I am brand new to the JMRI/DCC++ scene, and I have started out the best I know how. Unfortunately, my excitement has far outpaced my ability, I am afraid. I have installed JMRI on a Raspberry PI 4, connected that to an Arduino-branded Mega and Motor shield. The locomotive is a simple 040 American LGB, running a 55021 chip. I put my first loco on the operating track, and Voila! It turns the lights on, it turns the smoke on, it runs forward and backward! When I impounded the loco on the programming track, and tried the single CV read function, I always get the following message: No acknowledge from locomotive (308) I cant write any CV's either. I've followed the connection diagrams found on the Git server, with the traces scratched from VIN and jumper from 2-13 on the Digital header. Have I missed something super simple?
Probably not, some decoders are tricky with DCC++. Do you have another decoder you could possibly test? Since it works on ops it sounds more like a tough decoder issue than a sometging wrong issue. We can start playing with settings and making code changes and get you there I'm sure.
I will pull out another locomotive this week, but I all of my locos have 55021 chips. Updates and photos to come! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
When LGB first added Decoders to engines, they only worked with 14 speed steps. Later they up to it to 28. This might be a clue to your problem.
Do you see all the red lights on your motor board? Does the horn and light turn on and off on the programming track?
I can’t thank you folks enough for your replies! The LGB 55021 chip is used for the locomotive functions in this unit, with a separate US Steam decoder/speaker combination in the tender. The manual shows 24 speed steps, from 0-23. The sound unit is a LGB 65001. In an attempt to keep things simple, I left the sound unit detached from the tracks when I tried to program the locomotive. I followed the directions to the best of my understanding, obtaining the DCC++ sketch from github; I used the DCC Base station Master. My development environment is Arduino 1.8.12 I have isolated the programming and operations tracks, the loco seems to work on the ops track, but doesn’t seem to communicate on the programming track. I will post pictures and screen shots as soon as possible. Thanks for your continued support! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Are you using the Gregg's original sketch or the new one they have been working on to help fix problems such as this. You can install it easily with Dex's installer here... http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/DCC/page-4.html If you are still having problems using it the guys working on fixes would like to hear more detail as to what is happening. Sumner
That was good thinking on your part to narrow things down with one decoder. On a programming track, all decoders will respond. What functions are in the loco decoder? light, smoke and throttle? Does the light turn on and off on the programming track?
The loco decoder only does front/rear light, smoke generator, forward and reverse. All of these things work fine on the operations track. It is strange to me, though, that to turn on the smoke generator requires me to turn off the control button on the throttle, and vice versa. The lights are on/off in accordance with the throttle control. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Great new, but just to be clear, the good results were with the latest DCC++ build using Dex's installer???? Sumner
Yes! I used Dex’s installer in my windows 10 environment, and then moved the base station to my Raspberry Pi 4 JMRI machine and it all worked. This weekend I hope to have enough time to pull out some more of my chipped locos and do more testing! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
