SWAMP CREEK & WESTERN
RAILROAD ASSOCIATION

211 Railroad Ave. Edmonds, WA 98020

LAYOUT ELECTRICAL MANUAL

Established December 5, 2000

Revised by page

V. CONVENTIONAL DC THROTTLES

V. CONVENTIONAL DC THROTTLES

In January 1994, the SC&W purchased eight Innovator 3000 Train Controller from Innovative Train Technology Co., P. O. Box 5042, West Hills, CA 91308. In 1998, the company was sold to: Alpine Division, P. O. Box 641154, Los Angeles, CA 90064. "trolleyville.com"

Manufacturer's literature is attached.     I-2000       I-3000       I-3500

The I-3000 feature a 4 amp walk-around throttle with memory. The hand-held controllers have been distributed to club members with a deposit. They plug into telephone jacks mounted at nine positions around the layout via standard modular telco 4-wire line cords. The power transformers and main electronics units are mounted together on 11" x 8" x 1/2" plywood board which slide into a central rack. The rack is installed against the wall to the left and below of Coldwater. Initially we have purchased eight (I-3000) plus one spare (I-2000) throttle units, with the pending option of adding four more. The rack will hold 12.

In 1996, the four additional I-3500 units were purchased, and in October 2001 two more I-3500s were purchased as spares. At that time the units were rearranged so the newer I-3500 served the mainline cabs.

The units are mounted and wired uniformly. This modular design allows interchange within the rack. It is open air design for maximum ventilation. If necessary for cooling, a fan can be installed. The manufacturer didn't think this would be required. Rack description, mounting template and harness cabling notes are attached. All cables are wired to certain lengths so as to allow enough slack so they can be installed anywhere within the rack and reach any jack or plug should interchange be necessary. The cable harnesses are tie-rapped and clamped to the mounting board. The slots, jacks and terminals are all marked numerically, 1-12.

See attached diagrams.

1. Mainline Cab - A (green)
2. Mainline Cab - B (red)
3. Mainline Cab - C (blue)
4. Mainline Cab - D (yellow)
5. Mainline Cab - E (gray)
6. Mainline Cab - F (brown)
7. Orchard Yard, West
8. Orchard Yard, East
9. Willow Grove Yard, West
10. Willow Grove Yard, East
11. Tumwater Mining Branch
12. Cascade Lumber Branch

Units can be mounted in any slot and plugged into any jack. However, to keep it neat and ease fault locating, the units should be kept in their designated slots.

In January 2000, the units were assigned identification numbers consisting of the unit's numeric type (2000, 3000, 3500); hyphen ( - ) and alpha (A, B, C...).

A log book was established to trace unit faults.

Installation Field Notes and fault descriptions appear in the back of this section.

Two 20 amp 120 volt AC power circuits have been brought out from the sub panel. The breakers are labeled "Thr-A" and "Thr-B". Each circuit has an auxiliary un-switched duplex plug on the wall to the left below Coldwater (to the right of the rack). Each circuit has a switch (with indicator light) mounted at the edge of the benchwork to the left of Coldwater. These switches control the eight duplex plugs mounted inside and above the throttle rack. The left four are circuit A, the right are B.

The mainline cabs are on circuit A.

The yards and branches are on circuit B.

See attached diagrams.

Each throttle has an independent 16v 4 amp transformer mounted on the panel.

CAUTION - 120v is present on the panels. It is dangerous! Always turn off and unplug before handling/servicing.

The transformers are plugged into a 120v receptacle above via a standard electrical cord.

The 120v line side input of each transformer is protected by a 2 amp fast blow fuse (AGC2).

The I-3000 outputs are protected by a "6 amp 3AG or AGC fast blow fuse". This fuse is mounted on the circuit board.

The I-3500s outputs are protected by an internal electronic circuit breaker so there is no output fuse to replace.

DC track power is feed from each throttle via clear 18 ga. 2-wire zip cord to a terminal strip mounted on a removable board atop the rack.

