Strange activity on certain parts of the track

[Will Hay]

I've recently moved my track up to the loft, where it's gone from 8' x 4' to 11' x 9'.

I've yet to settle on a definitive layout, instead, I've been arranging and using for a week or two to see how I feel.

My latest layout amendment was somewhat nominal, but this time I've noticed that on the outer loop [multiple] trains don't respond to a decrease in speed and on more than one occassion don't respond to the stop button on the controller.

It tends to be on the far side of the layout, i.e. the furthest point away from the [only] power connector.

 

I'm using a Select controller with a 4amp PSU and don't have, nor do I indend to have, a bus wire.

I've sucessfully run nearly ten locomotives on a similar sized layout, all without problems of this kind.

 

One thing I have noticed is that in making my recent layout amendments I used far more flexible track than I would like, would a poor/series of a poor fishplate connectors be the cause?

 

Thanks.

[Flashbang]

Fishplates / Rail joiners are, and always have been, the poor connector in the circuit even on DC layouts. Hence why Bus wires and Droppers are used and then the joiners just align the rails.. But you have very clearly stated your not going or use a bus pair (Don't know why even if you have not had problems before?). So your option is to ensure each joiner is a tight fit onto both sides of the two rails they join and of course ensure the rail tops are kept spotlessly clean.

[2e0dtoeric]

As FB put, poor rail joints and muck! Guaranteed to give weird behaviour.

Also check you haven't accidentally used a dc power-track - with a capacitor in it for tv suppression  - that is totally ujnnecessary with modern tv's! The capacitor can corrupt the DCC signal, giving more weird behaviourf.

[Will Hay]

Thank you all.

[Will Hay]

One other thought.

I've just added the DCC ready hornby pendolino to my collection and noticed a capacitor within the body, at the far end, opposite the decoder.

 

I've never noticed a capacitor in a DCC ready locomotive before.

In fact, when I've converted DC engines to DCC I've always removed them.

 

Could this be a factor and am I safe to remove the capacitor?

[Flashbang]

Removing suppresion capacitors on a DCC loco will never hurt.

Leaving them in can at times casue poor running issues with some decoders.

[Will Hay]

I've removed the pendolino set from the track and can't replicate the fault with my existing engines.

[Will Hay]

Everything is fine if I add the pendalino with the motor, the problems seem to come when I add the rear, non motorised section.

[Will Hay]

Whoops.

 

Sincere thanks Ericm0hff.

 

I'm not sure how I managed it, but when re-assembling my track at the weekend I used a second piece of power track I have, one with a resistor still in it.

It was neatly piled up with the rest of my track stock.

 

Thanks again, I would have never, ever have checked this.

I'll monitor, but I'm sure this is the cause of the problem.

[Fishmanoz]

You know you don't need a different power track, just snip out the capacitor in the existing DC one.

[Will Hay]

No, I know,thanks.

 

I had two, one had the capacity removed and the other hadn't.

I simply used the wrong one.

 

Since my last post I was still having problems with runaway, despite removing the resistor from the power track.

 

I stripped down the entire layout and removed the majority of the flexi track, most of which I felt was a little loose, certainly more so than the standard track.

 

I then ran a single engine on each loop,building up to five on five loops.

I then ran ten engines on five loops.

 

The problem has almost gone, but not quite.