Do TPC's grow old and die?

Its possible for anything electronic to fail, but all four at once is kinda unusual.

maybe try to put each powerhouse 180/ tpc 400 on a small circle or test track individually to see if you can isolate one that may be the culprit?

1. How many engines do you have on the layout? Except for the most recent offerings in the last few years. Tmcc and early legacy engines are technically  powered up even when you haven't addressed them. Merely the sound is off.

It's a good idea to have unused locos parked on a siding with a toggle so you can shut down power to them.

2. You said you reset the breakers on the 180w powerhouses too. Are those popping as well? I've never had a tpc unit breaker pop. The 180w breaker will pop before the tpc unit even has a chance.

It's normal for a tpc unit to get warm. Mine just turned 14 and it's still hanging in there.

Can you post photos of them and the amount of locomotives to get an idea of the scope of the issue. 

The TPC are very durable. 

Andrew

Why do you have them daisy chained. Each TPC should control a track or block They should be wired independent of each other so if you have a short or shutdown it doesn't effect all of them. The grounds will all be the same but not the hot .I have found them to be temperamental. 

farmerjohn posted:

Why do you have them daisy chained. Each TPC should control a track or block They should be wired independent of each other so if you have a short or shutdown it doesn't effect all of them. The grounds will all be the same but not the hot .I have found them to be temperamental. 

Sorry...I meant the neutrals are daisy chained.  And correcting myself again...the red buttons on the tpc never popped out...I pushed on them thinking that was "resetting" them...but from an earlier post, I was mistakened.

I just tried to turn all four on again after sitting for 30 minutes...the bricks come on but the TPC do NOT even light up.  Could this be a dat/com issue?

TPC Reset Code

AUX 1

AUX 2

THEN 0

Dave

How are the four 180w bricks' AC line cords plugged in? Are all four bricks known to be in phase? is the ZW in phase with them?

 I thougt I recalled something had to be unplugged to clear a breaker trip. I bet this is it.

  I also wonder if somebody didn't unplug something (charge a phone, vacuum, etc) and revesed the phase on you. (Are the plugs on the old stuff marked?)

  Isolating the suspected unit(s) is is key. If it performs ok isolated, it's track or wires.

1. Disconnect all hots to the tracks.  Do the TPCs power up and stay up?

2. Add hots back to the TPCs one at a time.  Do the TPCs stay up?  When adding the hots back on do any of the bricks trip?

It sounds like you have a short some where instead of the TPCs going bad.

Gene Anstine

Ok, so I have an update,..Its not the TPC's; its the ZW!  This is the ZW fitted for 4-bricks...#7-22982 from 2003.  When I turn on the power, the is juice for about three seconds and then....nothing...The green light stays lit but the red light NEVER light up...I don't hear any trip of a circuit breaker etc...

Any thoughts??

Well. I know you can wire the 180 bricks directly to the TPC's and control track power with the remote, if you want to do that, sans the ZW controller.

Yep..Iy was the zw.  Luckily I have another zw (same model) powering some accessories...I switched them out and TPC's run fine....no to make a new topic about repairing the bad one...