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I am building my first layout (at age 75, long story) and I am having an issue with 3 new FasTrack O36 turnouts that I have wired for the fixed voltage option.  I purchased these turnouts about 3 weeks ago via the internet from an established dealer in New York City.  All three turnouts are remote/command control turnouts that I am running in conventional mode.  Prior to having this issue, I had installed on my layout 9 FasTrack O36 turnouts wired for the fixed voltage option, and these turnouts worked properly.

With respect to each of the 3 new turnouts that are having the issue, I removed the track jumper piece, inserted a power wire into the AUX IN terminal, and a ground wire into the AUX GROUND terminal.  After attaching the turnouts to the track layout and turning the transformer (ZW-L) throttle C to 14 volts, nothing happened on the turnouts.  The lantern light did not come on, the controller lights did not come on, and the switch motors would not work.  In other words, none of the functions that should have worked under auxiliary fixed power actually did work.  I checked the AUX IN and AUX GROUND terminals with a voltage meter, and the terminals were getting power, so I ruled out a wiring problem between transformer and turnout.  After more checking, I found that the 14 volts of power was actually going to the turnout track!  So it seems as if the issue is a wiring/electrical issue inside of the turnout, with power from the auxiliary terminal going to the turnout track, rather than to the switch machine, lantern LED and controller LEDs.  (I had to return the 3 turnouts to default track power mode in order to get them to work properly.)

Has anyone out there encountered this issue or a similar issue with FasTrack O36 turnouts (or other sized FasTrack turnouts)??

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 Neat you took the time for making that document @shawn

  Not sticking is lack of heat.  Apply heat to heavier bulk of lug/wire first. When it hits temp enough to melt solder & tin a spot, have ready & immediatly apply the (pre-tinned) wire and then jump off asap, i.e. when the wire's tinning solder melts a half a second later.  "Take a deep breath & count to 10" then tug. To stop more heat flow to the plastic once done, use an ice cube, wet sponge (real sponge, not some plastics/foam that hate heat), wet rag, etc to cool things fully asap.. Just dry steel fully asap, blow out cracks..use a hairdrier, etc.. If wary spray COOL metal with crc cleaner after(protects)

shawn posted:

I believe it is possible to change the orientation of the screw connectors without resoldering. Either the stack placement can be changed by moving the plastic pieces or remove the connector screw and the whole copper connector relaeasea and you can move to another spot. 

How do you do this. I have a 072 Wye switch that has this problem. 

Last edited by Trainlover9943

If you haven`t printed the instructions from Shawns link do that. It will give you the correct wiring pictures. The terminal blocks are held in place with hot glue. You can gently pry them off the switch.There are 3 individual blocks with the wires attached to it You might have to run a razor between the blocks just to break the seam of the hot glue. Push one of the blocks forward while holding the other one steady. They are interlocked to each other. Rearrange the blocks according to the pictures and slide them back onto their interlock. Test it before putting the back plate back on. That's how I did it.

Sorry that I didn't respond sooner, but I had to deal with an unanticipated dental issue that took several days to resolve.

Yes, a big Thank You to Shawn for the PDF document that contains the solution to this wiring issue.  I downloaded and printed the document and then proceded to work on one of my errant turnouts.  In the wiring for that turnout I found the following:  1) The yellow wire was correctly attached to the AUX GRD terminal.  2) The two red wires were reversed, i.e., the red wire with the resistor was soldered to the Track Jumper terminal, and the red wire without the resistor was soldered to the AUX IN terminal.  I reversed the connections according to Shawn's document, and proceded to test the turnout.  Unfortunately, the results did not change.  The turnout would not function properly under auxiliary power. 

So I assume that there is some other issue with this turnout.  The only component on the red wire between the AUX IN terminal and the Track Harness plug is the resistor.  When I tested the connection between this red wire and the Track Harness plug with my voltage meter, the voltage meter did not register any voltage at this connection.  Could this resistor be defective?

I understand the function of a resistor, but I have never worked with one.  So I am hesitant to cut the heat shrink tubing in order to examine the resistor connection.  In addition, I do not know what kind of resistor to use to replace the resistor presently in the connection.  And perhaps there is a completely different problem that is causing this turnout to malfunction.

And I have two other right hand O36 FasTrack turnouts that malfunction under auxiliary power. So I am not sure as to how to proceed.  Any additional advice will be greatly and sincerely appreciated.

A resistor lowers voltage on a circuit, There are painted stripes of different colors on the resistor. Those colors represent a resistance value. You add all the values of the stripes and that is the resistance value of the resistor, so when you test it with your ohmmeter, the reading should match. Was the track harness plugged in when you applied power? Are there any wires that may have inadvertently been disconnected? You can check to see if you have continuity with the ohmmeter, but the wire has to be disconnected at both ends, otherwise you may get a false resistance indication from another circuit.

  Actually only one end of a resistor needs to come loose.

  If there is nothing connected on the  terminal, measure from terminal to were the other wire connects to the board. This would negate the need to expose it. The wire shouldn't have enough resistance to be noticed in the reading 9 out of 10 times. 

What the goal is, is to isolate the component so other components don't affect a reading. If there is no closed connection you don't need to isolate...but you must know, not guess.

No continuity across it and its bad. (usual case is to burn out fully, or raised resistance; going out, but Not Quite Dead Yet ) (rip Nichole)

For value, there are online converters to do your math. State the colors and it does the math. (careful on red, brown, tan, orange, etc. sometimes the company inks can be off your expectations. A reading that isn't a match could be a bad color call. Try the alternate color's math to make sure.

(note: one band or lack of it states the tolerance level. Gold is best, then silver, then blank. (gee, it's been so long since I did this I forget the % of accuracys, lol. I only used gold or silver 99.9% of the time anyhow)

 

And a question (might be covered without mention, or with mention & I missed it) Your moving wires only at the terminal end, and the miss-wire differs from the example.

So, is the resistor connected to the right section/circuit of your board? I.e. does the board end need some changes too. 

And resistance effects volts and amps. Higher wattage can handle more power without burning up when a lesser wattage would cook a smaller wattage.   (if a ¼ watt 10ohm burns out a few times and everything else is ok, then a ½ watt or more @ 10ohm goes in next. It will run cooler doing the same job here. Companies skimp sturdy design to squeek more profit (of course )

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