I am new to DCC and DCC++. I was able to get the Arduino hooked up, loaded and talking. I am using the Pololu motor shield and have double checked the jumpers. I am able to get all 4 lights working and with the <D> command the lights blink correctly. My decoder is a Tsunami 2 GE PNP. I am using a train power supply that I have set to 12V for the motor shield. The computer is powering the Arduino. Using a DVOM I see the oscillation in the A/C setting on the track. When I turn the power on in the DCC++ program and JMRI, the decoder blue led turns on. I am unable to read CV1 in either program. Throttle does nothing also with it hooked up to the programing side nor the main side. I am not sure where to head next with this. It appears that the motor shield is seeing the signal and sending it. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Could be your power is to low. HO scale usually requires from 14V to around 18V and 2 to 3A. If you want to have an output of say 16v to the track, your power need to be 1 to 2V more. For N-scale is up to 14V. The Pololu is the stronger of the power shields as it is 3A and the others around 2A. Also check your wiring connections/ soldering. DCC is very particular about weak connections. Have you also cut the necessary traces on the Pololu? 4, 10 & 12 need to be cut. Have you also set the right shield in config,h? // DEFINE MOTOR_SHIELD_TYPE ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING TABLE: // // 0 = ARDUINO MOTOR SHIELD (MAX 18V/2A PER CHANNEL) // 1 = POLOLU MC33926 MOTOR SHIELD (MAX 28V/3A PER CHANNEL) #define MOTOR_SHIELD_TYPE 0
The throttle will only work on the 'main' track. When trying to read a cv value (on the 'Program' track only) does the loco move or twitch a little?
I went ahead and re-soldered a couple spots that were ugly though they looked good enough. I also raised the voltage higher and I was able to get most of the things working. I still cannot read or write and a couple of function do not operate. Also a couple of the functions were wrong. My usb cable is from work and might be worn so I am going get another one before getting too far into the other issues. I was able to run the train through DCC++ software and JMRI. I had raised the voltage before, but at the time I had the jumper wires set for the Uno. The check that I made before posting I was using only 12v. Thank you for the help and I will get to the other issues soon. I was doing this with a couple of pieces of track and my desktop computer. The next step is the laptop. Crossing my fingers. Again thank you.
I was looking through watched threads and realized I never updated. Though I was able to operate a train with my tower computer, I did not get a laptop to work. I ended up getting a Zephyr system to stop taking so much time. I recently figured out while doing something with my Inland Arduino that several inputs were showing interference. Maybe I will try a booster repeater later with a better product.
