Hey Folks,
Still working on resetting up my railroad, and have run into an issue that needs some expert advice. I have 2 mainline runs, both going in the same direction. Next to each track, I want to connect a Lionel 153IR. The 2 separate 153IRs will be connected together and connected to my transformer. The ground and NO terminals of each 153IR will be connected together and then those are connected to the crossing gates.
I typically test things out on my work bench before I connect to the actual track.
So here's the issue. When I connect the first 153IR to the transformer and then the ground and NO of the 153IR to the gate, it all works great. If I connect the second 153IR in the same way, it works great. However, when I connect the first and second 153IR together and then to the transformer and the first and second ground and NO together and then to the crossing gate, I get an overload on my transformer. I have this exact same setup in multiple locations on my layout right now - and they all work fine.
That being said, the ones on my layout are all are connected to my old Lionel ZW transformer which is set at 16 volts. My bench setup is to the transformer shown in pictures I've attached to this post. Why might this not be working correctly? Not enough juice, perhaps using my bench transformer? I have only 1 crossing gate connected right now to that setup on my workbench instead of the 2 I'll have on my layout - but I don't think that's the issue.
So each 153IR works ok - just not together.
Any thoughts?
Signed,
Clueless in PA!
