Electrofrog conductivity problems

[kevinlms]

2 hours ago, Titanius Anglesmith said:

 

 

 SWMBO is getting a bit fed up of hearing the beep beeeep beeeeeeeep though...

Give her a choice, it's the model railway or bagpipes!

[Pete the Elaner]

35 minutes ago, IMS said:

 

I was unsure about the above quoted bit. I take it you are saying disconnect the main track feeds from the controller and join the feeds together temporarily to create a short circuit? The SC would then mean that more than minimal resistance anywhere indicates a problem?

 

Yes, that is exactly what I meant.

You will be measuring the resistance of each track right back to where the controller should be. This is fine because the resistance of the circuit both out & back is what you are interested in.

Zero resistance is indeed a short circuit & in this case, that is what we want. The meter is designed to work this way (& with a very small current), so you will not be breaking anything.

[kevinlms]

3 hours ago, IMS said:

Thanks for the tips.

I've got a multimeter, but no idea how to use it, even for the simplest of tasks, such as electrical continuity. The instructions may as well have been written in its native Korean! Found nothing useful on the internet either.

Here's a photo of the jacks and settings. There are 2 probes. Please could you advise me what to do?

Here is an explanation of some simple things you can do with a multimeter. This article uses a digital multimeter, but there is no real difference to an analogue one.

 

http://www.trainelectronics.com/Meter_Workshop/

 

Ask here if you aren't sure of anything.

[IMS]

3 hours ago, Titanius Anglesmith said:

don’t think my meter’s touched my layout yet, but my continuity tester  (built when I was an apprentice!) has been on overtime

Years ago, I contrived a safe and simple continuity tester from the bulb, holders and wires of a broken slide viewer.

 

Talking of testing reminds me of the mains-tester screwdriver that may have saved my life. I'd connected up a fluorescent light fitting (the vendors of the house had taken all the fittings leaving bare wires!). Being cautious, I turned it on and checked the steel chassis before completing the job. The light in the tester illuminated! The #@*! who'd put in the previous one had used green sheathing for the live and red for the earth...

 

Sorry, I've drifted from the previous thread drift...

[Titanius Anglesmith]

1 minute ago, IMS said:

Talking of testing reminds me of the mains-tester screwdriver that may have saved my life. I'd connected up a fluorescent light fitting (the vendors of the house had taken all the fittings leaving bare wires!). Being cautious, I turned it on and checked the steel chassis before completing the job. The light in the tester illuminated! The #@*! who'd put in the previous one had used green sheathing for the live and red for the earth...

 

When I moved into my current house I found something similar in my bathroom..... 

[kevinlms]

1 hour ago, IMS said:

Years ago, I contrived a safe and simple continuity tester from the bulb, holders and wires of a broken slide viewer.

 

Talking of testing reminds me of the mains-tester screwdriver that may have saved my life. I'd connected up a fluorescent light fitting (the vendors of the house had taken all the fittings leaving bare wires!). Being cautious, I turned it on and checked the steel chassis before completing the job. The light in the tester illuminated! The #@*! who'd put in the previous one had used green sheathing for the live and red for the earth...

 

Sorry, I've drifted from the previous thread drift...

What are the odds that the previous owner did it and was colour blind?

 

Reminds me of a local NG modelling group in Australia. They defined a set of standards and provided wiring diagrams for the individual modules. One builder wired the signal and transposed the red and green wires, meaning the signal showed red for clear and green for danger. Instead of fixing it, he put a figure on the ladder and called the module 'Malfunction Junction'. He was colourblind!

[Titanius Anglesmith]

59 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

One builder wired the signal and transposed the red and green wires, meaning the signal showed red for clear and green for danger. Instead of fixing it, he put a figure on the ladder and called the module 'Malfunction Junction'. He was colourblind!

 

That’s more than a malfunction, that’s an irregularity! 

[Titanius Anglesmith]

On 31/01/2020 at 18:20, Titanius Anglesmith said:

 

I got my micro switches from an eBay seller named Bright Components, on recommendation from someone else. 

 

 

I’ve just had one of these microswitches fail after not much use. Two steps forward, one step back...

 

edit: turns out it was operator error, the switch was fine

Edited February 22, 2020 by Titanius Anglesmith

[steve W]

Two things on the subject of the multimeter:

1. DO mark the selector switch with some good white paint at the end of the raised bar that has a mark to indicate the selected range.  I have had a situation where a trained engineer with a similar instrument thought he had selected 250AC Volts, but had accidentally selected a low Ohms resistance range on the opposite side of the selector dial - the knob was 180deg out of alignment. Serious burns to his hand when it blew up.  On the layout it won't self destruct, but could be irrepairably damaged

2. DON'T risk it on mains voltage circuits unless you know and are confident (and will have spent a considerable amount of money) that it has been built and tested to withstand any possible fault that can occur (see 1 above).  It should be fine for all uses on the layout though.

Get to know it, it's a valuable tool to have.