Serious electrical problem

good morning taylorra,

are all circuit breakers not disengaged if some have tripped you need to reset them so power will flow from transformer through the tpc and out of bpc to the tracks.

the bpc's chattering sounds like a short and seeing you found a screw touching middle rail and bridge clarifies that.

first off are you sure all track pins are in place where you added new bridges sometimes it is the simplist thing we ignor that comes to haunt us!

if that checks out okay power down all but one tpc and one bpc and trouble shoot from there checking that all track connections and wiring is as it was before the bridges were installed and that you in fact have power to track and switches. 

do you have all common wires hooked together from all transformers?

  Questions:   Can TPCs, BPCs and ASCs lose their programing when a short occurs?

          Shouldn't removing power from the BPC allow them to pass power to whatever block they were programmed for

          prior to the short?

seeing the tpc and block power controllers either have a small plastic shield to remove to program the bpc's and the tpc has a switch to set to program i think a short is unlikely to alter there programming.

removing power from bpc does just that it removes the transformer power from the bpc but when you do then no power to the tracks from them will happen either so as a test temporarily attach a longer set of wires to that transformer and see if bridge area has power now all the way to other side of where that track block ends if power before the bridge but not after it will point to a missing track pin either an outer rail or the center rail.

hope this helps you some.

$oo

You didn't mention the Command base in your detail. 

(1.) Is the light on the command base flashing when you send a command via the Cab1?  If so there is a pretty good chance that TMCC signal is still available. 

(2.) TMCC signal is directed two ways.

(2a.) (One) to the outside rails.

(2b.) (Two) to the accessory devices you listed via a Dat/Com cable.  TPC's, ASC's, BPC's etc. recieve signal via the Dat/Com cable.

(2c.)  The SCII's you listed recieve signal via the outside rails.  

(3.) Even if you clear the center rail short problems.  Outside rail grounding even with something as simple as wet scenery application can inhibit TMCC signal.  You want to check you bridge installation, looking for posible channels to earth ground.

(4.) Disconnect the outside rail signal attachment (Thumb screw) to the Command base and see of the accessory devices come back to life.  If so the outside rails of you remodel work need some attention.   

That's a strart, just some points to check as you continue with your trouble shooting.  

Good luck on your project

Mike CT    

It is possible that during a prolonged short some of the traces in the control devices can fry. That happened to me several years ago with an ASC. You need to check to make sure when you address these devices that you hear the relays inside click indicating that they are operational.

Once you determine that the relays are working you may need to remove the devices one at a time and check the IC boards to see if you have one of the copper traces burned out. If so you can get a small length of solid copper wire and make a bridge across the burned out trace. That was the issue with my ASC and after making the bridge it has worked fine for the past five years.

If you do not hear the clicking of the relays the devices will most likely need to be replaced.

It would be recommended to install Transient Voltage Supressors on both the inputs and outputs of all of these devices since circuit breakers will not react in time to protect them.

Problem solved!!!   Thanks to the responders.  All recommendations were helpful!

The problem turned out to be a second short in the new bridge wiring.  I don't know if anyone else does this, but for years I have kept a stack of expired and replaced credit cards, insurance cards, and other "plastics on the workbench.  I find them useful for making thin, durable shims to shim up accessories, low track points, etc..  It never occurred to me that these cards could have any electrical effect, but, I have discovered that the mag stripe on the cards is conductive and, in my case was creating a short in the track section on one end of the bridge. Cutting off the mag strip solved all my problems.  I have not found any damage to any of my devices.

Everything AOK.   Thanks again for the help!!!