Jumper wires for better track Signal ?

Porsche,

Jumpers will work until your are ready to screw thing down.

whenever get you are ready.

Good luck, John 

Sure, you can jumper the center rails together at any spot you feel there may be a loose connection. I'd also jumper the outside rails together. We  need good solid track connections. This is not to be confused with dcs paired  track wiring below.

Sometimes tooo many track feeders  can cause problems.  Ex .. 3 ten footers may yield a lower signal that one 30 foot block.   I suppose  a dcs signal of 7 is pretty good, but why not get a 10.    Each tiu channel  has a  signal  generator so take advantage of it if you have any spare channels.  You can even use the same power supply.

  A magic bulb  installed  the channel  terminal blocks(if using) does wonders to increase the dcs signal. Good luck.

It could be the track connectors.

Watch this video and look at where you have the low signal. Any 10 inch or 5 inch in the area?

Jumpers are fine when you need them.  As long as you can blow the horn or whistle everywhere while you're running don't bother with jumpers.

My Kids Carpet Central page shows one way to install jumpers if you need them.

Porsche1662,

Thinking back on various FasTrack issues and DCS a few more infrastructure thoughts came to mind along the line of the track connectors.

Are the center rails of the blocks isolated from one another? The 1 3/8" 6-12073 and the 5" Block track 6-12060 allow one to pull the center rail jumper wire for center rail isolation. There has to be at least one in a loop. DCS doesn't like the signal running back on itself.

The FasTrack switch electronics have been known to create signal interference. Use of a choke solves that issue. Replace the track power jumper on a switch with each lead of the choke. A 22uh fixed inductor, 560ma(one of the first two, axial leads)

Hi Carl, I do have a few blocks in each loop.

Your last comment I didn't understand. Replace the track power jumper with a choke ?

Can you please explain how to do that and what goes where ? I do notice on several switches the track signal does get low but don't know how to address that.

Thanks

Are you powering the switches via track power?

On the bottom, where the connections are for the controller wires, there are two connectors where a metal jumper is in place to power the switches with track power. (Track power and Aux In)

If you are powering them with a separate power source, then the leads of the choke are attached with the hot and common power source wires.(Aux In and Aux GND)

See attached and video

I am powering through track power so I should not do this unless I block off switch and run separate,power like the video correct ?

thanks Carl

No. Track power is fine. I just gave you both methods as I didn't know which way you were doing it.

Track power is simpler. back to my first comment. Just replace that track power jumper (see the pdf) with the choke and the electrical noise will be filtered out.

OK thanks, I will try that. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't confused. Thanks again !

No problem. Tuning the track system for DCS varies from track manufacturer. I felt like that was all that was needed, since you weren't having any major issues.

Try some small things in the trouble areas. there's no reason to not have 10's everywhere.

Post back with your results for other FasTrack/DCS users.

Will do thanks, best place to get the filters ?

The link takes you to Digi-Key. They have the most reasonable shipping for small orders.