Before I go any further, let me state that "up to this point" everything has been working fine. Every wiring connection I have made to the Terminal Block has cause absolutely no issues or problems, "up to this point". When I reach the problem point, I will use my quote marked catch phrase to end the sentence.
I am re-wiring my layout. I have a 24 screw MTH Terminal Board. The one where the elevated screws are the grounds and the lower screws are the hots. I am using 12 gauge wire this time around. Hasn't cause one iota of an issue since I began. I am using 16 gauge wire for my feeder lines from the track pieces out to the 12 gauge buss lines. No issues there either. I have run 10 booster lines to various parts of the oval system I have set up. There is a method to the madness but understand for the purpose of this problem, I have found a way to cut down on wire runs while still connecting 22 drops to the Terminal Board. How? By doubling up where possible.
In some cases I just run two 12 gauge wires from a drop location, a black and a red, to the Terminal Board, hook them to the screws, and test. Test is done by generating power to the TIU and seeing if what just happened, happens. If it buzzes endlessly without throwing the circuit breaker on my powerhouse 180 brick by Lionel, I check the voltage being generated to the screws via the TIU with my meter. 19.1 max, as low as 18.7. But it doesn't throw the breaker. As I type this I am beginning to wonder if my brick is busted. We suffered a split second power outage about 8:10 or so this evening. The problem started after that. I didn't suffer the problem until I had finished running my tenth of 14 connections. Same wire size configuration, same attachment configuration, same heat shrink tube/soldering combo connectors on both the red and black wires. I immediately unhooked connection 10 when it threw the breaker. But that didn't stop the problem. I ran connection 9 and 8 before the outage, and no issues arose. Both connections consist of my double up method. In this case a sort of triple up. One feeder is connected to a track piece, then runs under two other track pieces to a second set of feeder lines where they are twisted together, black together, red together.
At that point a black and red 12 gauge buss wire is connected to the joined feeder wires. From there I run those two wires up a length of track to a third and final set of feeders coming out of another track piece. Once connected, I have now connected 3 of my 22 total on one buss line. So instead of running 3 separate track pieces using three sets of black and red wires, I just use one run to connect 3 booster drops to one set of screws. I finish the run by sending the buss wires to the board and connect each to its respective hot and ground screw. The first time I did it everything was fine. I turned on the brick, all my switch track lights lit up, the gentle hum of the brick was steady and consistent. I checked the power output, 19.1, checked each booster location, 19.1 at the closest one, 18.8 at the two farthest ones, all is well.
"Up to this point". The second time I did this, same song, same verse, different set of tracks, all went well. Wires meshed nicely, heat shrink solder tubes melted nicely, no burn marks in the carpet, my layout is on the floor not a table, ran the wires along side the track just like before, two fork connectors later I was done with run number 10. Turned on the brick, hummed two seconds, click. I thought maybe I had burned a hole in one of the connectors. Checked both solder points, nothing seemed amiss, so I unhooked 10. Thought, ok, if 10 is causing the problem, let's see. Unhooked it, turned on the brick, hummed 2 seconds, click. Odd, the last time I turned on the brick without connection 10 it worked fine. So I unhooked my 9th connection, the one I did before 10. Brick, hum, click. Finally I decided to check one other thing before I came up here and fielded the problem. I took my meter and set the prongs in place and when I turned on the brick, it hummed 2 seconds, then threw the breaker but not before I read 11.3.
I can see over voltage, like 23 or 24 kicking the breaker, but 11.3? For that matter, where did my 19.1 go? Is this an over load issue, and under load issue, do you think my brick has been compromised by the power outage? Is my TIU fuse shot? If it were a breaker box issue seems like the brick wouldn't fire up at all. I usually relate circuit breaker issues with crossed wires or over amping. A 15 suddenly reads 16, that kind of thing. But all I can tell you is that "up to this point" all 9 of my prior connections, in route to a total of 14 when i'm done, haven't caused the first issue with any of the mechanical parts in this machine. I thought possibly the number of connections, coupled with using 12 gauge wire as a buss and 16 as a feeder might have finally reared its ugly head, but disconnecting the most recent run has yielded no positive results, where the prior 9 yielded not one negative result. Up to now I thought I was clear and the weather was forecasting no foreseeable rain or storms all the way to port 14. Sorry so long, but I am trying to give you as clear a picture of what I am facing so you can hopefully help me figure out what to fix.
Thanks for any help you can provide
John
