Hi,

I'm making progress building my first model railroad and I sometimes have an issue with brief short circuits when my locomotive goes through turnouts. That caused my turnout lanterns to momentarily turn off since they were connected directly to track power.

I recently upgraded to the CS3+ and I have decided to repurpose the power supply from my Märklin Start Up set as a dedicated power supply for lights (so far I only have turnout lanterns) and it works great. However, I have now installed my first signals – controlled by an M84 – and now I have the same issue with those.

I'm considering buying a 60822 to power my M84 (and M83s) but I am not sure whether it will solve my problem. The M84 is, after all, still connected to track power (for the digital stuff), so maybe short circuits still affect the signals? I have found several other discussion here about the 60822, but none of them seem to discuss the short circuit issue.

Thanks,
Michael

What type of locomotive causes shorts? I model era 1 & 2 - steamers and my 39241 on our club layout suddenly shorted at one switch. I read somewhere that there was a tension spring under(above) the front bogie which could have its force increased to prevent it from bouncing at switches and causing shorts. I increased the force of the spring and no problems since. Be careful doing it.

Does the short cause an interruption in the CS3? If it does then changing the power supply for the switches will not stop that. Sliders need to have a slight downward curve. They also need to be straight. We had a problem with a slider that was not perfectly straight causing shorts. We do not have any curved switches. Perhaps you need new proper sliders rather than different ones. I would be a bit concerned that both engines that cause shorts are not Marklin.

Hi Michael,

Regarding the 60822. You don't need that one. It is not a power supply. What you need is a 66361 or 66360. I believe the 66360 is the newer one, but they can both be used.

But be sure to fix the shorts. They should not happen, and are not good for your CS3.

Regards
Tor Harald Bøhler

The 60822 is an S-88 adapter, which a CS 3 would need to connect the S-88 decoders to for power. A CS 3 Plus has the S-88 adapter inside, and the network cable (not included) plugs into the bottom, and the other end to an S-88 decoder.

YES, SORRY, I confused threads. Your first post begins with your new CS3.

Nope!
You need 60822 to connect power supply to feed extra for the m83/m84.
60822 is a power supply unit.

I don't know who makes the MCK5303AL (if that is the model you have). I think it may be Hobbytrade.
In any case, the only photo of an AC MZ I could find was the Hobbytrade model.

It is likely that the slider is contacting the rail as it passes over it. This would cause a short and could stop the locomotive if it was going slowly.
My first question would be does this happen when the locomotive is travelling in all four possible directions (straight forward, curve forward, straight reverse, curve reverse)?
My second question is does this happen if you put the locomotive on the track in the other direction (non slider bogie leading)?

The Roco Vectron is the same design as my SBB versions. Those models came with the Flusterschleifer licensed by Roco. This so-called quiet slider is a metal band seated in a plastic base. This exerts a large downward pressure on the track.
This slider can be replaced with a standard version from Roco (although it will increase track noise). Some others have replaced their Roco sliders with the Silencio slider from Brawa. I have not seen any shorts with any of my numerous Roco Vectrons, but have not operated them on the curved switches.

As far as the turnout lights, when there is a short on the track, power dims and can be interrupted. If your turnout lights are powered from the track, this will cause the lights to dim or go out.
While this is a good indicator of a short, it is probably better to connect your accessory devices to a separate power supply, especially if they are designed to operate on 16VAC.

Some AC models from other manufacturers may have different size flanges and wheel spacing than Maerklin. It is possible that the wheel might be coming into contact with the closest stud of the centre rail as it passes over the switch.
What you can do to test this is to run a locomotive at speed across the switch and try to see if you can observe if there is a spark and whether it comes from the slider or the wheel.

Generally, make sure that your sliders are mounted straight (aligned) and that one end is not hanging further down than the other.

On my Lima ETR610 and RABe 503 trains, I installed the Brawa slider and it works much better than the Maerklin-like one sold by Lima (Rivarossi).

Regards

Mike C

That turned out to be the explanation. I experimented with placing tape to insulate different parts and it finally worked when I covered the tall pukos. I'll have a friend 3D print some of these for me: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5828178

The models are designed by McK and made by Decas. Very nice quality. I found a review here:



It happens in both directions and only the outer (straight-ish) curve. It turns out that the problem is due to the wheels touching the pukos (see other replies in this thread).



I think I'll continue connecting as much as possible to separate power supplies to make things more stable. Maybe I should connect a single light (off-layout) to the tracks to serve as a short indicator.