Need Advice on Legacy Signal Improvement

If you connect a totally insulated wire that is run around the layout like you describe to the ground pin of the 3-wire plug, that will do the trick.  If you use a 2-3 pin adapter, the green wire hanging out is the ground pin, connect it to the wire described above.

With all that said, I STRONGLY recommend a licensed electrician review your wiring if you've had that kind of "home handyman" working on the wiring there!

I am like John, less worried about your Legacy signal, more worried about some lamp in the house sending you to meet your maker. An ungrounded house is not safe, time for a good licensed electrician to come see what mess you have.

I agree with an electrician checking things out also. Without a ground wire to a ground rod it's possible you don't have a good neutral connection also. This could lead to stray voltage conditions. With a little iron in your water and a well pump it's possible to light yourself up in the shower.

Ron  

Gentlemen,

Merry Xmas and thanks to all three of you for the very good advice. I skipped the part about the most recent prior owner and his electrical handiwork. This consisted of lighting all over the house where the connections in the attic were unprotected bare wire twisted together and covered with electrical tape. Fortunately I have found all of these and replaced with protected and anchored junction boxes and hard connections. The ground issue is very very old but that's no excuse and I'll get my brother in law (he is certified to do electrical work) to help me inspect under the house over the holiday and determine what to do next.

Following John's recommendation, I wired a 3-prong receptacle to 6 feet of 3-wire replacement power cord that I got at the hardware store and installed the receptacle in a junction box. I plugged the power cord into the layout power strip and plugged the Cab 1L base into the receptacle. As it turns out, the 6 feet of ground wire in the power cord under the table is enough as my layout is pretty small. Engine response is excellent all over the layout!

Again, many thanks.

Glad your TMCC signal issue is resolved.

I suggest you get on that electrical wiring before the house burns down!

Scott,

   Check and see if you do not have a couple cars that are interfering with you TMCC/Legacy signal also, I just discovered yesterday I have an old Caboose that interferes with my Legacy signal big time.  I remove that Caboose and everything runs perfect again, if you are running a couple of these cars at the same time, you can have big time signal problems.  Glad you got your signal problems under control, using Guns advise however.

The Cars are just something else to consider.

I also agree with the rest of the guys, make sure your home is properly wired and grounded.

PCRR/Dave

Have you tried one of the 3 light outlet testers? Should show you any open grounds to get repaired.

could you expand on the issue with the removed car?

bigdodgetrains,

   Well it seems there are certain old lighted rolling stock that diminish the TMCC/Legacy control signals, so far on my layout only the movement signal has been effected, the voice and other sounds operate as normal, however when you try to have the train move, the signal is not getting to the Legacy engine, when the old Pa lighted caboose is on the tracks, when I remove the Caboose from the tracks, the Legacy Shay engine then response as normal, to all the command signals.  Sometimes when I use the R button on the Cab2 the engine then gets the command signal to move, sometimes not. 

PCRR/Dave