Okay, today I got enough of my layout wired to be able to run a train on the outer loop. I hooked up the DCC++ base station to the track, put the necessary information into the Control program so I could select the locomotive which is using a Digitrax 166 decoder and started everything up. I was able to select the locomotive and move it forward and in reverse. The lights also work as expected. I notice that the locomotive was not smooth as it should be, it is surging in both directions. I then hooked up the Digitrax Zephyr Extra to the track using the same connection I had previously use for the DCC++ base station. I selected it and it ran smoothly as it should. Has anyone experienced this and if so what is the solution? I am concerned I may have missed something or have a parameter that needs changing.
I have run a few on the main track, just a two foot piece as I don't use DCC++ on the main layout, but so far they run quite smoothly, and no issues at all reading locos on the program track .. so far I mainly use it to record / store existing CV profiles .. If it matters, I use the Deek-Robot motor shield
Thank you for your reply, I am using the Arduino motor sheild. I will check everything including the appropriate jumpers on the motor shield.
Okay, I found the problem. I was using an unregulated DC power supply, an old Tech II Railmaster 2400 using the fixed DC output. That is an unregulated DC output. I changed over to the 13.8 V 3.5 Amp supply used on my Digitrax Zepher Extra and performance is very smooth now. I have some HP Laptop power supplies that put out a regulated and filtered 19 volts which I think will work just fine for what I need here. I noticed when I was measuring the track power output with a digital volt meter that the meter reading was not steady. After changing the power supply I now have a nice steady output to the track and very smooth running.
Yes. I use a Diitrax power supply that can be used to select HO, N, and even G Scale layout. I have not tested short circuits or programming. I am still using the stable version of DCC++ that Gregg uploaded sometime last year.
I did an auto-reverser test using the Pololu quite a while back (maybe January 2016?). The difficulty with the Pololu is that it has its own short circuit protection that kicks in faster than either an EB1 (for power district isolation) or an AR-1 (for auto-reversing), making it unsuitable for a layout that would utilize either concept. Unfortunately life got in the way and I haven't had any time to work with DCC++ (or my layout) since shortly after that. I did get as far as ordering the board that David Bodnar suggested on his page describing a high power DCC booster but didn't get it assembled or tested.
Thanks Mike, I understand life getting in the way of hobbies. I was building a layout when we lived in Virginia, then we moved to Martinsburg, West Viringia and shortly after that we moved here to Anderson Indiana. We are done moving at least for the the next few years. I will be using the Arduino motor shield for now and will most likely get a Pololu later. I am wiring it for manual reversing for now because I have everything I need to do that. I am in the process of drawing my layout for the Controller screen and deciding on how I am going to control the turnouts. I have a Walthers double crossover on the layout controlled by Tortoise switch motors. There are also to Peko curved turnouts that are still manual but may end up with Tortoise switch machines on them. The remaining turnouts are all Atlas code 100 brass turnouts with Atlas switch machine. Most of the track is Atlas brass track. I have a 5 x 10 foot table for the layout. I am impressed with the work that has been done on DCC++ so far by Gregg and everyone else involved in making it better.
Is anyone else having trouble searching the forums on Trainboard? I am getting this error "The following error occurred: The search could not be completed. Please try again later." every time I try to search for anything.
Dave, Have you done an enclosure for the Mega 2560 with the motor shield? I would be willing to pay for one or two of them if you have or ever do change your enclosure to work with the Mega 2560.
Just for informational purposes, I down loaded JMRI 4.5.7 this evening, installed it on my Raspberry Pi 3 running the latest version of Raspbian. I am able to control the base station from JMRI and run trains. I am not sure if there are any issues however the basic functionality appears to be working.
I have a quesiton for the group, I am running the Controller program on a Raspberry Pi3 with Raspbian 4.4 and Processing 3. I would like to be able to run the Controller program with a single command from the command line or from an icon on the desktop. As it stands now I must change to the folder where the Controller program is installed, start Processing 3 specifying the Controller program and then click the Run button. Can this all be done from one command. I know I can issue a single statement to move to the proper directory, start Processing 3 and load DCCpp_Controller. How can I make it start when loaded without having to click on the Run button?
Instead of connecting the Arduino board to a desktop/laptop computer, some people have talked about using a Raspberry Pi instead. There's a new single-board computer on the market called the UDOO that combines the functionality of the computer and Arduino into one board. You would still need a motor shield, but it apparently snaps right on top, just like on the Arduino. I'm not sure if it's completely compatible with DCC++, but if someone is really pressed for space, they might want to give it a try. Unfortunately, at $60 to $65, it's more expensive than buying the Raspberry ($35) and the Arduino (~$6). http://shop.udoo.org/usa/neo.html?___from_store=other&popup=no Steve S
Sounds interesting for future consideration. When someone gets JMRI running on it and the DCC++ base station running on it I think it might be a really nice compact way to have a completely integrated DCC++ system
Ive been using this for quite a while now. It works really well as a reprogramming track/test station.
I just saw something on Youtube that mentioned that they used the Arduino Due (pronounced doo-ay) version on the UDOO board. The Due only operates on 3.3 volts, as opposed to the 5 volts that the Uno and Mega operate at. If you're motor shield operates on 5 volts, it may not be compatible with the UDOO. I'm not sure why they would choose the 3.3v Arduino version, given that the Uno and Mega are so popular. Steve S
Hi, DCC++ works really fine on my arduino with my test-equipment. I took a look at DCC-generation in the Code. I'm programming a little bit in C, but this way programming the timers ist very sophisticated. Indeed is'nt it possible to generate the BiDiB-cutout = RailCom-Cut (according to http://www.nmra.org/sites/default/files/s-9.3.2_2012_12_10.pdf ) too? I'm talking only about the cut, not the ability to detect the messages delivered by the decoders in the cut. I found nothing about the cutout in this thread, may be, it's called different? regards vik
I down loaded then Production version 4.6 of JMRI this evening, installed it on my Raspberry Pi 3 running the latest version of Raspbian. I am able to control the base station from JMRI and run trains. I am not sure if there are any issues however the basic functionality appears to be working. I am also able to use Engine Driver on my Android phone and an older Android tablet to run trains and control the base station. I plan on hooking up some of my turnouts through some relay boards containing 8 SPDT relays per board. Things seem to be coming together on my new layout with DCC++
Sounds great! I for one will eagerly check it out. I highly recommend github if you post the code publicly. It will help you manage feedback and code changes without losing your sanity. b.g. Sent from my SGP621 using Tapatalk
What , if anything has anyone done about circuit breakers ..... using external? My base station stack is hidden and using an ESP8266 wireless throttle I have no indication of a short except a dead track requiring a base station power recycle to become operative again.
I am not currently using circuit breakers, I am using inline fuses between the track power connection on the base station and the track buss. I am all using an inline fuse for the programming track. Both are fuses with 2 amp quick blow fuses. I may eventually switch to EATON CUTLER HAMMER WMZS1C01 Thermal Magnetic Circuit Breaker 1 AMP or WMZS1C01 Thermal Magnetic Circuit Breaker 2 AMP. They come in different sizes suitable for this application in one amp increments. It is my understanding that these trip quickly. Given the cost of circuit breakers I most likely will stick with fast blow fuses and inline fuse holders.
