# Circuit breaker blows



## charter.pa (Apr 23, 2014)

I set my layout up in 6 districts. At two different boundaries the engine stalls or shuts down right over the gap in between the districts The EB1 breakers cycle intermittently of each other. How do I correct this ?


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## gregc (Apr 25, 2015)

are the polarity of the rails on both sides of the gaps the same?

if the terminals on the boosters are labeled A and B, the rails on either side of the gaps must both be A or B. Otherwise, when the rail on the one side of the gap is positive and the rail on the other side of the gap is negative, causing a short.


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## charter.pa (Apr 23, 2014)

I'm going to say yes they are wired the same. I have red on the outer rail and black on the inner rail. No reversed track. Once the engine passes over the gaps ( jerks while moving fast ) then it works fine. If moving very slow , the wheels span the gap it shuts down and both breakers flip on and off alternating back and forth. push the engine past gap and it resets and the engine goes fine. The manual shows black dots and an 'X' so I wired the black wires to the black dots and the red wires to the "X". Not really sure what to think.


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## gregc (Apr 25, 2015)

what about the connects from the command station to the boosters? are they flipped?


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## charter.pa (Apr 23, 2014)

The NCE manual shows the red wire to the far right port going to the outer rail. By NCE diagram, they are correct.


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## gregc (Apr 25, 2015)

i'm was referring to the connections between the command station and booster, not between the booster and rails


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

If your loconet cable is custom made, you may have inverted the wires. That will cause the very action you are describing.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

The symptoms you describe definitely indicate,
as others have said, a mismatch of the phase
at the district 'joints' where it occurs.

You can test this with your multimeter set
to AC. One probe on the right rail and other
probe on right rail on
the other side of the insulated joiner. If you get a voltage
reading appx. 14 volts, one of the districts is
out of phase (polarity). You should find the
same situation at the 'other' end of that district.

If your track to bus feeders are correctly Red and
Black, they must be crossed somewhere back
to the District power source.

Incidentally, many kudos for your very neat and
professional wiring. Should make it easy to trace
the problem.

Don


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## charter.pa (Apr 23, 2014)

I called NCE. They told me to switch the wires on breaker 2, the output side. It's fixed now. I don't understand how the power is routed that's for sure. I crossed the red and black wires and this fixed it ?


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## gregc (Apr 25, 2015)

#4 in the photo?


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## charter.pa (Apr 23, 2014)

2 is the second from the far left. I flipped the red and black wire on the out put side of the breaker.


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## charter.pa (Apr 23, 2014)

This problem has NOT been fixed, it moved locations. Now only breaker 2 trips when crossing into breaker 1. Breaker 1 does not trip. I reversed the output wires on breaker 1 and it didn't correct the problem. There is a new version Shinohara double crossover that connects blocks 1 and 2. The frogs are insulated in plastic and the center of the switch is also insulated. I have read up a little on these crossovers but they are Peco not Shinohara. As soon as the front wheels cross the insulated line up the middle is where it stops and trips breaker. The engine does not stall or hesitate when going thru the first frog. I am not sure if the breakers are out of phase or is the switch out of phase.


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## gregc (Apr 25, 2015)

do you have a reversing section?


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## charter.pa (Apr 23, 2014)

I do. It is not wired in yet. I still have to work on block 5 and the reverse sections.


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## charter.pa (Apr 23, 2014)

I found an article by G. Galyon covering the Shinohara. Throw all four switches at the same time eliminates crossed phase. I did this and the engine went right thru with no problem. I will wire 4 tortises to switch at the same time from a single toggle.


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