AIU not tripping relays

Mike how about a wiring diagram. Things just do not look right to me. I assume the AIU is supposed to trigger a relay. Where do the black and red jumpers go/do? 

I guess the white jumpers on the AIU provide power to the AUI internal switch and the green wires distribute power to the relay.  The relays need to be connected to common in order to throw a solenoid (or what ever is being used these days) and you do not show what happens to the relay side of the business. I do not have any relay boards so maybe I am just blowing smoke?   

Jo Jeff, o will upload a wire diagram tomorrow,  the red and black wires go to a 12v power supply, you are correct about the white wires and green wires. With the help of @Mark Boyce o did an ohm test and have continuity when spose to. I followed his wire set up, but something is messed up on my end cause it works great on Mark's  layout

morning Jeff, here is the drawing, after looking at it I think I might have found my mistake. I do not have the red power from the watchdog going to the relay board. I will switch that around today and see if that makes a difference.

Mike, I was just going to post the wiring diagram.  We will stay tuned.

Mike if that doesn’t work, let me know. I can send you some photos of what works for us; we have quite a few and no problems except when I get careless.

@Bill Webb posted:

Mike if that doesn’t work, let me know. I can send you some photos of what works for us; we have quite a few and no problems except when I get careless.

Hi Bill, I will take all the help I can get, I have tried everything!

Mike, if I recall correctly, I had a similar problem when I first connected mine.  At first I used two different wall warts, one for the AIU contacts and the other for the relay board.  Bill had used the same wall wart for everything.  When I went to one wall wart it worked.  I have no idea why.  Now after working on yours yesterday, I have no idea why it won’t work.  As you said, you disconnected everything, and start over with just one connection from AIU to relay board.  I’m going to take a nap 😴

Use one wall wart. Two didn’t work for us.

Be sure that the relays are configured properly.

We used orange and white wires to connect the wall wart. In a couple of places, I decided to use black wire instead of orange… that was dumb. Note how the wall wart is connected to the relays. Yours are not done in this manner. I would probably try changing this before disconnecting everything.

We always tested the first relay to be sure that things worked. Our first AIU was defective. Thank goodness we caught it.

If this makes no sense, call me and we can walk thru it. I think you have my number. If not, let me know and I will send a PM.

This process is one of the delights of this hobby 🙄😲🤨

Wall wart used black and white. Be sure the AIU is working.

The next three used orange and white.

This and the next hilite the relay jumpers

Thanks Bill, from the looks of it the only thing different from yours to mine is I don't have the power jumping around to the other side of the relays. If I am mistaken please let me know!

That is the only difference that I see assuming that your relays are the same.

Before Christmas I rewired the yards and switched the wiring around. It didn’t work. I went back to what we had always done and no problems. The wall wart was the problem.

Try changing it and, if it doesn’t work, lets get on the phone and go thru it. Did you check the AIU with something simple to be sure it is working?

Hi Bill I did not , what do you suggest?

Forgive my ignorance, but since the AIU is a box full of relays, why are the external relays needed?

Hi Rich, I was told that 10amp relays should be used for powering sidings and staging yards so the power wasn't feeding the engines or lighted cars all the time.

That’s a good question, Rich.  When I was planning my wiring, I was told the early AIUs had 10 amp relays, but later ones had 4 amp relays.  I have 2 new ones and 2 used ones, so I went with a setup like Bill Webb went with for the reason Mike related.  Yes, it was tempting to not go with the extra wiring, but 4 amps was a little close for comfort with more than one engine on a track.

I’m not sure about that 4 amp spec.

Before you get into any more external relays, why not open up the AIU and look at the relays to confirm their specs. If they are 10 amp relays, the extra external relays are not necessary.

This thread from 2013 (link below), would seem to indicate that ratings on the relays inside the AIU's have been 4 Amps for a while.  If it was mine, I'd probably take a peek inside anyway to see if it has the 5A or the 10A relays.  Good stuff in the linked thread, worth a read, IMO.

OGR - AIU current

@mike g.  I hope you can get the wiring sorted.

I had  bunch of AIU's open years ago, they all had 5A relays.  I've heard of AIU's with 10A relays, just don't have any in captivity.

Yes, so now I am seeing that this concern that was brought to my attention as I was planning controlling power to my track through the AIU goes back 10 years and more.  Thank you for the references, Steve, John, and others on a similar thread.

I don't see any ground or common wire going to the relay board.

Hi Joe, I have  black wire going to the relay board that is the ground from the wall wart.