Model Railway Update 10 - Whoops

[@FarlandHowe]

Your wiring looks neat and orderly. I wish I had the discipline to keep mine neat and it always ends up like a birds nest underneath. Using wire colors to separate circuits is a very good idea. Rob

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+Rob McCrain Thanks Rob, It was like a birds nest before but after the "incident" I decided it's time to do it properly. Cheers

[@markhobbs8582]

HI Michael............ i am not at the electrics stage yet (still making my baseboards) sorry to hear about that costly mistake. I am going to follow your idea of using different colour wires for the different power supplies................... Great update mate........................ Mark

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+Kiwi British Rail Thanks Mark, Yeah it adds more cost buying alot more wiring but if it prevents mistakes like I made then suddenly it's totally worth it

[@GrahamFoulston]

Well to be honest Micheal it's a hats off from me mate, I wouldn't have even dreamed about what you are/have been doing as regards those electrics - I could have put the plug on for you though!! Wow, that is some wiring you have taken on to do and what a fabulous job you have done of it too. OK I know you blew one of the boards up but that wasn't down to a massive failure as such - more of a bit of concentration walking out the door when you most needed it putting in the last wire you found, but as you say, a lesson learnt. Keep on at it mate, you're doing a terrific job so far! ;-) ............Graham

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+Graham Foulston Thanks very much Graham. It can certainly seem quite complicated when there is alot of wiring involved but its not too bad in the end. At least this time it's going to be even easier to follow so I don't make the same mistake. Actually Dave (the creator/owner of megapoints) saw this vid and phoned me up saying he will replace the broken board for free which is absolutely amazing of him. More of that in my next update I'm sure :-) Cheers, Michael

[@GrahamFoulston]

Well it certainly seems that Dave has a great after market service to send you a replacement board and along with sorting out the chattering on Mark's servos then he is certainly going the right way to succeed in his business and good luck to him as well. That's brilliant news. .............Graham

[@Elvenhome]

Just catching up with this Michael now that I am back from holiday. Sorry to hear about your experience with crossed wires I can imagine that there was a bit of a crackle and pop when you made the connection. Great job on the rewiring and the change to the fiddle yard. Also very good to see you in the video and congratulations on the 500 mark in subscribers Stephen

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+Stephen Humphreys Thanks Stephen, Yes there was a crackle, pop and some expletives to boot. Not all is lost though and I have some good news with my next update once I finish this wiring.. almost there! Cheers

[@TONYNORTHEASTERN]

congratulations on 500 subs Michael, we all make mistakes but we learn from them all the best regards Tony

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+TONY NORTH EASTERN Thanks Tony. Indeed lesson learnt for sure!

[@MrChrisprat]

Excellent mate and good to have you back and I'm about 100 subs behind you so congrats on that and your wiring is amazing one thing I'm not looking forward to as haven't decided on my points control method yet but need one that works easy with the hornby e-link keep up the good work and see you in the next one.

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+Charliebrook South East Thanks mate, Take it from the lesson I have learnt and make sure you use different colour wire for each different thing! Mark (western Centurion) uses e-link and megapoints. I think cobalts work fine with it too

[@WesternCenturion]

Oh Michael, gutted for you mate, really am, lessons learned hey and I've had many of those. Hang on to that servo controller board ok and I'll be back in touch ;0) But you're wiring now looks fabulous, love what you've done and it's got me thinking about doing the same. Just editing the my video on the exiting news for the servo controller board, will be uploaded in a couple of hours :0)

[@MichaelHenfrey]

Thanks Mark, Yeah I have learnt from it and it will be very difficult for that to happen again now. Ok I will hold onto it.. I've not even connected a working power source to it as I didn't want to risk it. The wiring is taking ages now but damn is it much easier to follow! And if I was ever to move I could just take the whole board with me :) Awesome, I look forward to seeing the video because if that whole issue could be solved and the upcoming controller firmware update I can see my setup becoming rather epic! :D Cheers, Michael

[@WesternCenturion]

What's happened to your servo controller board is that the capacitor has blown, or at least that's the part you pointed to so just trying to find out if anything else on the board could have been damaged and if not then the capacitor should be relatively easy and cheap to replace. Your setup is already epic mate and I can't wait to see what the update is for your DCC control system is :0)

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+Western Centurion it looks like only the capacitor but I can't really tell. I wouldn't even know how to replace it lol. There could be further hidden damage or it could be the relays.. There certainly was quite alot of smoke lol

[@nigelcarter9503]

That was expensive but, all was not lost.

[@MichaelHenfrey]

Indeed! Well it was expensive but then I got a phone call after the owner of megapoints watched my video and so all is not lost.. Update to come on that development but all I can say is amazing customer service! Cheers

[@nigelcarter9503]

What good customer service.

[@johncarvil498]

Hi Michael,congratulations on the 500 Subscribers mate. Sorry about the electrics, but you've sorted it now so onwards and upwards. Cheers John.

