billhayleytwo Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 I have just fitted a booster to my layout, it says in the manual that if the green lights on its working ok mine appears to be ok but the orange light is on as well. It says this could be due to reverse popularity I have tried reversing the output track wires and booster wires to no avail It is not on a reverse loop. Any ideas please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St1ngr4y Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 Hi Bill,Don't worry about the yellow light. You may find it switches on and off occasionally. I believe this happens when a short occurs, especially if it is a very brief one which does trigger the red light.Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Have you checked that your second district is fully isolated from the first district bill. Could there be a stray rail joiner that is not insulated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riddles Posted September 3, 2016 Share Posted September 3, 2016 I have exactly the same problem, in fact I am now on the third R8239, having returned two to the shop formerly based in Liverpool. If NOTHING is connected to the booster except the power supply unit, the orange LED still shines brightly. The instructions clearly state that this should only light up if the booster detects that the polarity is opposite to the main section but there is no connection to the main layout. How can three boosters be faulty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yelrow Posted September 3, 2016 Share Posted September 3, 2016 In order to need a booster, your layout needs to fill a double garage, unless i am mis informed. could this simply be that the layouts are far too small. john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riddles Posted September 3, 2016 Share Posted September 3, 2016 In order to need a booster, your layout needs to fill a double garage, unless i am mis informed. could this simply be that the layouts are far too small. johnJohn, that statement is irrelevant to this thread about "Lights on the Booster" as well as being an over-simplification. Ten sound fitted working locos with light fitted coaches, on a four foot oval of track, have the potential to exceed the 3 amp power supply of a basic DCC controller. Split the oval in two with separate feeds/boosters, and all will be OK with 5 trains in each half. Can I have a constructive suggestion as to why the orange light is always on with every R8239 I have tried, even when no track is connected? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yelrow Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Riddles, perhaps a lesson in manners would help. john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St1ngr4y Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 If it is working OK what does it matter if the yellow light is on or off?Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riddles Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 If it is working OK what does it matter if the yellow light is on or off?RayThat is something I am considering before returning the third booster. It is a bit worrying though, connecting expensive equipment together if there is a fault that may possibly affect the other units. What might happen if a train crosses from one booster area to the other and they are of opposite polarity? If working correctly, the supplementary booster SHOULD auto correct. If nobody else has tried this scenario, I am hoping Hornby may be able to advise. Unfortunately they no longer list the R8239 so possibly may have withdrawn support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riddles Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 If it is working OK what does it matter if the yellow light is on or off?RayWell Ray, it turns out you are quite right. I spoke to a very helpful man at Hornby this morning and it turns out that there is virtually a 50/50 chance of whether the orange light is on or off. I have set up two separate power districts with the booster supplying one and the main unit powering the other and have tested by driving a sound fitted loco across the gap. Then I have reversed the feed polarity on the district being fed by the booster and in both cases the loco moves across the gap without hesitation or blip (as it should). Sometimes the light changes, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it flickers.Interestingly, the green "Power" light shows on the booster as soon as the main unit is connected to it, even though the PSU has not been connected.The Hornby man recommended connecting the booster using the "Track Input" terminals rather than the RJ12 socket as he said that would be less problematic.So, the message seems to be, "Ignore the lights, Ignore the Instruction Booklet". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantagt Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Having read the above posts I set too and wired in a hornby booster I have had on the to do list for some time.Everything seemed to work fine except for the same fault with the orange light. However I have found that by switching on the booster first the orange light comes on, the elite is then switched on and the light goes out. The light will still come on as and when it feels like it and goes out again when it's ready. There seems to be no logic to the lights behaviour but as it starts in the off position and stays off for the majority of the time I think I can live with it.I know this is not the answer to the fault but is a solution that works for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Does the light display the same effect when connected in each of the wiring variations shown in the manual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelerXYZ Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Mine sometimes has the orange light on and sometimes doesn't. I never bother to worry about it. It will work fine with the green and orange lights going. Its only if the RED light comes on, the booster stops supplying power to the track. Mine is further complicated by my boosted section divided by 3 sets of IRJs. I know the polarity of mine is right, because the train keeps going in the same direction when it crosses from the boosted section and the other section. And my track would just take up both car park spots in a double garage.XYZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St1ngr4y Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 I know the polarity of mine is right, because the train keeps going in the same direction when it crosses from the boosted section and the other section. On a DCC layout, polarity doesn't govern the direction of travel as it does on an analogue layout.Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 I think it's clear from the post at the bottom of the previous page that the yellow light coming on isn't a fault. And further to Ray's above, it matters not one wit which way around you make the track connections because, if the phase in the booster's region turns out to be opposite to the phase in the controller's region (here, opposite phase can be considered the same as reversed polarity), the booster will instantly swap the phase to match, just like an RLM would in a reversing loop, the two operate the same in this regard. XYZ, the booster also doesn't care if you have additional IRJs in the boosted region, you just need to make sure that your boosted region track connections/bus account for this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantagt Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 Does the light display the same effect when connected in each of the wiring variations shown in the manual.Just been back in the loft to retry booster. It is wired as Fig 2, I don't have a cable 15ft long for Fig 1 and as the track is balasted the power clip option was not tried. Before fitting the booster I had hard wired all the peco points for live frog using accessory switchs, it could be that the booster is very sensative and variation in back to back on locos or stock over points triggers the light. However it is not always at points were the light comes on as I said before there is no logic to it.Maybe the fault is why the booster has been discontinued. Provided it has no long term effect on decoders it does seem to work. In addition the manual says that if the red light comes on switch off the booster and switch it back on, it should say wait for the lights to go out as until the power supply has drained the booster will not reset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St1ngr4y Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 In addition the manual says that if the red light comes on switch off the booster and switch it back on, it should say wait for the lights to go out as until the power supply has drained the booster will not reset. The annoying thing about that is that the booster doesn't have an on/off switch. To overcome that, I added a push-to-break switch in the power lead, which acts as a reset switch after I have cleared the red-light problem.Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 No many Hornby thingies have an on/off switch.I installed one into my Elite 4-amp power pack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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