Reverse Loop Problems

[yachtjim]

I have two reverse loops on my track. Both are about 5' long and have 1 power feed for each. I have a Digitrax Empire Builder now but a Super Chief on the way. Each reverse section has a Digitrax AR1. These things started out great about a month ago but have been getting worse and worse each day. I have one Atlas loco in particular with a soundtraxx decoder that trips one of them every time by. I tune them counterclockwise until they click non stop then tune them clockwise until the track shorts. Can't find a happy place in the middle like when they were brand new. The other day I bought a DCC Specialties PSX-AR to see if that would help. Its no better. A train will stop at the reverse section each time by. What might be causing this? The train will stop, then start back up and keep going.

 

[yachtjim]

Been trying to read up on this all night. Was just thinking, the power supply I am using is 12V/25Amp but Digitrax recommends 14 to 16V. I called Digitrax about my 12V power supply and the guy said it would be fine. But maybe its not quite good enough to make these reversers work right.

 

[Steamfreak]

Can you clear something up..?? When you say you have 1 power feed to each....does that mean you have the power (2 wires) directly connected to the tracks in the reverse sections..??

 

[yachtjim]

The power is fed to both rail A and B via the reversing module. Its a working system. Trains make it through a lot of the time. I am just inquiring about why the train will stop often.

 

[Steamfreak]

OK...So it's wired correctly....Are you running trains with metal wheels, or that are longer than your reversing section..??
When the train stops, is it in the reversing section..?? Does your system indicate a short condition when it does this..??

 

[flyboy2610]

It sounds like your wheels might be out of gauge just a bit, shorting across the rails. Have you checked them yet?

 

[yachtjim]

Wheels shorting across the rails? What does this mean?

The locomotives typically run into the reversing section then stop right when they are at the point that the reverser should reverse. Just about all of my rolling stock has metal wheels but I'm not sure why this would matter.

I have been playing with it all morning. As soon as I put my newest loco on the tracks and in motion the problem occurs. I can run all of my Atlas Gold stuff around the track at any speed and the reversing sections work flawlessly. If I put my newest atlas silver loco with soundtraxx decoder on the track the reversing sections act up. Anybody have any ideas? Maybe I just need to put a different decoder in.

 

[Steamfreak]

The metal wheels on your cars might just bridge the gap between the main and the reversing section causing the two to be "one", and doing this every few times per second could be "overloading" the response capacity of the reverser....Or if your train is longer than the reversing section, the wheels might be bridging both ends of the section, and the system will shut down....
Your soundtraxx loco might be overloading the rated capacity of the unit as well. Those sound decoders are real "juice" suckers....