Wiring question

What kind of signal are you looking for? You didn't mention if or how a TIU is wired into the system. Is this a DCS question?

Sorry,

Yes,its running through a fixed channel in the TIU. I'm lloking for 9's & 10's for signal strength.

You should be getting some signal unless...

Your tiu is in the off state,The tiu must be turned on using power to fixed 1 or an aux power5 supply. Is the red LED on top of the tiu lit? Fixed 2 is a straight through connection, if the tiu was in the "off" state, there would be no dcs signal but power to the track.

The signal somehow got turned off, check with... menu/System/DCS set up/ AON..(turns the signal on to all channels)


You have the track wires reversed, Red must always go to the center rail, black to outside.

You have a faulty TIU.. Tiu version I3a had serious signal problems, Look at bottom of tiu for version.

Place magic bulb on terminal block... Hopefully this helps.

T-Man,
I agree with what Greg is saying, however you need to either explain exactly how you are set up or post a diagram of your wiring so we can help you further.
It actually sounds like you might have a couple things wired wrong.
PCRR/Dave

Greg was right, the power wire to the auxilary power input to the TIU had pulled out. I can at least run a locomotive now,but I'm getting low signal strength, which now takes me back to the original question about the length of the wires from the terminal block to the track. Also the blocks I'm working on have 2 switches each.( The track is Atlas )

You may want to start by installing a magic bulb at the terminal block.

I would disconnect all the red feeders at the terminal block(leave the blacks connected) and start adding then back one at a time checking the signal as you add each feeder back. You should be able to get a perfect 10 on the first feeder. If not, something's drastically wrong. Are you track joints tight, DCS hates loose connections. How many can you add back before things go amiss?

Yes it's a little work but I don't think there's a magic bullet.

I went back and put a filter at the terminal block for every block. The values for the resisters and capacitors I used were found in a previous discussion in this forum. I now have 9's and 10's on the six blocks I've wired so far. Now I'll try adding more blocks on the same terminal block.

I also found a switch that had a broken jumper cable on the center track so I solered a jumper wire on it.

Then I found a switch that had been made improperly and wouldn't allow the switch legs to move. I had to take it apart and grind a little on one switch leg then put it back together.

The Atlas switches look nice but I've had lots of trouble with them.Jumper wires broken, keepers on the switch legs missing and the above issue.

quote:

I also found a switch that had a broken jumper cable on the center track so I solered a jumper wire on it.

Use at least a 16 gauge wire for a jumper. The older Atlas switches came with a much smaller wire that wasn't sufficient. All new ones have the larger wires for jumpers. There may be some new older units still on dealers shelves, so I would check them out.

Yes, I used 16 Gauge wire, unfortunately I do have some of the older switches. I hope they continue to work.