Track laying,..electrical question
I'm a little confused with this observation of mine. I've been laying lots of code 100 atlas track lately,...and attaching the multiple feeders wires to the bus wires. The area I have in question is down one side of the layout under my steel mill and freight yard tracks. Its all going to be a single power district with a single bus wire feeding it.
That single bus wire stretches the length of side of the layout and has open ends (no connections at this time on either end).
For testing purposes I hooked up a standard DC transformer to one end of that bus wire,...then I can run a couple of DC engines on these tracks,..no problem.
When I test the tracks for continuity with my multimeter, I first touch the tips of the probes together to be sure I am measuring zero ohms resistance. I can then measure along any single rail and/or across rail joints to see that I have very good (zero ohms) resistance.
What I am confused about is when I touch those probes across to two opposite rails of a piece of track, my reading is almost zero resistance,...almost the same as when I have the 2 probes in direct contact with one another......Correct me if I'm wrong, but this measurement should be VERY HIGH resistance,...infinity ?
Wouldn't this indicate some sort of electrical short would occur if I should hook up my power supply to this bus?
I'm a little confused with this observation of mine. I've been laying lots of code 100 atlas track lately,...and attaching the multiple feeders wires to the bus wires. The area I have in question is down one side of the layout under my steel mill and freight yard tracks. Its all going to be a single power district with a single bus wire feeding it.
That single bus wire stretches the length of side of the layout and has open ends (no connections at this time on either end).
For testing purposes I hooked up a standard DC transformer to one end of that bus wire,...then I can run a couple of DC engines on these tracks,..no problem.
When I test the tracks for continuity with my multimeter, I first touch the tips of the probes together to be sure I am measuring zero ohms resistance. I can then measure along any single rail and/or across rail joints to see that I have very good (zero ohms) resistance.
What I am confused about is when I touch those probes across to two opposite rails of a piece of track, my reading is almost zero resistance,...almost the same as when I have the 2 probes in direct contact with one another......Correct me if I'm wrong, but this measurement should be VERY HIGH resistance,...infinity ?
Wouldn't this indicate some sort of electrical short would occur if I should hook up my power supply to this bus?