Set up my Thomas show layout down at Smiths Falls (town about 40 miles away) Friday evening. The layout, two ovals of track, has run with a pair of 27 mHz Train Engineers for a number of years, with minor glitches (mostly operator error :P), and last ran at a show a month ago without a hitch. So I connect everything up this time, and behold, one of the TE receivers ain’t delivering no juice. Fuse is fine, and the receiver responds to its transmitter (leastways, the green light works), but no more than a fraction of a volt gets to the rails (VOM reading). Checked the wiring connecting the TE to the track, couldn’t see anything amiss. The other TE is OK, touch wood.
In the end, having said rude words, I dug out a Bachmann basic train set controller and jury-rigged a track feed from that; darned if it doesn’t give finer control than the TEs ever did. Also discovered a couple of power feed glitches on another module; did a temporary work-around there too.
Anyway, Thomas and Percy trundled around for hours while we stewed in 30C temps in the old Canadian Northern station.
Next project: build a new, standalone control stand that will give me easy access to the wiring, etc. The current receiver/track-connection setup is buried on a shelf on a closed-in module that requires me to take the track deck off to get at some of the connections. Seemed like a good idea at the time to protect the TEs from accidental dings … Repeat to self many times: K-I-S-S.
The trouble is, I have nowhere roomy enough at home to set the whole layout up to check for gremlins, so they all pop up at shows … fortunately, nothing insuperable, so far. The layout modules live winter and summer (and spring and fall) in a trailer in the driveway.
To tell truth, I have been thinking for some time of ditching the TEs for Thomas (I can use them on the backyard layout, where I want to stay far away from mains power) and reverting to regular controllers, so this latest incident may be the trigger.
Oh well, it it ain’t one darn thing, it’s another … The modules are getting a little shopworn and need fixing up (I would have said fettling, but I remember the confusion the last time I used that word :)) and a new coat of paint to impress the clientele. Time? What time?
I have the basic TE(orange) that I got from an Aristo train set and it is useless for more than 10 feet away.
CL Beeson said:I've managed 40-50 feet with the 27 mHz jobs in a hockey arena, and roughly the same in my backyard ... and in this latest adventure, I was holding the transmitter about 24 inches from the wonky receiver, squidged into a tight space under the layout (about 20 inches from floor to bottom of module, and I'm too old to squidge easily :() If I get some daylight after work this week, I'm going to take the module housing the receivers apart (the module is overdue for replacement, anyway), remove the receivers and test the wonky one in a more comfortable position -- seated and upright :)
I have the basic TE(orange) that I got from an Aristo train set and it is useless for more than 10 feet away.
Sometimes the TE receiver forgets its address, reprogram the frequency and track number using at least 18 volts to the TE and fresh batteries in the transmitter.