howardpidd

There doesn't seem to be any way to check if the polarity has actually been changed by the DCC80, or indeed if it is working at all. I've long suspected frog polarity might be a cause of the problem. But how can I tell?

Your friend's experience sounds suspiciously like my own. I've tried all the tips suggested so far , plus a few ideas of my own, but with zero results. I had already colour coded all my wiring, but before I totally lose my mind and rip up all the points in frustration I will try systematically going through all the wiring and see if that makes a difference and if necessary rewire it totally. I could understand one or two points playing up, but 11 out of 14 is just ridiculous! It seems most likely that I must have something fundamentally wrong with the wiring, If not then I'm absolutely stumped. Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I'll report back on progress.

Thanks for the tips re the SEEPS (which I have found to be a bit unreliable in some cases) and cleaning the blades. I'll take another look at both. What I find particularly frustrating though is that many many years ago when I first had a layout I used very unsophisticated technology - DC, insulated frog points and coarser grade track and had none of the problems I'm currently experiencing, or maybe that's just rosy tinted retrospection!

Thanks for the suggestion, locos do stall on the frogs, but usually only when going one way and not when switched the other way. I'll certainly try swapping the DCC 80 feed wires around though.

Thanks for getting in touch. I've used insulated rail joiners as shown in the following picture. Is this what you meant?

I'm being driven to despair my the refusal of virtually all the points on my layout work properly. Out of 14 just 3 are working as they should. Can anyone please suggest what I'm doing wrong? I am using DCC control and 00 scale Peco Code 75 electrofrog points powered by Seep motors. I have taken great care to prepare all the points as recommended: soldering wires between the stock and closure rails, cutting the wires connecting both the rails to the frog and connecting the single wire from the frog to Gaugemaster DCC80 Autofrogs. I've also used insulated rail joiners to isolate frog rails where points face each other. According to everything I've read and all the You Tube videos I've watched the points should now work faultlessly, but they don't! In almost every case a loco will cross the point one way, but not when the point is switched the other way, stalling mid point. I've used a track tester and there's nothing wrong with the power supply to the rails which I've cleaned very thoroughly. I hope the schematic diagram below may help. The points are numbered 1 to 14. Those highlighted in green are OK, those in red aren't. I've tried to show by way of green arrows the direction individual ponts work OK and red arrows the direction in which points don't work (if that makes sense!). I'm clearly doing something wrong, any suggestions what will be very welcome.

Mine worked just fine. And as a bonus I spotted myself in the crowd looking at one of the layouts!

Really enjoyed the show. Great venue. Nice reasonably priced catering and a really good mix of quality layouts and traders. Well done to the organisers.

Visited yesterday and I was really impressed by the standard and variety of layouts and good selection of traders. I've attended for many years now and I'd rate this show as one of my firm favorites. Well done everyone involved.

I've always been very happy with Kernow's customer service, but even I was taken aback when a coach I ordered on-line after lunch yesterday arrived at my home this morning. Quite outstanding, especially when you consider it came by standard Royal Mail service. Other retailers could learn a lesson from them.

Finally after a lot of angst and bad language I think I've finally found the cause of the problem this afternoon. Having tried just about all the ideas posted here in response to my plea for help and found absolutely nothing worked my desperate last resort was to take up the points to check them out. Naturally it was the last one I checked where I found the problem - I had omitted to cut the two little wires that link the closure rails and the frog. A quick test run with my new GWR Dukedog confirmed that was almost certainly the cause. I won't know for sure if that was the only problem until I've re-laid all the points and reconnected the wiring. I'm really grateful to everyone who came up with ideas, they really did help. Fingers crossed that is it now and I can finally get on with finishing the layout. Howard

I'm very grateful for all your advise. In my exasperation I was on the verge of ripping the whole lot up and starting again, but I will now try a more systematic approach as has been suggested to isolate the problem and perhaps re-wire using 3 districts as John recommends. I'll report back on progress.

Thanks for your suggestions. The Powercab display remains on as it should be when connected to the tracks, but the LED on the PCP doesn't light up. It had occurred to me that perhaps I may have inadvertently omitted to break one of the links between the closure rails and the frog on one of the points. The problem is that the only way to check if that's the case is to potentially take up all 10 points on the layout, not something I relish doing if there's a possibility that the fault lies elsewhere. I will try isolating sections of track to see if that has any effect.

Many thanks I'll give it a go.

Thanks - you really aren't teaching me how to suck eggs! Electrics aren't my strong point which is why I very carefully followed all the advice I could find online when wiring up. But clearly I've done something wrong. I have used electrofrog points before (n gauge unlike OO now) but this is the first time I've used SEEP PM1s and the first time I've used wire to bridge the stock and closure rails and cut the small wires under the point. Ironically everything worked fine then, but not now.

Yes the display lights up fine. It also works fine and when connected to my rolling road, decoder equipped locos work OK on the rolling road. It's only when connected to the track that nothing moves.

The curly cable I'm using is an RJ12 produced by DCC Supplies as a direct replacement for the flat cable (which was damaged) so it does work OK It isn't the curly cable supplied with the Powercab which is only used to connect to a Pro Cab.

Thanks for the advice. Could you tell me where you think I should have the additional feeds to the track.

Thanks Ian I am using a DCC bus, and I have tried disconnecting the droppers and connecting directly to the track, but all to no avail. As you say the curly cable connecting the Powercab seems very ominous. Short of pulling up all the points I'm really at a loss what to do next!

Can anyone please help - I'm now close to pulling my hair out having spent many weeks building my new DCC layout only to find absolutely nothing works on it. I'm using an NCE Powercab with Peco Code 75 track and electrofrog points powered by SEEP PM1 motors. I've attached a wiring diagram of the layout and also one showing how I've wired up the point motors (which work fine). I've also soldered linking wires from the stock to closure rails underneath each point and cut the small connecting wires as the Peco instructions advise. The problem is when I put a loco fitted with a decoder on the track nothing happens. I use a Marrion Ziller rolling road to programme the decoders on my locos and they run fine on there, but transfer them to the layout and nothing at all happens. I have checked all my wiring connections several times and can find nothing wrong, and an electrical multi meter tells me power is reaching the rails OK. I suspect the problem may be a short circuit, but where? Another worrying thing I've recently noticed is that the replacement RJ12 curly cable on my Powercab quickly starts to get very hot when I try and use it on the layout ,but this doesn't happen when connected to the rolling road. Similarly the red indicating light next to the Powercab socket lights up fine when connected to rolling road (showing it is detecting the presence of a decoder), but doesn't light up when connected to the track. I'd be very grateful of any advice anyone can give.

Personally I enjoy seeing a wide and diverse range of layouts at exhibitions whether it be by era, region or scale. It can be stimulating to encounter something new and out of ones own area of interest. In the past it has prompted me to try my hand at layouts in OO, ON30 and N gauge American, before returning to OO gauge British. They say that variety is the spice of life.