running the trains in a realistic manner, backing the locomotive into various sidings and picking up cars and inserting them into the existing consist. I am also getting better at using the handheld cab. I discovered the "recall" button which is an easier way of getting control over a particular locomotive than by retyping in the number of the locomotive, and I am getting better at moving between controlling a locomotive and controlling various switches using the cab control. ...

Moving the insulating connectors did not solve the problem. However I now understand the problem and the solution is to remove a small section of connecting track. I have resisted this as long as possible as I liked the variety that this connecting track provided, but it definitely was interfering with the electrical logic of the reversing loop. I have tested this and the reversing loop now works perfectly.

Permanently removing the track and adjusting the track in the Jasper Yard will take a little more work as three switches will also be either moved or removed. But the logic of the problem is now under control. I am feeling good about this. ...

Another disappointing surprise. I have relayed the track in the Jasper Yard (not all nailed down yet) and then decided to test both of the reversing loops. After running a locomotive forward and back over all possible combinations I thought I had it working fine until the very last combination, which shorted out. I am really going to have to think about this.

December 12, 2009

I am going to begin today by disconnecting sections of the track until I only have the outer mainline connected and working. Then I am slowly going to add sections, one at a time, to the mainline. I will verify that all possible routes around it are working at each step before adding the next section. ...

I have found one problem so far: the curved connector track that was used to connect the reversing loop module around the Jasper Yard was not transmitting a current/signal to the loop. I have removed it from the layout. That was causing at least some of the "weird" results that I was having.

December 13, 2008

I have been working on the problem with the reversing loop around the Jasper yard for about a week without any real success. I did discover that a connecting section of track was not transmitting current/signal but the primary problem of a locomotive shorting out when entering or leaving the reversing loop after a particular sequence of previous moves was maddeningly difficult.

I had finally isolated the problem to the one loop and to a particular sequence of moves (most moves resulted in a perfectly functioning operation) but I was still no further ahead in understanding what was causing this. I was now almost positive that the actual wiring was okay. And I was having difficulty believing it could be either the mobile decoders (since I tried 3 different locomotives with the same result) or the reversing loop stationary decoder. But at that point I was running out of alternatives.

When all else fails, read. Thus I began reading one of my books on DCC ("Practical Guide to Digital Command Control" 2008, by Larry Puckett. In it he mentions in chapter 7 that he had difficulties when he had a mix of DCC and non-DCC switches on the mainline as the digital system was able to keep track of the status of the DCC switches but was unaware of the status of the manual switches. Bingo!

I went downstairs and reviewed the mainline switches that led up to the area of the reversing loop. They were all DCC controllable. BUT I had been operating them manually since that was easy to do. I then set these 3 switches using my handheld cab and ran a locomotive over the reversing loop. Perfect.

This was easily the most challenging problem I have faced so far. But I am now much wiser and have a deeper understanding of the relationship among the different DCC components.

I still need to retest both reversing loops but at the moment I am confident that they will be working fine.

December 14, 2009

What did I learn as a result of my efforts during the last week while trying to debug a shorting problem with one of my reversing loop?

One: the DCC system keeps track of the status of the DCC-controlled switches.

Two: it is important to understand the principles underlying DCC control.

Three: a little additional background reading on DCC would be a good idea.

Four: there can be unanticipated side benefits from attempting to solve a problem. In my case I discovered a defective connector track and I improved the track layout by smoothing out a small kink in the track at one point. I also simplified the layout be removing a redundant section of track that added nothing to the operational features of the layout.

I am eager to run a locomotive over the entire layout again and make sure that I have tested all of the mainline routing possibilities. I am also going to sit down and do some careful reading of DCC material. I am also tempted to try writing a brief article on my debugging activities for the Canadian Railway Modeller magazine.

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