Using a digital multimeter, is it the middle or outside rail that I need to touch the pins with? If I remember correctly, if the multimeter reads 1 volt/amp (I don’t know the measurement) then the two blocks are in phase with each other. If it reads 18 volts/amps then they are out of phase.
I assume that you have each PH-180 feeding an electrically-isolated section of track,. If not and they are presently all connected together then, seeing no short circuits (tripped breakers) they are presently in phase.
Most folks don't want to connect them this way however, and there are several good reasons for not doing so.
So, assuming that they you've intended for them to be isolated you will be measuring from center rail to center rail across the gaps in the track sections between blocks. The values you mention from memory are very close.
You'd like to see a value close to zero VAC across each gap, but only if both sides of that gap are presently powered up. If you read close to 18 VAC instead then you have two blocks that are out of phase. Swap the feed wires to one of the two, and measure again to confirm that it's now zero.
Proceed around the layout next, checking each block boundary. If you have to swap wires, then you may have go around the layout a couple of times checking and swapping until you get them all correct with respect to their neighbors.
Mike
