Wiring mystery.... will take any help I can get...

[LIRR]

This is how i wired my Tortoises using DPDT for 2 location operation...




The only difference is in place of the LEDs shown, i wired 2 bi-polar LEDs in series in this location. I have 3 at one end of the room, everything works perfectly.

I have 3 on the other end of the room, wired identically, but the red/green lights only reverse when i use the DPDT on the staging yard side. When i use the train room DPDT, switch is thrown but the lights don’t reverse. Puzzling. I quintuple checked all connnections. First i thouhght one or both LEDs was FUBAR, because turnouts work as intended from either location.  I picked up new LEDs today, installed, but I have the same issue

[LIRR]

On the other hand, I think I may have possible just seen the problem....where it says all switches must be on power supply side of this line.....I need to check that. Stay tuned

[LIRR]

That was it. Thanks for your help men.

[C855B]

[davefoxx]

That was it. Thanks for your help men.

It was nothing.  Really!

[mu26aeh]

Glad we could be of service

[peteski]

Yup, that was it!   

[LIRR]

just getting a chance to follow up.....

this is how I wired it:



per each tortoise - all in the foreground to terminal strips, all in the background to terminal strips. I used 4-conducter cables to connect the two terminal strips as shown using a coupling visible in the dangling cables.

it only worked from 1 side as described at the beginning of the thread. I thought I stumbled on the issue as described above - thinking the switch was on the wrong side of that double dashed line....

I have it working now, but the ONLY difference is the terminal strips are connected via the continuous 4-conducter cable WITHOUT the coupling. Absolutely no difference schematically.

but...it works, so I will leave well enough alone. so now if/when I need to renove this section it's 5 minutes with a screw driver instead of simply disconnecting at the coupling

[peteski]

If you think the circuit is electrically identical in either configuration then in would work in either configuration. This is a very basic and simple circuits with no hidden mysteries. 

It mignt be possible that those junction blocks aren't straight through connection.

Take two of those non-working wire/connector sets and junction block and check the continuity.

So, plug 2 cables into the junction block, then check for continuity for each of the 4 wires on the ends of the cables.  So you should have continuity from green wire on one end to the green wire on the other end, and same for the red, black and yellow wires.