Part of Flex Track Section Dead?


PMW

Well-Known Member
I had a section of a single piece of flex track suddenly stop providing power. Power resumed a few inches away on the same piece of flex track. I cleaned the track but nothing!

This has happened twice in fact. Once I replaced the whole piece and that solved it. The second time was today. I didn't have enough flex to replace the whole thing so I cut out the section of track where there was no power and spliced in a section. This solved the problem!

Has anyone else had this bizarre experience?
 
Sounds like you have some type of clear coating on the rail that insulates it from the wheels. Try cleaning it with a Brightboy or even steel wool (very small section) to see if that fixes it.
 
Thanks, guys. I meant to put in my original post that dirty was my first thought but cleaning didn't help. It wasn't even off and on....it was just dead before and after cleaning. In one case the piece was only days out of the package and the first 6" or so was "dead".

I wouldn't believe it either if cutting out that section of flex track and splicing in a piece of older track didn't work.

I find it completely inexplicable but for a couple of bucks and a little work I seemed to have resolved it. Just wanted to know if anyone else has seen something like this and if so had any insight on what could be going on.
 
Did you try a couple feeder wires to the section of track ? Even jumping from each of the two adjoining tracks. Voltage check on the bad rail for sure.
 
Did you try a couple feeder wires to the section of track ? Even jumping from each of the two adjoining tracks. Voltage check on the bad rail for sure.
I did temporarily jump wires from adjacent tracks but didn't help. I wanted to put a volt meter on it but.... yeah I got a get one of those 😞
 
Short of there being a break in the rail, I don't see how it is possible to have conductivity on part of a rail and not on another. I would guess there is something on the rail.

But, it also doesn't sound like the check engine light in my car should only come on on Tuesdays at a certain intersection but it does.
 
You have a case of bad rail joiners (assuming you don't use feeders) or a feeder wire has come lose (assuming you do use feeders.)

There is nothing wrong with the flex track, it's your electrical connections. No need to replace the track at all. Solder the joints or install power feeders and the problem will go away.
 
A voltmeter would tell the tale…
Flex track is a solid, visible piece of conductive metal… it’s not likely to be the issue unless it’s damaged and that would be visible…
Rail joiner/bad feeder/dirty trackway more likely..
I used to have stoppages with dirty track that required cleaning every month
In March 2022 I applied No Ox ID once to the rails and haven’t had a stoppage or cleaned the rails since.
 
I agree that all these suggestions are good explanations but in both cases I cleaned the track to no avail, replaced the track or section of track (introducing more rail joiners than were there when it was working!). I didn't replace any feeders or existing rail joiners and now it works.

Seems it must have been something with the track itself but I may never know. I hope it doesn't happen again or I'm going to actually have to figure out what it is because I'm not going to keep replacing track if I don't have to.
 
I'd put that section back and see if it miraculously fixes itself. Like rebooting a computer. You may have done something different this time. The rail is nothing but a long piece of wire shaped different and there's no possible way for the conductivity to change. It has to be an installation issue since you said you cleaned the track.
 
One other possibility is there may have been a dip in the track where it was stopping.

You should be able to test this a couple ways, but the simplest way would be to put some shims (a business card or 2, maybe 3) under the offending section of track and see if the problem goes away. It doesn't take much of a dip to lift wheelsets off the rails. A harshe transition to or from an incline can also cause the same "dead" spot. SO it's really not that the rails are dead, it's that the wheels float over the rails, not making contact.

Or, you could try pressing down on the loco to see if it suddenly makes contact again.

I'm assuming the loco goes completely dead, meaning even lights go out. If the lights stay on, then the gremlin is inside the loco.

A multimeter will tell you if the tracks are energized, and if they are, then you're losing contact with the rail... it's either air, or something on the rail, or something on the wheels.

The fact that the trouble temporarily goes away when using a new piece of track, tells me that it is highly possible that there is a slight low spot in your sub roadbed, and it takes a little while for the new track to settle into the low spot enough to cause the trouble.

At least that's my theory. I mean it's happening at the same place, even with different track, correct? So it's something about that spot.. not necessarily the track.

Unless that spot is directly under an oil burning furnace or something else that would get just that section of track dirty faster than the oher areas of your layout.
 
Is the dead section connected to a turnout?
The first one was connected to the straight through section of the frog side. The second one was connected to Peco flex on one end and a short piece of Atlas straight leading into Atlas bridge track.
 
It did not make any sense at all to me how only part of a piece of track could be "dead" for reasons which have been mentioned. I wanted to get some ideas about what was going on and you guys delivered with some great ideas.

Whatever it was I don't think I'll be going backwards by removing track that works and replacing it with track that didn't for whatever reason.

All my track is laid now so hopefully I won't screw anything up while gluing the remaining unglued track!

Also, just picked up a multi-tester. How did I get this far without one?! The hard way I guess :oops:
 
OK, the fun's over :-(
Seriously, I'm glad you got it working and it would be silly to go backwards as I stupidly suggested. Or would it... No, no going backwards, it's not my layout :cool: I'll shut up now.
 
OK, the fun's over :-(
Seriously, I'm glad you got it working and it would be silly to go backwards as I stupidly suggested. Or would it... No, no going backwards, it's not my layout :cool: I'll shut up now.
😃Thanks for the help! This is my first layout so I'm guessing I'll get another chance at some point to figure out how I screwed up laying track :)

Great suggestions from everyone. Gives me things to look for in the future as I will inevitably have more problems!
 
I didn't replace any feeders or existing rail joiners and now it works.

Seems it must have been something with the track itself but I may never know. I hope it doesn't happen again or I'm going to actually have to figure out what it is because I'm not going to keep replacing track if I don't have to.
But the simple action of replacing the flex track rubbed the rail joiners and created contact.

As was stated before all flex track is is a piece of metal. It doesn't "break". The only way it doesn't work is if there isn't electricity getting to it (bad rail joiners or bad feeders) or the track are dirty and lose contact.

If you are counting on rail joiners for electrical contact you will have problems again in the future.
 



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