Tortoise motor shorting whole layout

[philsandy]

Please bear with me as electrics is not my strong subject.

Layout is DCC, but I think this is an general electrical problem.

 

This problem has justed started after 5 years of operation.

When this one point  (No.8) is switched to the straight road it shorts out the whole layout.

 

The Tortoises have edge connectors.

I took an edge connector/wiring from another point motor and fitted to the suspect motor, but the same result.

 

Could there be a fault with the internal switch on the Tortoise? 

 

I may have to take another Tortoise on the layout and fit it to point No.8 to confirm if the fault is with the motor or is in the wiring somewhere.

A bit of a pain to do this, working under baseboard etc, or is there anything else I can try to eliminate where the fault lies?

 

[cpman46]

It does sound as though there is an internal switch problem. I am assuming you are using one of the switches to change the polarity of the frog. Try disconnecting the track feeds to the switch and see if the short disappears (operate the motor in both directions). If it does it would suggest the switch is faulty, if not the fault lies elsewhere in the wiring.

Mike

[66C]

Have you checked that an isolating gap in the trackwork has not closed up?

 

Regards.

[philsandy]

Have you checked that an isolating gap in the trackwork has not closed up?

 

Regards.

 

Many thanks Bill, that is exactly what was causing the short!