Single crossover electrical question

[emkay_777]

Hello All,

 

Wondering if I can get some help wiring a DC single crossover using Kato #6 turnouts. So I have 3 ovals with separate power packs, A, B and C.  I want to be able to cross over from B to C using 2 Kato #6 turnouts (EP718-15L)  at D and E.  I'm assuming I need to isolate between D and E, but do I need to route power differently?  I think I'm okay with the double crossover as I've used that before.  Thanks,

 

Evan

[katoftw]

Yeah just isolators between D and E.

[cteno4]

Yep between d and e.

 

Jeff

[emkay_777]

Thank you gentlemen, 

 

I thought that this was a fluke, so I rechecked my gap between D and E, but when I choose the divergent route on turnout D, there is no power in the red box.  My power feed is to the left of the box, and it works fine when normalized.  I am awaiting some widening sections to complete ovals A and B so I can't easily try this on the double tracks yet.

[cteno4]

Emkay,

 

Yep I think the xoves are all isolated so need to be fed from both sides. You can check this if you have a multimeter.

 

You can solve this by making unijoiner jumpers across the X over to either side.

 

Jeff

[emkay_777]

Geez! - so after many tests with the multimeter and numerous jumper cables, it turned out to be a bad unijoiner - the conductive clip fell out.  Really??  Now everything works as expected and renders my initial query moot.  So even after hours of frustration, it sure feels good to resolve the issue.  Thanks, Jeff, for guiding me in the right direction.

 

Evan

[cteno4]

Evan,

 

Sorry it can be the dumbest things at times. Glad you found the problem.

 

Do the X overs bring power thru? I could not rember if the kato did or not. It's been a while since we used them on the jrm layout but I thought I remembered having to do a jumper on one of Them.

 

Jeff

[kvp]

They are insulated frog ones, so yes, they should, otherwise the middle pieces wouldn't get power. But the two tracks are isolated from each other, so they can belong to different power districts. (the insulated frogs make this easy to wire, but hard to cross with short locomotives)