thewall Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 I have an oval track and 2 controllers (hornby standard) and 2 sets of link wires, but my trains will only go one way with either controller, when i do switch the controller to go the other way the train moves very slowly with the knob turned to max for about 6 inches then stops and the light on the controller is flashing.I have to dismantle the track evry time i have finished with it, i think i have connected somthing wrong as it was working fine before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkingthedog Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 Why have you got two controllers for one oval of track. Disconnect on of the controllers and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howbi Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 Have you tried using just one controller for the oval and no link wires (these are only needed to provide power to a 2nd oval when using one controller).........or are you referring to the power supply wire to the track from the controller as 'link wire'?..........HB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDS Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 Why have you got two controllers for one oval of track ... He had 2 Ovals when he last posted in December (but didn't bother to respond to the help offered at the time!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 If the outputs of both controllers are in direct electrical contact with each other. Then if one of the controllers is switched to go in the other direction then the two controllers will cancel each other out. And then what you have observed & described is likely to happen..Each controller needs to have its own dedicated track circuit to control. Say for example you have two ovals. Oval 1 as the outside oval and oval 2 as the inside oval. Let's also say that controller 1 is connected to oval 1 and controller 2 is connected to oval 2.Now you can't place link wires between the two ovals, because this will electrically connect the outputs of both controllers electrically together. When you use Hornby link wires to connect two ovals together, you only do that when you are going to run both loops via a single controller..Now let us say that you add a cross-over pair of points between oval 1 & oval 2 so that you can run a train from one oval loop to the other oval loop and that both the two oval loops have their own dedicated controller. In that scenario, you would normally (optional but recommended) use insulated rail joiners to connect the two facing points together. Thereby maintaining the electrical separation between the two controllers..Also, if you accidentally reverse the wires to one of your link connections you can generate a short circuit which will stop your locos..All this and more is described in detail in Chapter 5 of my downloadable PDF document posted on this Hornby website. You can find the link for my downloadable PDF here on this Hornby webpage.https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/track-extension-pack-guide/?p=1.PS - Link wires in Hornby speak are Hornby R8201 and have a special purpose. Link wires is not the term used to describe the connection between the controller and the track if that is what you meant to describe..TIP: As you are a newbie poster, just be aware that the 'Blue Button with the White Arrow' is not a 'Reply to this post' button. If you want to reply to any of the posts, scroll down and write your reply in the reply text box at the bottom of the page and click the Green 'Reply' button..See also – further TIPs on how to get the best user experience from this forum.https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/tips-on-using-the-forum/. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkingthedog Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 Thanks RDS, "I have an oval track" read differently to me. 😆 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDS Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 @WTD,I fully agree, it reads differently to me as well. I just noticed he had 2 ovals in December. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewall Posted January 25, 2020 Author Share Posted January 25, 2020 He had 2 Ovals when he last posted in December (but didn't bother to respond to the help offered at the time!)Firstly sorry RDS for not replying to last post, the info i was given sorted out my problem so thanks to everybody. At least on this community you do get answers .I now have 3 ovals and a fiddle yard and i had it set up with the trains able to use all the ovals and all i had to do to have one train running on the inner oval and fiddle yard was to disconnect a link wire, i had it this way so my gradson could use the inner track and i use the outer track, when i put it together this time i had an idea what to do but got it wrong, had been trying for several hours to sort it out thats when i posted, finally srted the problem i had got the link wires crossed and in the wrong place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 It may be worth making a sketch of the layout and where the various connections need to be made to help the next time you set it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 As I said in my reply.....it is important not to get the 'link wire' wires crossed. But I'm now sure that this is gonna be something that you will only do once......and remember next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDS Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 @thewallThat's OK. Glad you got it sorted.I think it is true to say that most questions get answered eventually. The reasons for coming back and giving some feedback are that first of all it is a nice way of thanking the person that helped you because they will have spent time trying to understand your problem and putting together an answer, also to be able to look at the thread and see the answer helps other members in future that may have the same problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewall Posted January 26, 2020 Author Share Posted January 26, 2020 It may be worth making a sketch of the layout and where the various connections need to be made to help the next time you set it up.Hi RAF96 i have attached a sketch with the controllers in green and blue and the link wires in brown and purple i hope you can understand, would off replied earlier but being a newbie i'm restricted. /media/tinymce_upload/ffb1702cc9886bd62ff6fa1c11c8f454.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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