I am getting the dreaded OOR error when my engine goes over a certain area of track, and it even appears on the specific section of track where the wires are soldered.

Dennis suggested that the solder joint might not be great....but I checked it, and it was fine. Even still, I took the wires off and resoldered them in a different position. There are only 4 sections of track that the "hot" wire is responsible for, and I double checked the tightness of the track joints. I went so far as to gently "squeeze" the joints with a pair of pliers to ensure they are snug up against the pins.

Any thoughts?

I will add that, because of switches at either end of this stretch of track, and the need for insultated sections of track, at the the "common" from one section to another is on opposite rails. The section of track leading up to the area with the problem has a good signal, so I'm confused beyond belief.

Whenever I get a section of track that does this, I add an 18 volt light bulb between the outer (common) and middle rail. That has always solved my problem. Since you allready have the power leads below the railroad to this section, just wire the bulb across the wires.

Just a thought while your waiting. I have a similar issue in a spot just like that so I added a bulb right at that point. It helped it out just enough to clear issues. Someone posted using clamps connected to the bulb so it's easy to test areas. You probably know this, just brainstorming, Joe P.

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I am getting the dreaded OOR error when my engine goes over a certain area of track, and it even appears on the specific section of track where the wires are soldered.

That's kind of strange, when I have some type of engine problem I usually place the engine right on top of a set of feeders to check out the problem. Is it possible the track feeders on that small section may be reversed? Can you do a track signal test at that location?

We've wired using Barry's suggestions, On a large layout and they work really well. Paired wires from terminal blocks with bulb but sometimes there are exceptions, Example - instead of feeding a section of track from the terminal blocks we may feed a small section of track from a know good block that has a great dcs signal. Unfortunately there are no exact rules for dcs.

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Originally posted by Gregg:

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I am getting the dreaded OOR error when my engine goes over a certain area of track, and it even appears on the specific section of track where the wires are soldered.

That's kind of strange, when I have some type of engine problem I usually place the engine right on top of a set of feeders to check out the problem. Is it possible the track feeders on that small section may be reversed? Can you do a track signal test at that location?

The feeders to that section are not reveresed. I double checked that, especially when I attached new feeders to that area. When I run the signal test, that's when the Out of Range error appears.

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The feeders to that section are not reveresed. I double checked that, especially when I attached new feeders to that area. When I run the signal test, that's when the Out of Range error appears.

What type of track and will a engine run over the problem area? A dcs engine carries on with the last command given.

Is it possible the problem area might be getting power through the switches at either end? Disconnect the feeders and check for power on the problem track. there shouldn't be any. Is this a new installation or did this problem just crop up out of the blue?

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Originally posted by Gregg:

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The feeders to that section are not reveresed. I double checked that, especially when I attached new feeders to that area. When I run the signal test, that's when the Out of Range error appears.

What type of track and will a engine run over the problem area? A dcs engine carries on with the last command given.

Is it possible the problem area might be getting power through the switches at either end? Disconnect the feeders and check for power on the problem track. there shouldn't be any. Is this a new installation or did this problem just crop up out of the blue?

Brand new layout that I'm building, and just recently installed DCS just about 2-3 weeks ago. Been trying to tweak my outside loop ever since to increase signal strength. Have my inside loop strong enough.

Using Gargraves track, and yes, the engine does run around the problem area. Also, I currently have my Coors Light train on the track that's been the test engine. Even over the problem area, I can activate the doors, etc. without a problem. I can bring the engine to a halt, open the doors, close them, play the music, and then start the engine back up with out a problem. Should I not even worry about what the signal test tells me if this is working well?

Also, I don't think the switches are coming into play, because they are also GG switches, so they are naturally insulated and have power feeds on either end.

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OOR error

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Brand new layout that I'm building, and just recently installed DCS just about 2-3 weeks ago. Been trying to tweak my outside loop ever since to increase signal strength. Have my inside loop strong enough.

Are you using a tiu channel for each loop?


Out of range error is usually associated with remote tiu communications.

