06-23-2010, 10:32 PM
Bad night in the train room tonight. 
Generally as I do the wiring, I use the ohm-meter to check for shorts as I am wiring each j-box section. But for whatever reason, I didn't think about it tonight (maybe because everything has been going perfectly so far). So after I get three j-box sections completed and covers on the boxes, I thought "better check for shorts". Took the ohm-meter and checked from green to white....
Crap! Short circuit.
I checked all the easy stuff first... anything laying on the rails? No. Visually check all the wire color connections in the j-boxes - everything in order. So nothing left to do but start isolating the feeders - which means cutting them loose from the solder joints. I find one of the drops where I somehow swapped the green and white to the track.
Fixed that, tied it back to the bus, then checked the track again.... still shorted!!! You have got to be kidding me.
So I start isolating feeders again, and find another green/white reversal at the track. Fix that one, now everything is clear. I got everything soldered back together, closed up the boxes, did another ohm check, everything fine, so I turned off the lights and called it quits for the night! Very frustrating to have to undo all the completed work. I won't make that mistake again! Double check everything as you are doing it!!!
Generally as I do the wiring, I use the ohm-meter to check for shorts as I am wiring each j-box section. But for whatever reason, I didn't think about it tonight (maybe because everything has been going perfectly so far). So after I get three j-box sections completed and covers on the boxes, I thought "better check for shorts". Took the ohm-meter and checked from green to white....
Crap! Short circuit.
I checked all the easy stuff first... anything laying on the rails? No. Visually check all the wire color connections in the j-boxes - everything in order. So nothing left to do but start isolating the feeders - which means cutting them loose from the solder joints. I find one of the drops where I somehow swapped the green and white to the track.
Fixed that, tied it back to the bus, then checked the track again.... still shorted!!! You have got to be kidding me.
So I start isolating feeders again, and find another green/white reversal at the track. Fix that one, now everything is clear. I got everything soldered back together, closed up the boxes, did another ohm check, everything fine, so I turned off the lights and called it quits for the night! Very frustrating to have to undo all the completed work. I won't make that mistake again! Double check everything as you are doing it!!!
Three Foot Rule In Effect At All Times