Electrical short - your help is requested!

[Pete the Elaner]

You would be better off removing the power altogether & set your multimeter for resistance (or if you have it continuity).

Place one of the probes where one of the inputs was & use this as a reference point. With the other probe, find a rail on the layout where it shows resistance as zero (or if you have continuity, the meter will beep).

Consider all these locations as 0v. If your leads are not long enough, you only need to find 1 location which is connected & you can use this as a reference point. 

To make things easier, why not print off your own diagram & mark all these rails in 1 colour?

The other rails which show infinte resistance (or no beep) should be on the other terminal of the power supply. If you perform the same thing with this one & mark these with a different colour on your diagram, you should see a pattern.

[Grovenor]

Just swapping the wires on the cobalt terminals 1 & 2 for the left hand turnout will fix it. (As said already several times).

I worked out that the measurements are between the indicated rails, iether 18 or 0 and the measured voltage is shown twice in each case, above and below the place measured.

[DCB]

Back to basics.

 

First test it with another loco or two to eliminate the loco as a possible culprit.

 

To eliminate the frog as a possible fault simply isolate the frog, disconnect the feed wires and see if the fault clears, not to reverse the feeds.  If fault clears then reconnect one wire and test, if the fault reappears disconnect that wire connect the other wire to that rail, if it stays clear fit the other wire, if it clears job done, if not its probably the polarity switch .   As I had drummed into me as an apprentice 40 odd years ago "Just because its new don't mean its any 'king good"

Its all very well telling the guy to check the frog polarity without telling him how to do it.  I'm not sure what Multi meter settings are being used, but I would suggest setting it so it shows track voltage,   12/16/20 volts when connected across the tracks, with the power on. That may be the AC or DC scale, For this test its actually irrelevant as long as it shows track voltage before you start . 

Turn the power on and set the crossover points as they were when the 4-4-2T was crossing over connect the meter across same side isolators,  It shoud show 0 volts.  If there is a reverse polarity it should show track voltage across the fault.  If there is a reverse polarty disconnect the wires

(If the meter shows track voltage across plain track  then the setting is right.  I suspect the meter may have been on AC which won't show reversed polarity)  If there is another place trains run from district 1 to district 2 without a hiccup you can eliminate the possibility of the two districts being of opposing polarities.

 

See pic for the readings you should get.

Edited November 11, 2020 by DavidCBroad

[Pete the Elaner]

14 hours ago, Grovenor said:

Just swapping the wires on the cobalt terminals 1 & 2 for the left hand turnout will fix it. (As said already several times).

I worked out that the measurements are between the indicated rails, either 18 or 0 and the measured voltage is shown twice in each case, above and below the place measured.

It makes a little more sense now, but there are some measurements which don't.

 

I went through this entire thread earlier. There has been a lot of advice given all of which is correct but using several different ways of thinking which on their own are all perfectly valid. 

Would a 1:1 session help? It will not be possible to have a real get together (& maybe impractical too since you have not entered a location in your profile), but a video conference with just 1 person will help to align thinking & apply a methodical solution to find the problem. It may also allow the viewer to spot something which you may not have felt was significant.

 

 

[StanierBlack5]

What a great day this has become with a great outcome! 

 

To say thanks to everyone just doesn't seem enough but many thanks to everyone not just to solve my 'short' problem but because I have learned a lot about points & 'shorts', today I have spent around an hour or so solving a 'short' on #5 set of points, fixing that to then get a 'short' on #6 set of points followed by a further 'short' on #7 set! It's my pleasure to announce that I actually solved the problems with knowledge that I have gained from you! I have no doubt that in the future I will be referring to this information (given to me) in time to come.

 

Thank you all so much, it is very much appreciated.

 

Cheers, Roger 

 

[KingEdwardII]

I'm glad you've fixed the problems, Roger. No doubt you have also learned plenty as well, which is all part of the fun.

 

Yours, Mike.

[KingEdwardII]

PS Now for more of the red stuff.  My favoured tipple is a Barossa Shiraz, say a St Hallett.

[Ray H]

Can you tell us what you found and what you did to correct it?

[StanierBlack5]

Hi Ray,

 

In a nutshell, I changed the feed wires over on point #5 (as suggested earlier) which then allowed the loco to transverse the points until it reached point #6 then a short occurred, so changed the feed wires over on that point so no short when the loco crossed, same thing happened when it arrived at point #7 so changed the wires over on that point  -  no more shorts! It seems so elementary and logical now, but without help from our members, I'd still be pulling my hair out! 

 

Hope this explanation makes sense ,

Cheers, Roger

[Grovenor]

Perfect sense, glad you got there.

[Pete the Elaner]

39 minutes ago, StanierBlack5 said:

Hi Ray,

 

In a nutshell, I changed the feed wires over on point #5 (as suggested earlier) which then allowed the loco to transverse the points until it reached point #6 then a short occurred, so changed the feed wires over on that point so no short when the loco crossed, same thing happened when it arrived at point #7 so changed the wires over on that point  -  no more shorts! It seems so elementary and logical now, but without help from our members, I'd still be pulling my hair out! 

 

Hope this explanation makes sense ,

Cheers, Roger

 

That's the best thing: you know what caused it, will probably do things differently next time without even knowing it & if they do go wrong, you will have a method of fixing it which works for you.