Advice Needed: Do I have a Power Problem or a TMCC Problem?

I'm guessing your using original TMCC set up. First make sure the batteries are fully charge. I had some batteries that got weak and I had horn/whistle,bells,direction,couplers, and even crew talk and tower com's but only way I could get the engine to move was boost. but if I stop hitting the boost it would stop. it didn't have the power to run the engine, I replaced the batteries and all was fine. 

I hadn't thought about that. You mean the locomotive batteries?

And yes- original TMCC.

No in the hand held controller the cab1

The CAB-1 controller has 4 AA batteries in it.

I forget how it was explained to me but it's something about the electronics, some thing like it takes more power to send to the motor

Tell us exactly how you have the Command Base connected to the layout, and exactly how you have the Command Base powered - power supply(wallwart), extension cords, surge protectors, plug strips, where it's plugged in etc.

Thanks all.

the base has a Walmart plugged directly into the wall. The layout connection is a 14awg wire from command base to the U post on the Zw

unrelated but all track feeders are  spade clips soldered to the track tabs for a combo of reliability and the spades not slipping off

a walmart or walwart? you need to have the 3 prong plug or it won't work

It needs the ground to work. also is your U terminal where you have the TMCC hooked to and does that go to outside rails?

Which wall wart are you using? Is the outlet grounded(you may need to check with one of those little outlet testers)?

First have fresh batteries and the Lionel wall wart is plugged into a grounded house outlet...

It sounds like a signal issue rather than power issue. The outside rails (the U terminal of the transformer connection) are one side of the signal and the ground pin of the wall wart is the other side. The ground pin passes the signal to the ground wires in your house wiring. Rarely, but possible, a surge protected outlet strip can interfere with this.

Are the headlights blinking? That is a sure sign of poor or no TMCC signal. Hold your hand over the engine when you are trying to move it, if it is a poor signal, it will recover and start to move using your body as an extension of the ground wire antenna.

Thanks everyone!

Some updates:

-New batteries are in the remote, and it may jsut be in my head, but it seems to help a bit.

- I hadn't even thought about the wall outlet grounding. That could very well be my issue. I'm living in a temporary apartment as my job relocated me to NYC, and its about 5000 years old so no grounding wouldn't surprise me. My tester is in storage so going to buy another and see if that cures it!

- Two trains are now running without anything I'd label a power issue so its in the TMCC line somewhere...

- The Lionel K4 (it was odyssey after all) runs like a dream at the moment in TMCC. The K line Hudson still has reception bugs, and slows in the corner furthest from the command base. It doesn't slow as much -if at all- in conventional so still a challenge there. And the headlight flickers when taking commands occasionally, so all seems to be adding up to a ground fault. Haven't tried the EP5 as that is the worst offender by far...

More to follow- I cannot thank you all enough for your help. I@d have been lost and frustrated without it!

Hi everyone,

So I did some sorting yesterday. First up I went and tested every single outlet in the apartment, and sure enough the only one that was wired improperly in the whole place was the one I had been using for the trains- for 2 years now... A quick relocation of the command base to another outlet with a direct wire to the center rail fixed 80% of problems- including the troublemaker EP5! I was shocked at the differnce- and good cal on checking the outlet!

There were still a few quirks though, so I then ran an extension for the ZW to the second outlet. (couldn't easily relocate that) and sure enough we got another 10% improvement.

Its down to a few small bugs with my K line hudson missing come commands, but I think we are good enough to rock, and maybe invest in some new controls or a modern-era power solution for next season.

thanks to you all!

jpcanton posted:

... A quick relocation of the command base to another outlet with a direct wire to the center rail fixed 80% of problems- including the troublemaker EP5! I was shocked at the differnce- and good cal on checking the outlet!

OK, one last issue - you do not  want any command base-outlet-direct wire connection to the center rail.

Once the Command Base power supply is plugged in to a grounded AC outlet, the only connection to the layout would be from the Command Base thumb nut/post to layout ground - or "U" on your ZW.  A-B-C-D of the ZW are for center rail power.

Wow, a lot to learn here. Will try that solution tonight!

ADCX Rob posted:

OK, one last issue - you do not  want any command base-outlet-direct wire connection to the center rail.

While that's certainly not a recommended connection, it actually doesn't seem to make much difference.  My Legacy works just as well connected to the center rail as to the outside rails.  I don't recommend it, I was just curious what it would do.

I have no doubt that works, as it should, but gosh that would make for some wacky wiring schemes to have all of your blocks covered by the command signal when needed. Oh, wait, that's how DCS works!

Rob, I was thinking of DCS when you posted that, and I decided to avoid mentioning it.  You opened a can of worms!

John, I have never even touched  a piece of DCS equipment, but I know enough about how it works, just enough, to be dangerous.

Perhaps I know a bit more, and I know I'm dangerous!   I have touched a few of them...