Recap: the inside switch at the bottom of this layout makes a buzzing sound if you try to switch it either manually or with the remote when the track has power. Its position cannot be changed. It only buzzes it you try to switch it. And, previously, if you added power to the switch by itself outside of a layout, everything worked fine. (I didn't retest that this time.)
I bought a multimeter today and did some simple testing. Perhaps this new data will explain to one of you what's going on with the left-handed switch on the inside loop. I also took the back off the switch, the switch block, and the remote switch. Didn't see any touching wires but one little metal piece that is visible when assembled had a little corrosion that I tried to remove.
1. Based on LDBennett's comments, I noticed that the track pieces that move were the same length on the switch that works as the one that doesn't. The Vs seem to touch a railing or not when they are supposed to, depending on how I set the switch manually.
2. BAD: If I manually set the switch to be straight when the power is off, turning the track power ON immediately changes the switch position to curved! I never noticed this before. Hopefully it's unrelated to my removing the back and replacing it. But it's clearly not good.
3. Continuity seemed fine and as expected by this novice. I tested from the track below the switch to the switch itself, and also from the track below the switch to the track above the switch.
4a. I disconnected this part of the inner loop from the right arm of the 90-degree cross. Viola! The manual and the remote switches worked perfectly!
4b. So, I replaced the cross with a 10" section to connect it to the curved side of the switch. The switch lamp wouldn't light up. It appeared dead. BUT, there was continuity from the track section below the switch to the 10" section above the left arm of the switch. The voltage was 19.1 however. The transformer is supposed to be 18 volts. Next, I tested the continuity of the straight arm-side of the switch. Touching what should be negative or the unused rail produced a high-pitched tone (not the usual continuity buzz) or the silence that I expected since the switch in between the two leads appears dead. This high pitched tone is what I get when I touch the red and black test leads to both positive rails. But I was touching the negative/unused rails on the track beyond the switch. Weird. Note that this arm of the switch goes to a siding only. So, although the switch gave no readings, track on all three of its arms had power, and the track section above the supposedly switched off straight side was acting as though the grounds had positive power.
5. I ordered a second lock on, but the track near the switch had about 18 volts, which should have been enough to throw the switch had it been working properly. (In fact, it DID throw the switch unexpectedly when I first turned the power on, as already noted.)
So, is there a short or something? Or, is it time to contact MTH support?
Thanks,
Tomlinson Run RR
