Signal Strength Issues

What version TIU are you using.  Unless a Rev L, you may need a few 18-volt bulbs.

Are the individually fed blocks separated by insulated joints?

Thanks for the reply.  Not sure of the TIU Rev at the moment but will check.  We are aware of adding the bulb for improving the signal but don't recall reading that it depends on TIU Rev.     The sections are not insulated, are you suggesting that they need to be??

Thanks!!   Armand 

Standard recommended practice is to have one power drop per block, with the hot rail (raile fed from TIU red outputs) insulated from the adjoining block to preclude multiple or out-of-phase signals.  The Rev L TIU has revised circuitry which supposedly obviates need for 18-volt bulbs.  There are many threads on forum on that subject.

DCS & DC 2 rail signal problems..What DC power supply are you using?

Raymond has a whole website devoted entirely to large scale DCS & DC power..

http://rayman4449.dynip.com/

Armand,

I'll help you get up and running.  In the World's Longest Train attempt in 2011 (in G scale) I signaled a 1600ft loop:  YouTube 1080p HD - Signal test

http://www.rayman4449.dynip.co...ngest-Train-2011.htm - page

My email address is on my website, please feel free to email me directly.

Raymond

Thanks for your offer to assist Raymond.  I will contact you via email.

RJR and CRH, thanks for your advise.  Although we are not playing with our O guage layout during the summer, I read this forum every morning and have learned a lot, but now realize that we have a ways to go.     Armand

acmodelsofarizona.weebly.com

One thing I'll add;

In place of the bulbs; (which will eat a lot of power with the length of line you are running)

Use the Engineered Filter from Susan Deets' son. It uses effectively no power and works just as good as the bulb. It is also small enough to hide under the track in the ballast and makes no heat.

From my experience in testing on my layout as currently setup I found the Engineered Filters had little to no effect.  (remember I'm running DC power in G scale)  In one test layout wiring configuration I did see it show improvement in signal levels but I still had operational issues that went away when the filter was replaced with a bulb.  I understand that some on the forums here have used the filters with success which is great and think it should be on the list of things to try, but just be aware that your results may vary given your situation.  I have found them to not necessarily be a direct replacement for bulbs in all situations. 

Got your email Armand and will talk to you more later.

Raymond

How many track connections are you running off a single channel of the TIU? I found that if I have more than approximately 12 outputs to the track, from a single terminal board, then the signal strength drops off dramatically. I resolved this by dividing my layout into 4 channels, with about 10-12 track connections per channel. I have each channel run a pair of wires to a terminal strip, then from there, I can have 12 output wire pairs going to the track in that block.

Don't know why the signal strength drops off like it does when I added only a few more track connections, but it does. Not sure if anyone else has noticed this.

JoeK

Joe,

Your experiences are the same as mine were - until I installed Rev. L TIUs in place of the Rev I/I3a TIUs I previously had on the layout.

After I swapped in the Rev. L TIUs, and removed all of the light bulbs, DCS signal strength remained at all "10"s and stayed there, even after I increased one or two of the terminal blocks to 16-18 track blocks each.

Joe K:  If adding a particular block weakens signal on all the blocks fed by a TIU output, try adding an 18-volt bulb at the end of the block.  Since all my blocks are toggle-switched, I was able to isolate each and determine effect on signal; 18-volt bulbs cured the signal weaknesses.

I have not had much luck improving my signal strength by using the light bulb. I have also tried the engineered filter. I have replaced the light bulbs with engineered filters, however they do not seem to affect the signal strength losss experienced by having too many track connections with a single block, powered by one TIU channel.

Joe K

Joe,

I have replaced the light bulbs with engineered filters, however they do not seem to affect the signal strength losss experienced by having too many track connections with a single block, powered by one TIU channel.

Again, my experiences were similar. However, the Rev L TIU seems to allow at least several more blocks per channel, without any assistance from light bulbs or filters.