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Reply to "TMCC/Legacy Track Signal Booster (Dale's Legacy Continues)"

John, back on 9/10 I posted some info about the Legacy signal issue I was having on my 2 rail layout. I now have it fixed so I thought I would share the cause of the problem. You were correct it had to be some kind of ground loop issue. First just for info but not related to the problem, the layout power is supplied from a dedicated 20A circuit from the main panel. The house has 2 sub panels, one for inside circuits and one for exterior loads. The balance of the outlets and lights in the train room are supplied from the interior sub panel.

The layout was built with metal foil tape under all the track. All  the foil tape is connected together and wired back to the main control cart with a single ground wire. The problem was this wire was connected to a ground pin in a power strip rather than to the proper Legacy base connection. There are 3 power strips on the control cart, power strip "A" plugs into the 20A outlet, "B" plugs into "A" and "C" plugs into "B". The 990 base is plugged into power strip "C", The new Buffer is plugged into "A" and the separate ground pin mentioned above was plugged into "B".

As soon as I unplugged the separate ground connection the buffer indicator turned steady green, the layout works perfectly with all engines working everywhere on the layout. I will ultimately connect the ground wire correctly but I need to disassemble some cable bundles on the control cart to do that. I like it when a fix is that simple. I am really surprised a professional layout builder made this kind of incorrect wiring connection for a Legacy system. Also, none of the unique 2 rail controllers have any effect on the system function.

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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