GrumpyPenguin

Some vehicles activate the hazzards under heavy braking, which I think could confuse - if it flashed the brake lights it would be better. Durite produce a unit for trailers which does this under heavy braking.

Are you an electrical engineer ? AC, DC, DCC - the principles of electrical current is still the same.

That's entirely up to them, i stand by whjat I have already said.

Read it before & it goes against everything I was taught/practice as an electrical engineer.

I know of a couple of people who managed it somehow - me ? no, never felt the need to as I have a programming track that will take the longest train I run. Anyway, Railcom is disabled on my fleet. Each to their own.

"Coin test" will not put anything under load for long & when you think about it could actually be dangerous with a high powered system. It will never have time to allow a bad (dry) joint or other connection to increase it's resistance under load. Continue abusing your system under short conditions by all means, it's your system after all. As an electrical engineer I would never attempt to fault find using a dead short, not good electrical practice. You do it your way & I'll continue to do it as a professional. Have a nice weekend.

Although quite a distance away I do have family in the area & would have offered help myself but the OP came accross with a bad attitude.

Even so it should be better than that. I used to drive HGV's for a well know Supermarket that started to buy "guvnors motors" (DAF's) - by the time they had covered 20k (kilometers, not miles) the floor by the driver feet was in tatters, trim loose in the cab & rattling like two skeletions have a s*** on a tin roof. They were worse than IVECO's (I Virate Evertthing Comes Off), in contrast they had some Scania's & Mercs that have covered "moon & back" miles & not a rattle (nicer drive too).

PoM is OK if you are very careful or you could change CV's of everything that is on the track at one time.

One of those things easy to show, diffecult to describe. A fairly cheap multimeter will do the job, absolute accuracy is not over important as long as you can see where any variations are.

Not a bad method - I have done something similar using a 7aH SLA & a 55w headlamp bulb pausing at every stage to allow any dry joints to heat up.

The "coin test" proves nothing if the problem is a dry joint & you cannot be doing your controller any favours by shorting it out so many times.

Very nice. I remember seeing some similar G1 models at the Nurnberg Toy Fair a long time ago - may have been the same make as they also had potatoes/sacks modelled in the kitche !

Sorry, I read "input" as "output".

Before you start adding boosters double check the integrity of your bus &/or wiring. Easy enough to do using a simple multimeter/voltmeter & a "load" such as a 12v 21w indicator bulb. Connect the bulb (rememberb that it will get hot) in parellel with the meter (set to, IIRC AC volts 25v + setting)**. Check & note the voltage as close as you can to the output of your controller, keep taking readings round the layout - that will pinpoint any defective joints/connections. If all proves well, then look at the possibility of a heavier bus to the far side of the layout. ** Forget the "can't measure DCC voltage with a basic multimeter" guys, what you are looking for is consistant readings with a load (you can also forget the "short out the track with a coin" method too - the controller will probably trip before any dry joint heats up).