For uniformity's sake, in all cases, the copper wire is considered the positive (+) side and the silver tinned wire is the COMMON negative (-). Though not marked + or -, the silver tinned wire is connected to the top terminal and the copper wire to the bottom terminal on the main unit. The other end is connected to the gray terminal strip with spade clips. The COMMON (-) is labeled with white tape.

If these wires are reversed that throttle will operate in the opposite direction of the others. We don't want to do that. We want to keep the polarities the same so operation is uniform per Section I.C.1.

The other side of the terminal strip is wired to the track power distribution buss: an 18 ga. color coded wire bundle that distributes the power to the layout control points.

The copper positive (+) wire of each throttle unit is connected to the individual corresponding buss wire feeds: Green, Red, Blue, Yellow, Gray and Brown for each Mainline Cab.

The silver tinned negative (-) wire of each throttle unit is jumpered together at this point and connected to the White COMMON wire in the distribution buss.

The branchlines and yards are wired similarly via cables identified with white label tape (and/or they may be color coded). See Section I.C.2 for list.

Refer to the Selector Block Section VII. for further detail.

The hand-held controllers are connected via standard telephone 4- (or 6-) wire modular jacks and cables.

See attached diagram.

From the main electronics unit a 4 ft. modular cable connects to jacks mounted on a removable board mounted atop the rack (same board as the track power terminals). The phone jacks are connected via 6-wire 24 ga cables, 25 pair 24 ga telephone cables, or a combination, to the various remote jack locations. Mainline cabs are identified with colored tape. Others are identified with white tape and labeled. See the attached drawings for locations and routes.

See attached diagram.

Standard Telco wiring codes are observed. Just as in your home or business, the first pair is Green/Red and the second is Black/Yellow. Some of the jacks make use of some old 4-wire cables with Green/Red and Black/Yellow pairs. Others use new 6-wire cable which have three twisted pairs, of blue, orange and green. Each pair has a white wire with the second color painted on and it's mate is the solid colored wire with white painted on it. Thus, the following...

T-1 refers to the telco designation of "TIP-one". Tip being the tip of a switchboard line cord. R-1 refers to "RING-one" which is the insulated portion below the tip of the line cord.

We have decided not to use the auxiliary T/R-3 Blue/White momentary contact push button option at this time.

The third pair in the cable will be left in as a spare.

IN NO CASE WILL THIS OR ANY OTHER SPARE WIRE BE CUT ! ! ! !

All spare wires are to be pigtailed or dressed for future access should a fault occur or additional circuits be necessary. Only an idiot would cut them.

See attached diagram.

The telco jacks are readily available at electronics stores and building supplies. 4 or 6 wire RJ-11/21 style are used. We've used the surface mount style. They have proven to be quite reliable and are easily replaceable.

Multiple flush mount style modular jacks have been installed at Dudman's Curve to test their reliability. If proven they shall be considered as the control panels are upgraded.

The hand-held throttle units are equipped with jacks inside the box so line cord replacement is simple. The straight cords can easily be replaced with coil cords and the like. Be sure to purchase "line cord" style, not the "hand-set" type, they are different. Retain the original cord as they must be returned with the unit.

Distribution Cables

Twenty-five pair telephone cables and distribution blocks connect the I-3000 master units to the remote jacks using telephone standards. Attached is a copy of the standard telco COLOR CODE for 25 pr. cabling.

Note that there are two sets of five colors. One is known as the tip colors, the other, ring colors. The tip colors are White, Red, Black, Yellow and Violet. The ring colors are blue, orange, green, brown and slate; in those orders. Each pair has a tip and a ring. Most commonly the tip is the first wire and the ring is the second. Thus, for the first pair, the tip will be a white wire with a blue stripe; and the ring will be a blue wire with a white stripe. The second pair will be white-orange and orange-white.

This progresses through the whites with all five ring colors. Then we go back over the ring colors with the next group of five red wires. And so on through all 25 pair.

As mentioned, the master units are plugged into the 12 jacks mounted on the removable bar above the rack. A 25 pair cable feeds these to the main distribution block mounted nearby under the layout. The remote jacks are connected to remote blocks at various points under the layout which feed back to additional blocks at this same point.

See attached diagram.

