MTH DCS Short?

guyehOGR Forum Member

Hello, I have a MTH DCS system with a Z4000 transformer and Fastrack. Has been working great. Yesterday I went to run it and powered it up and started to move the lever up to 18 volt and seen the red short light come on. I turned it off and tried it again. Same thing. I turned it off again and looked for something lying on track. Nothing. So I tried it again but applied voltage slowly and it doesn't short until I reach 3.5 volts. I checked wiring and found nothing. Is it possible that I have a bad locomotive? I was planning on removing all of them sometime today to see. Thanks.

2/25/1910:43 AM

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Engineer-JoeOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER

Simply troubleshooting is next. You have to disconnect or remove stuff until the short clears. I would remove any powered engines or equipment from the rails first. You don't want to do more damage. It is recommended to have a fuse inline between the TIU and the transformer. That would help protect the TIU and anything down stream from there.

Yes, you could have a short in the loco causing this issue.

2/25/1911:07 AM

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gunrunnerjohnOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

First step, how about the exact item number of the locomotive in question? If it shorts with nothing connected to the TIU, it's probably the TVS diode in the TIU. If it shorts only when connected to the layout, time to start removing locomotives to see which one is causing the issue.

2/25/191:45 PM

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guyehOGR Forum Member

Thank you for the feedback. After removing 9 locomotives, 2 lighted passenger cars and disconnecting the smoke fluid loader then started disconnecting power drops. It was power drop #5. One little wire strand was sticking out touching the other. Thanks again for your input.

2/25/193:30 PM

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gunrunnerjohnOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

All's well that ends well.

2/25/195:56 PM

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Alan MancusOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

first step would be disconnect your transformer from everything and then power up and set voltage to 18 volt on z4000 if voltage is present then transformer is ok if not its your z4000! you need a starting point to know what is working right and what is not!

2/25/197:56 PM

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gunrunnerjohnOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

The ship has already sailed Alan, he's already fixed the problem.