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+John Carvil Thanks John. Indeed! Need to get that wiring finished so I can progress to the fun stuff. Cheers

[@cheekytek]

looks like your now on course.. but a bit of a costly one.. mate... A good tip with wiring that I learnt, and yes the hard way too.. lol is to do one all one project first keeping on it and with different wiring. easy to say now but we've all been there.... The hardest task for us guys is were trying to build in the best possible way doing section by section as speedy viable as we can... but we have no plan and no idea how it all looks & works after.. we haven't much hope really lol... but great progress keep on it mate.. Garry

[@MichaelHenfrey]

Thanks for your comment. Yeah it will all come good in the end! I am going to try and keep the wiring of the whole layout in sections anyway so that if a fault develops it's limited to one area rather than taking the whole layout down. It can get quite complicated when you add in loads of boards and accessories all requiring different power usages though. Cheers

[@robstrains8711]

Bad luck m8 with the electrics but if it's any constellation even the professionals get it wrong sometimes as an electrician I have had a few close shaves in the past, The main thing is you have learnt from it and it and you still have your determination for the layout, Look forward to your next instalment.

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+Robert Whitlock Thanks Robert, Yep that's it exactly so it's all good in the end. I bet it's alot easier doing this hobby as an electrician.. Although I bet it feels alot like working! Cheers, Michael

[@robstrains8711]

Yea sometimes it does, But it's probably the most important part of the layout other than the track work.

[@MiltonMoJunction]

Always annoying when a mistake costs money like that. They say that DCC reduces the need for so many wires, lol. Robin

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+Milton Mo Junction Indeed it is annoying but at least I've learned a lesson from it. Yeah they say DCC is just 2 wires lol! I wish..

[@sparky107107]

wow always hear of such a mistake, but never seen it till now. really did a nasty job on it, didn't it. but now your wiring is very neat and tiddy, would make a control electrician sit with envy . thanks for the update. see you in the next video.

[@MichaelHenfrey]

Thanks Sparky, Yeah nasty but a lesson learnt from it.. Hopefully it wont happen again! Cheers

[@JAMESDEMU-RailwayModeller]

well done on getting 500 subs mate. Bad luck with the power issue. As you said, expensive mistake but I suppose it could have been worse.

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+JAMES DEMU Thanks, Yeah it was a nasty mistake but at least it hasn't took out alot more. Oh well, you learn from your mistakes and with these changes it should reduce the chances of it happening again. Cheers

[@Finnertoncentralmodelrailway]

Crap thats an expensive mistake pal. Ive labelled all my cables as mine are all the same colour too but i will be using coloured tape too.

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+Brian Indeed but I received some good news from megapoints which I will update on in my next video but suddenly it's not such an expensive mistake anymore :)

[@Finnertoncentralmodelrailway]

You will have to let us know what you think of the meggapoints system as im thinking of getting it myself in the future

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+Brian Honestly from the customer service I've received, the flexibility of it, the upcoming update for it which makes it better for home layouts I can't fault it one bit! As long as you can follow the wiring for it which isn't difficult then I throughly recommend it. Have you had a look at their KZbin channel? It's worth checking out for sure!

[@Finnertoncentralmodelrailway]

I have its very tempting but my dcc controller is first hopefully i will get that next month

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+Brian awesome! Which controller are you looking at getting?

[@Haymarket47]

Hi, nightmare re your wiring blooper but these things happen. I notice that you are using the wago connectors, how are you finding them?

[@MichaelHenfrey]

Indeed they do! But at least it's something to learn from :) I think they are really good and very easy to use.. Never had a wire pop out of them. My only issue is that with the holes being on the same side it makes the wiring look a little messy and with no holes in them to hold it onto the baseboard it can make keeping things tidy a little difficult.. Maybe the spring terminal blocks are better?

[@Haymarket47]

Michael Henfrey hi Michael thanks for your reply. Interesting points to think about, not sure what these spring connectors you mention are?

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+Alan Wilson I'll link them for you. I have used these too and they work just as well and as they are spring loaded it's very easy to wire up underneath a baseboard tinyurl.com/y7zean52

[@Haymarket47]

That's great thanks for the link.

[@robstrains8711]

Hi I have a bag of the spring connectors and they are great for things like your test track so you can connect different supplies quickly but I would not recommend them in anyway for use on you connection on the layout as they just are not permanent enough to be a reliable connection, So for temporary connections whist testing point polarity etc great. But do not use them on your finished wiring.

[@robertsjunction4753]

you really should tern the hole layout off before doing any work on it.

[@MichaelHenfrey]

+Robert's Junction Yeah I know.. Was just trying to do 1 little thing but it wouldn't of made much of a difference as I would have still turned it on while it was connected wrong. Oh well.. Lesson learnt!

[@robertsjunction4753]

Hope it never happens again.