# Track power



## jody (Jan 3, 2016)

Hello everyone. This question is for the electrical people out there. I have been running traditional track power for 17 years. This year I don’t seem to have the power I used to. I’m wondering if my solder connections are going to ground wherever they come in contact with the ballast or soil. Thanks for your help


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

My railroad was built in 1997 and all track joints have soldered bond (16 gauge) wire jumpers. The railroad is split into 21 blocks.

Do you have good power right where the wire is connected to the track and it fades as you get further from this spot?

Did you do soldered jumper wires between the rail sections? After over 20 years, some of these have failed in that they create high resistance due to corrosion between the solder joint and wire or the wire had corroded through.

BTW, I do find that as things get older, the trains won't operate into the night as the dew point drops like they did when new and I attribute at least some of this to "bleed" into the ballast, which has a high iron content as it sticks to all my track and engine magnets.

Also, consider after all these years that the pick-ups from the wheels to the wiring in teh engines have worn. I have Aristo FA/FB units that will buck and stall regardless of how clean the track and wheel treads are because that's not where the problem lies. The USA engines seem somewhat better for this.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

While I have measured some leakage through moist ballast, it's almost for sure a week connection somewhere.

You should put a load of several amps at the furthest point from the power feed, and then measure the track voltage starting from the feed to where you have attached the load... the issue will show itself quickly.

Without the load you will probably never find the issue unless you have a complete power outage.

Greg


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

And remember if it is a loop then there are really 2 problems. Power comes from te source in a loop and then spreads in both directions from the connection/s. When there is a low voltage or dead spot, it is power not coming from both directions on a loop.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I call it the clock problem.... think of a loop like the circle on a clock face...

suppose you send power at 6 o'clock

and you have a break at 2 o'clock

hard to find the break because power can come to the break from either direction.

Now if you on purpose put insulators at 12 o'clock... and the break is at 2 o'clock... you can find the break easily.

Same kind of debugging for not only a failed connection, but a high resistance one.

Greg


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## backyardRR (Aug 14, 2012)

Greg Elmassian said:


> I call it the clock problem.... think of a loop like the circle on a clock face...
> 
> suppose you send power at 6 o'clock
> 
> ...





jody said:


> Hello everyone. This question is for the electrical people out there. I have been running traditional track power for 17 years. This year I don’t seem to have the power I used to. I’m wondering if my solder connections are going to ground wherever they come in contact with the ballast or soil. Thanks for your help


There can be issues with power distribution in a loop that are not obvious at first. This year I had an issue with a section of track between a turnout and a track joint about 30 feet away. Both ends of the track were fed by a feeder from the origin. I tightened the Aristo screws on the joint but decided to also solder jumpers at that point. Just for the heck of it I checked continuity across the PIKO turnout at the other end. Yep, that route was not transfering power thus breaking one end of the loop. The internal jumpers must have failed. While I had installed jumpers with later PIKO turnout installations, this was one of the earliest installs without jumpers. I soldered jumpers to the turnout and now all is well. A programmer I knew in the 1980s once told me "always program for failure". If it can fail, it will at some point.


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## du-bousquetaire (Feb 14, 2011)

While we are on the subject of track power outdoors, I wanted to give a warning fr those of us in hills or near a hilltop, it happened to me a few weeks ago: One nice evening I went to bed and got woken up by a thunder storm in the middle of the night in particular when thunder hit very close to us. Not on the layout proper mind you but the layout whichs is pretty big, being two tracks 90 meters in circumference, with other tracks leading to the indoor terminus where the power source and receiver for my Crest train engeneer are situated. The track must have acted as an antena of sorts, as both my receiver and my rather new Bridgewerks 15 amps power supply got some high voltage for a fraction of a second and were damaged. As I live in France, it is no use sending the Bridgewerks for repairs as it weighs a bomb and would cost just as much to ship as to buy a new one. Total damage around: $450. So plan a railjoint that can be disjointed (with marklin plugs for jumpers) and a plug to disconnect the track from the power supply. In case of thundershowers unplug. This is particularly true on my pike which has jumpers at all joints + a feeder of Hi Fi wire going around the pike with feeders every ten to 13yards or so. I don't have any current drop problems with my engines at crawling speed around the pike.


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## Ted Doskaris (Oct 7, 2008)

Thanks so much for the info. about the effects of thunder storms (lightning bolt/s) on your layout. I had always wondered if anyone had experienced this, and you did.
Some things I thought of doing as a preventative is to clamp a metal bar across the rails on the outdoor layout, and then install a long copper grounding rod in the dirt nearby and electrically connect the track with shorting bar to the ground rod. Of course, the shorting bar should be taken off when running the trains.
-Ted


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## jody (Jan 3, 2016)

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Because of work and family My railroad sat idle for 6years. I guess I’m going to have to check every joint and clean them. Thanks again


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## jody (Jan 3, 2016)

Also I use sectional track so I can’t solder jumpers on every joint. When I built my railroad I put no-ox electric paste on every joint and squeezed everything before installing the track. This is the first time I have had any problems.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

What brand track and what joiners?

Also you can solder jumpers outboard of the joiner.

Greg


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

Lightning is very interesting to me as the cloud in the sky (over 1000 feet away) tries to find an entry to earth. Metal is the easiest path, but one must remember that this 'bolt' of lightning has traveled over 1000 feet in open air, so in my opinion a on-off switch of 1/2 inch would do nothing to stop this occurance. I have seen the results of a lightning hit at my friends shed and it hit the metal and then ran on the ground over 10 feet to his pool to get to the motor and then to his house. This lightning did make a trench in the ground to the pool.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)




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## backyardRR (Aug 14, 2012)

I have seen posts in the past about issues with lightning strikes and garden RR tracks. In the cold weather months I transfer my engines, power supply and Revolution receiver into the house from the unheated garage. As a result, I originally set up the connection with the "outside world" with a banana plug (I think that's what it is called) so I could quickly disconnect the entire power supply setup. I may start disconnecting it when a storm is forecast or even when not in use. I took some pictures. Sorry but the flash decided to act up so the lighting is not too good.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

That is a 1/4" phone jack.

the contacts on banana plugs look a bit like a banana


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