The main distribution block is connected to the other distribution blocks with jumper wires and clips. A special telco "punch-down" tool is required and is kept in the club cabinet. In a pinch, a screw driver and long nose pliers will do.

To keep track of all of this, the cable pairs have been dedicated in the same order as the slots. Thus, the first two pair (Wht/Bl and Wht/Or) are dedicated to the Mainline Cab - A (green) which is mounted in slot 1. The second two pair (Wht/Grn and Wht/Brn) are used for the B (red) Cab. The third two (Wht/Sl and Red/Bl) belong to C (blue) Cab. And so on.

Notation on Neatness and Style

We have tried to install the throttle units and their cabling with care and forethought. We would like to urge those that follow to do the same. Be careful when you remove sheathing, don't nick the wire. Allow for the right amount of slack and dress the cabled neatly. Follow the color code! We will all be rewarded with reliable service through your care.

HAND-HELD CONTROLLER DISTRIBUTION CABLE DESIGNATIONS

25 pair Telco Cable Standard Wiring Color Code

After the cabling and wiring was installed it was thoroughly tested. Any problems in the wiring were corrected. Unless there is work going on around them it is not likely that new faults will occur. More than likely it will be traced to operator error.

If a problem persists the best thing to do is isolate the problem. In normal operation the red light on your hand-held throttle unit should be on.

If the red light is blinking you've hit a short in the track. What were your doing? Throwing a turnout? Watching your train derail? None of these? Okay, press the stop button. This resets the unit. Turn the power back up. If it blinks again you've got a short so let's find it.

Start by turning off all the other blocks you've left on. This is one of the reasons it is a good idea to clean up after yourself. Someone else may be messing with your train. A short could be coming from anywhere. Your job is to narrow it down. From other blocks, down to just one, then is it a turnout, something laying on the track, or what? It could be in the wiring, very unlikely, but it could be. We'll have to get an ohm meter out and find it but more likely you'll find something obvious and be on your way.

If the red light is out something else is wrong. We've got no track power and no power to the throttle. Better try your hand-held in another cab. Does it work there? If it doesn't, and I assume you checked the obvious (are the throttles turned on?), and someone else's works, then something is wrong with your hand-held. Check the cable, check the plug. More than likely it needs replacing. Remember, it must be the line cord type, not the smaller handset type.

While we are on that subject, someone was using the smaller type because they couldn't find the larger type in a coil cord where they shopped. But they found that if they plugged it in just right they could get it to work. Only problem, every once in a while when they unplugged the small jack would let the little spring connector wires in the jacks cross one another thus causing all sorts of strange problems. We chased these problems for weeks until we figured it out. We were replacing jacks and everything because someone didn't want to follow the rules.

Finally, to see if a fault is in the wiring or in the throttle unit we must isolate them. Start by unplugging the master unit from the controller buss and plug your hand-held unit directly into the master. Do the lights work? Does the train run? If it does then something is wrong in the controller wire buss. Again, we'll have to break it down and figure out where the problem is. Is it one jack, all of them or just some in a certain section. Again, time to get out the ohm meter and start searching. We have had the power transistors blow out, we think because a metal wheel is gapping an isolation point and someone has the power turned up, likely to full because their train is not moving because it is shorted with another, and if this occurs when the two throttles are set in opposite directions, the power transistor blows on the other unit. The other operator gives his train a pull, clears the short and off he goes none the wiser. Again, this points out the need to clean those blocks up behind you!

The strange thing is, after the power transistor blows the red light glows normal (we aren't sure what it does during the feedback, it probably goes black) and everything looks okay. Your train just doesn't move. A volt meter even shows voltage on the track. Fortunately we can change out the power transistor and be back in business. Obviously though we don't want to do that.

Before we got to that point we checked the fuses. Of course the input fuse was good, the little red light wouldn't have been on. But sometimes, there is a blown fuse, cause unknown, and once replaced we're up and running again. Remember, always replace fuses with the same kind. They are rated for a reason.

SWAMP CREEK & WESTERN
RAILROAD ASSOCIATION

211 Railroad Ave. Edmonds, WA 98020