Could a New Switch Cause Track Power to Die?

Did you put any fiber pins  in the Ross turnout? If so, you need to remove them. Also, did you put a power feed to the track on all sides of the turnout?

Some where you have cut the power off.

When you see it losing power, did you notice if the transformer supplying power to that block went into overload (i.e red light on)? On thing I could hypothesize is that somehow the car being on the track (assuming the caboose has metal wheels) is making a circuit between the two negative rails in that section, and for some reason the Ross switch is feeding + voltage to one of the two rails.

To test that, if you have a meter, run a wire to the ground post on the transformer, and do a voltage check between the ground on the transformer and both negative (outside) rails in that block, and see if either of them is showing positive voltage, they shouldn't be. If they are, I wonder if the switch is responsible.

You also (with power off!) put an ohm meter between the outside rails on the switch and the middle rail on the switch, they should show no continuity (i.e infinite ohms/0). 

Thanks for getting back to me so fast.

No, I did not insert any fiber pins into the Ross switch. The Lionel switch did (for non-reversing) so I was actually thinking of cutting a gap into the same two rails that the Lionel switch had. And yes, there are power feeds on both sides of the turnout. Remember, when the train is off the track, the meter shows 18volts, the same that the transformer is set for. It's when I put the car back on the track that the power cuts off.

I haven't run a voltage check with the transformer yet but I did set the meter to "Ohm" and put the contacts on the outside rails and the needle went about 1/2 of the way up (to the right). What does that mean?

All I can suggest is to make sure you have not crossed any wires during your hook up. I assume these are Ross Ready turnouts meaning there are jumper bars underneath the turn out. Make sure all the bars are connected. 

Once you resolve that issue, if you want  the Ross to have a non-derailing feature, you need to make some cuts and add power to the track per the diagram they give you.

Power did not die when I tried it with a non-powered car! Even one with metal wheels. It only seems to be happening in any car with lights, as well as engines.

And as suggested by bigkid I ran the voltage check between the ground on the transformer and each of the two outside rails. Zero voltage both times.

Also, in response to Boilermaker, it's not when the car hits the switch, it's when the car rolls past an existing switch towards the new one...switch #1 on my diagram. And what's weird is, that's all one long block. In front of switch #1, everything's fine. It's when rolling past switch #1 towards switch #5 that power dies.

Oh, also in response to bigkid, the transformer did not go into overload.

Also here is another possibility. Sometimes when putting Gargraves or Ross track together  you think you connected one track to the other but the pin either misses the hole or the pin gets pushed back so it is not on the hole. Just another thing to look for while checking things out.

Well, it's NOT the new Ross switch. I just removed it and am having the same problem. Track power from the Gargraves switch that's been in place all along, #1 on my diagram, towards the reversing loop is active when there is no car on the track and as soon as some sort of powered car moves past that point, power dies.

This never happened with the Lionel switch in place. I'm more perplexed now than I was before.

I'm going to start a new thread with the problem redefined. Hope someone can shed some light.

Xray I think your problem is in the track connections. What I would do is make a pair of wires about 4 or 5 ft long and put alligator clips on the ends. I would clip one to the outside rail and one to the middle rail before switch #1 and connect them down the line as far as they reach towards Switch #5 and then run the car over the switch. If the problem goes away one of the rail joiners isn't making a good connection between the ends of the wire.

Ron

Where?

The problem is that you actually have no power to that section of track.

Unlike 022's, the Ross switches must be powered at all three legs.  The voltage your meter sees before rolling a car onto that section is a very low current bleed over through some device like a bulb in a switch, controller, or signal.  Remember, a resistor(in this case a bulb) limits current, not voltage, and a lower resistance device placed in that section shorts out the very tiny current to effectively zero.

Run track feeder/drops to this section and you are back in business.

I've got two drops on either side of the switch. I've made a new diagram with a little more detail (I'm lousy at wiring, but great with diagrams). I metered both sets of connections and there is power to the feeds.

This evening when I get home I'm going to check that my wiring matches my diagram. I've also written to Steve at Ross - maybe he's got some ideas.

You have a very high resistance connection(loose, damaged, corroded, incomplete) in power to the faulty block.  The meter is the tell... it is not giving you a measure of current, only voltage. 

Use alligator clip jumpers to feed power from an adjacent section or the bus lines and the power will return.

Just an update. As a couple of folks suggested, I connected wires with alligator clips jumping the gap at switch #1, and that got power back to the section beyond the switch. I put the caboose on the track and the bulb stayed lit. Then I disconnected the wire connecting the outside rails and the caboose bulb stayed on. So I guess that means that the problem is the feed to the center rail.

So tomorrow's another day. After work I'll check the track connections but I'm still bothered as to why the power from the feed is shorting out when the car is placed on the track. I need to solve this because I still will need to get power to the far end of the reverse loop but at least I'm closer to an answer than I was yesterday at this time.

Thanks to all for your help.

It's not shorting, it's broken - there's a high resistance break in the connection.  The relatively low resistance of a light bulb placed across the circuit is dropping the measured voltage to zero.

OK, but something's not registering with me. I could understand how the track connection could be broken...it's a Gargraves flex-track section that's been in place about 15 years. BUT, I have a power feed directly to that section. Even if the connection is broken wouldn't the power feed circumvent that?

You just proved that with the alligator clips.  The GarGraves is no longer connected to center rail power - there is a failure somewhere in the connection between the center rail of the GarGraves and the bus.

Your procedure won't work with just a meter - you will just be perpetuating the same test results.  You have to have a load on the track/circuit to get to the bottom of the problem.  Also, you have already determined it is a problem with power to the center rail, leave the outside rail connections as is.

Place an illuminated car on the track with power on.  Using a long test lead clipped to the center rail with a probe at the other end, start at your bus line and check for lights in the car.  Keep doing this, changing the probe location closer to the track connection until you find the point that the car no longer lights.  Your problem/break is between the last two points.  It may actually be at the actual track connection to the center rail(how is your wiring connected to the GarGraves center rail?).

Putting the switch in didn't cause this, it was the removal of the 022.  The 022 has all three legs connected internally, and it was hiding the deficiency in the wiring to the affected block.

It's not due to AC 3-rail.  Anywhere there is no connection, there will be no power to the track.

xray;

Rob is correct, The meter will always show voltage even if you only have a tint thread of connection to the transformer.

The Lit car pulls Amps, that means the tiny thread drops all the volts and the car is dark.

Put the Lit car on the bad area of track with Power on.

Connect you meter to one outside rail and the center rail.

If near the car it will show near zero volts.

Move the probe from the center rail to the wire feeding the center rail as near to the track connection as possible. You will probably have to nick the insulation to get a reading unless you have a needle/pin probe end.

If you have power there, the problem is at the track connection.

If no power there, go further back down the wire to the next connection point and test again until you get voltage.

Keep moving half way between the dead part and the good part until you narrow it down to the broken point. I have seen this sort of problem turn out to be a wire in a terminal block with insulation clamped in the terminal block.

The wire can't make contact well with the insulation filling the clamping area.

Often just a single strand of the end is making contact and gives volts but no amps.

As I said in my post looong ago. Use the alligator clips and the lit car. Put the center rail clip before the switch and the other end as far down the track as you can. Put the car just past the alligator clip end. If it is lit then move the clip one track piece closer to the switch. If the car is not lit then the problem lies in that length of track just ahead of the clip. If the car is lit repeat the process until the car goes out. Then look at the track just ahead of the clip.

Ron

Glad you have it fixed!!

Ron