First Test Complete!

Joel Morse, Dave Sheehan, Wayne Lawson and I tested the updated system yesterday and it tested well!

In my last few posts I discussed how the layout runs great with just me playin' around.  But when the guys would come over, all Hell would break loose.  Of course, no one believed me that it works fine when they aren't there.

In working with Brendan Fraiser and Duncan Cabassi from Australia via email, Brendan suggested there was not enough power in the UP5's.  Long story short (you can read about it in my previous post), I ran a buss, one for each room, and connected all the UP5's to that buss.  Now there was more power in the system to run all the throttles needed to run the layout and now everything seems to run fine.

In yesterdays testing, it appears I may have a bad UP5, which I will test and replace if necessary.  Other than that the throttles and trains ran great.

One other issue reared it's ugly head AGAIN.  That is the slot max issue.  This is a random thing and there is no reason for it.  This time was unusual because as I fired up the computer to review the issue in JMRI, all I had to do was open the slot window, and the issue resolved itself.  Wierd!  See you soon slot max!  I'm gonna getcha!

Unrelated to any of this, I noticed another issue.  That is that there appears to be power coming IN from the track in a certain section, 1v, enough to light the power on LED on the DCS100.  Lots of testing later did not produce a source.  Still working on that.  Not sure if it is actually causing a problem or not.

It's been very hot the past couple weeks, even near the coast where I live.  As a result, I had two sections of track where the feeder wire came loose.  It's nice to have an easy fix once in a while!  Actually, can I get those more often instead of the ones that are just a bear to figure out and solve?

It was so fun to run trains yesterday with the guys and I ran some after they left, mainly to reposition trains back to their last location in JMRI.  There is hope!

Thank you to Brendan Fraiser, Duncan Cabassi, Joel Morse, David Sheehan, Wayne Lawson and Phil Klein for all your patience and help.  Without you guys I would have a nice clean garage with two lovely cars in it!

Frank Kenny