We actually drop 3 feeders from GarGraves track to the paired wiring underneath the layout, Both outside rails tie into the paired wiring, along with the wire to the center rail. This insures a good common on both rails which also insures a good TMCC signal.

The Silver Bullet needs very clean wheels and track. It has very small contact areas for the wheels. I use a more typical engine for testing.

How does she do through your switches?

Rand

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Originally posted by Gregg:

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OOR error

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Brand new layout that I'm building, and just recently installed DCS just about 2-3 weeks ago. Been trying to tweak my outside loop ever since to increase signal strength. Have my inside loop strong enough.

Are you using a tiu channel for each loop?


Out of range error is usually associated with remote tiu communications.

We actually drop 3 feeders from GarGraves track to the paired wiring underneath the layout, Both outside rails tie into the paired wiring, along with the wire to the center rail. This insures a good common on both rails which also insures a good TMCC signal.

Yes, right now my layout only consists of two loops, so each loop has it's own TIU channel.

I have a total of 5 power drops for the outside loop, but I don't have both outside rails wired. Those drops (both hot and common at the same spot with paired lamp cord) go to a terminal block, which then goes to the TIU (with the light bulb in the middle, of course).

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Originally posted by Rand Fredricksen:
The Silver Bullet needs very clean wheels and track. It has very small contact areas for the wheels. I use a more typical engine for testing.

How does she do through your switches?

Rand

I'll move my other DCS engine to the outer loop and run the test with that one. The Coors train runs great, even through the switches. Only thing I have to work out with the switches (only for the Coors loco) is the head of the screws on the Z-1000s........the big wheel on the Coors loco grazes the heads of the screws.

Getting that OOR message right on the feed wires means there is a DCS signal possibly coming in from one or both ends of the block. When not isolated I had this happen.

OR you have a poor designed feed block where there is a gross mis-match to the rail. Put a bulb on the block not the feed wires near the track and see if it helps. If not move the feed to a different termination [if you can] where there are less blocks attached.

Best is if you use all 4 outputs of your TIU swap until you get an output where the feed works well. Good Luck...

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Originally posted by Catch-22:

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Originally posted by Rand Fredricksen:
The Silver Bullet needs very clean wheels and track. It has very small contact areas for the wheels. I use a more typical engine for testing.

How does she do through your switches?

Rand

I'll move my other DCS engine to the outer loop and run the test with that one. The Coors train runs great, even through the switches. Only thing I have to work out with the switches (only for the Coors loco) is the head of the screws on the Z-1000s........the big wheel on the Coors loco grazes the heads of the screws.

Maybe I have an out of gauge issue with my Silver Bullet. It has a hard time making it through my ScaleTrax switches.

Did you have better luck with your other engine as far as signal? If all the commands work with the SB I wouldn't worry.

Rand

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I have a total of 5 power drops for the outside loop, but I don't have both outside rails wired. Those drops (both hot and common at the same spot with paired lamp cord) go to a terminal block, which then goes to the TIU (with the light bulb in the middle, of course).

Is the center rail isolated between drops? We found this helped the signal on our layout which is about 22' x 22'. This will help eliminate backfeed between drops. Also try connecting both outside rail to the common.

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Originally posted by Forest:

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I have a total of 5 power drops for the outside loop, but I don't have both outside rails wired. Those drops (both hot and common at the same spot with paired lamp cord) go to a terminal block, which then goes to the TIU (with the light bulb in the middle, of course).

Is the center rail isolated between drops? We found this helped the signal on our layout which is about 22' x 22'. This will help eliminate backfeed between drops. Also try connecting both outside rail to the common.

Center rail is isolated between drops. In all but one section, it's a natural isolation because of switches.

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Originally posted by Rand Fredricksen:
Did you have better luck with your other engine as far as signal? If all the commands work with the SB I wouldn't worry.

Rand

I disconnected all 5 wires from the power source (as the outside loop was only temporarily set up anyway) and organized things a bit more. I cut off all excess wires, added wire connectors to the ends of the wires BEFORE attaching them to my terminal block, added the light bulb between the TIU and the terminal block, and the signal strength improved greatly. It's not perfect, but it's better than what it was. No "OOR" errors any more. The signal drops down to a 5 in that same section, but is anywhere between 7-10 the rest of the way around.

