Help with wiring

[meatloaf]

Hi guys can you help me with my wiring please. Points are electrofrog and ive got insulated joiners on the frogs of the top 2 points. Metal joiners on the others. Ive put power feeds on both left track ends and on the headshunt. It always shorts when it gets the the right point by the headshunt no matter if I use metal or insulated joiners. Ive left it alone for now, but can anyone show me how it should be wired. Im using DCC and ill be manually operating the points.

 

this is what ive done so far. blue is the insulated joiners. black and red are the power feeds. as soon as the loco gets to the circled point we get a short, no matter which way its set. what I need is someone to highlight where track feeds need to be and weather they should be red or black wire ( + and - ). I use red and black as im colourblind.

Edited September 1, 2018 by meatloaf

[Pete the Elaner]

I don't see anything wrong with your diagram.

Have you tried more than 1 loco & have you modified the points by cutting the links & switching the frogs? If the answer to both is no, then you may have a flange shorting out a rail to a blade.

 

Although not wrong, the top siding is always live but the bottom 2 are not. Is this deliberate? I know some prefer it like this but I have no idea why. DCC allows you to park a loco there & leave the lights on, or engine running, or spirax valve popping away (or ion the case of steam, the loco sitting there boiling, occasionally letting off a bit of steam with the fireman shovelling). Why would you not want this?

For best results, modify the points by cutting the links & provide power to the frog section with a switch. I always isolate all rails from the end of a point & re-feed, even though there is no need to isolate the outside rails, I do it anyway.

I also never rely on any metal rail joiner for conductivity. Once weathered & ballasted, they can provide a resistance (actually all wire & rail has a resistance, but we try to make it as small as possible..smaller than the multimeter can measure).

[Right Away]

Live frog points with links removed and switchable polarity feeds. Use insulated joiners on the inner rails from the frog.

 

I have used small 2-way slide switches to feed the frogs, mounted against the side of the board, in line with the point tie bar.

The plastic slide of the switch is drilled and a 1mm steel rod is passed through the baseboard frame and bent 90° to the side to pass through this hole.

Beneath the point tie bar the rod is bent 90° upwards to pass through the hole in the tie bar.

A 3A electrical strip connector is fitted beneath the board through which the rod passes; this is solely to take up any "whippyness" in the rod.

Correct alignment is essential before fixing the switch.

 

This was originally a temporary fix which over the years due to its faultless operation looks like becoming permanent.

 

I have to stress that my layout is longitudinal and this method would not suit every situation.

 

I hope this might be useful. Please see accompanying pics of the switch set up on a test board.

 

 

As Pete mentions, dropper wires feeding EVERY section of track; you can't go wrong.