Hello all,

A friend of mine has a large HO C-track layout.

He is running CS3+, 40 turnouts, 20 signals, 20 trains with smoke and lights, circuit tracks with s88 modules, k83, M83, etc.
We are about to extend the layout, and we are looking at getting a booster to power the new staging yard on the layout, including turntable and uncouplers, 8 trains in the yard, etc

However ....
I have observed that the "B" and the "O" connections are the wrong way around connected from his CS3+ to his layout.
The "B" wire from the back of the CS3+ is connected to the outer rails, and the "O" wire is connected to the centre studs.
In order to get the turnout decoders to work, he has connected the red wire from the decoder to the "O" of the track, and the brown wire to the "B".
In order to get the k83 and M83 to work, he has similarly connected the red connection from the k83/M83 to the "O' and the brown to the "B".
The 24994 circuit tracks are connected to the track normally, ie. the connection made by the lever from rail "O" to s88 activates the feedback.

Everything seems to be working fine as it is.
(with the possible exception that some locomotives seem to not smoke properly)

We are now preparing to connect the booster to the new staging yard on the layout.
The booster will similarly have to be connected with the "B" and the "O" swapped around.
And all of the accessories k83/M83 will similarly be swapped around in the staging yard.

I am pausing at this moment, and wondering whether we should reverse all of this and correct the "B" and the "O" to be the correct way around.

It will require lifting some ballast of the track and getting to about 10 turnout decoders, and swapping the red and brown wiring around.
It will require swapping the red and brown plugs on the k83/M83 devices (this should be easy).
We shall need to swap around the signal connections for red and brown (should also be quite easy - these are connected to the BUS wire.)

I would be very grateful for your thoughts.
Do you foresee a problem with the layout once the booster is connected ?
Do you consider it a problem with circuit tracks from all over the track connected to s88 ?
What other issues could be experienced if we continue just the way it is ?

What would you do in this situation ?

Regards
John

Some loco decoders will not work when red and brown are swapped.
And then there is the issue with digitally controlled smoke generators you already observed. Similarly, lights might be darker on locos with Delta or C90 decoder and maybe show more flickering.

It might be a good idea to rectify the wiring before expanding big style.

Problem here are the turnout decoders that require rewiring.

Major job but worth the effort. However could you not just cut the turnout wires under the layout and reverse them?

The problem was that there were about 20 of these 74460 decoders where the red and brown wires were attached the wrong way around.



Only solution was to dig up the track, reverse the wires, and then re-lay the track.

For the turnouts using k83 and M83, that was a simple switch around.

It actually took me about 4 hours altogether.
And then I had some switch motors which were not working both ways, so I did the little solder solution on the motor micro switch to get these to work properly. A good old maintenance service for all of the turnouts. All in, it was a day's work !

Regards
John