Because of the work I needed to do on the wiring to clean things up, perhaps I was a bit premature with my concerns. It still surprises me, though, how I could get such an error right where the power drop was. Oh well...problem taken care of.

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The signal drops down to a 5 in that same section, but is anywhere between 7-10 the rest of the way around.

If you have a spare channel, take advantage of it to increase the dcs signal, Each channel has it's own signal generator. You could use the same power supply but run the problem area from a different channel. This should increase the dcs signal not only in the problem area but also relieve one of the other channels. You may just end up with great signal over the whole works.

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Originally posted by Gregg:

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The signal drops down to a 5 in that same section, but is anywhere between 7-10 the rest of the way around.

If you have a spare channel, take advantage of it to increase the dcs signal, Each channel has it's own signal generator. You could use the same power supply but run the problem area from a different channel. This should increase the dcs signal not only in the problem area but also relieve one of the other channels. You may just end up with great signal over the whole works.

Gregg,
I currently am only using the two fixed outputs from the TIU, but I really don't want to tie them up unless I absolutely have to. My layout, by the end of the summer, is going to expand quite a bit. These two loops that I've been working on are only "stage 1" of what I hope the entire layout to look like.

Below is an image of what I have completed so far (an old picture...the wiring is much neater now):



This image is what I'd like the entire layout to look like (give or take) when it's finished. Area in red is the part that's getting worked on now.

See what you mean now, Yes save the spare channel, You're going to need them. You should have a good signal already especially if you're using two channels. I'm not exactly sure where the problem area starts & finishes.

I have a fair amount of G gauge track 300'+ setup. The MTH tech told me originally to jump the inputs of the tiu to increase signal around the loop which I split into sections. Further attempts to get the very best signal quality led me to reduce back to just a single tiu channel with no loss. Once I tuned the track with the correct wire/ bulbs the engines tested perfect with protocast. Now I think I'll be able to run ( near future ) the new O gauge rr with the other channel(s). Joe P.

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Originally posted by Gregg:
See what you mean now, Yes save the spare channel, You're going to need them. You should have a good signal already especially if you're using two channels. I'm not exactly sure where the problem area starts & finishes.

Gregg,
If you look at the image of the entire layout that I posted, and look at the area in red........

The outside loop, on the right side of the layout is where the problem area was for me. The area between the two switches. Even though there's only about 9 track joints in that stretch, I broke it down into two blocks, each block having it's own power drop with the center rail insulated.

Thank for the update -22. another though would be to disconnect everything from the terminal blocks and hook up that section first, one set of feeders at a time,and do a signal check. I don't get it why the signal is only a five.(i know you did this once but it's not hard to try) You should be getting a 10, I'm guessing you cleaned the new GarGraves track. It does make a difference and DCs seems to like solid connections, anything loose and the signal goes in the trash bin quickly.

With 2 channel you should be getting a 10, You have the light bulbs right?

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Originally posted by Gregg:
Thank for the update -22. another though would be to disconnect everything from the terminal blocks and hook up that section first, one set of feeders at a time,and do a signal check. I don't get it why the signal is only a five.(i know you did this once but it's not hard to try) You should be getting a 10, I'm guessing you cleaned the new GarGraves track. It does make a difference and DCs seems to like solid connections, anything loose and the signal goes in the trash bin quickly.

With 2 channel you should be getting a 10, You have the light bulbs right?

That's a good idea....to hook the sections up one at a time.

In all honesty, no, I did not clean the track. However, I did paint the rails, and in doing so, the tops of the rails got a good wipe-down at that time to remove the wet paint.

Yes, I'm using the light bulbs coming out of both channels before reaching the terminal block. When I went to buy the bulbs and sockets, I could only find 14v bulbs at the time. I know 18v is recommended, so is it possible that when I find 18v bulbs the signal will improve?

Catch,

Try wiring the outside rails together in that section. When there is a strong common to both outside rails, I find that the signal increases substantially.

George