Somehow, the shorting of the track bus is affecting the power supply for the R-Pi... I know you tried separate power supplies, but something is amiss here...
BigJake yes something is amiss but what ? it s driving me nuts. I hate giving up too. right now im on windows/JMRI connected to the Arduino and running 5 trains.i kinda like the big screen as i can have all the throttles opened up on one screen. my wi-throttle works great on windows too. Funny i was using the Pi4 system with out a problem for a day or too. (but ive been careful to pay attention to the turnouts too). as the power goes im pretty sure im not drawing more than 1 amp with the locos running according to the amp meter thingy in JMRI. i believe its just under 1 amp. i am at a loss.. Question:. How many trains can you run on that system ? --------------------------------------------- as my tini brain understands it the PI4 with steves image on there runs JMRI an Raspberry os and those commands from that run the Arduino and the Arduino handles all the power to locos / track correct. IF so i really dont understand why the PI4 is the problem at all.... BUT it is the problem. AS i can remove it from the system and all is well with out the PI4 even if i forget a turnout. TO me it seems that when my system gets a short it screws up the image (sketch) on the PI4. reason im saying is that after that short i have to wipe the sd card clean and reload Steves (image/sketch) in order to use it again other wise those same problem all recur again an again using that same image (sketch ) Am i missing something like jumpers ect ? I just dont know what else to try after trying what every body has suggested. Maybe there is something in the sketch i need to change ? I think im going to spend a day rereading all the info on this to maybe see if i missed a step someplace. right now windows is working but i need a longer cable for the third monitor . I sure do like the train only system though. i dont have any windows laptops. i do have a linux laptop but have not figgered out how to get JMRI working on it yet.
Just to check in. I'm at a loss myself but I'll keep thinking on it and some random thoughts.... 1. The DCC signal is created by the Mega and detects a short and cuts power or restores it. The Pi doesn't know a short happens or what is going on electrically with the track and loco......at least I don't believe it does. 2. The Pi only sends DCC commands to DCC++EX running on the Mega and other than that doesn't have anything to do with the mega. It sends DCC commands just like your computer is or a phone throttle does. 3. As far as I know the Mega sends nothing back to the Pi and shouldn't be sending anything back to the Pi to corrupt data on it. It is connected though and as you are finding out something must be going on to corrupt the SD image when a short occurs and for some reason the same situation is not effecting the computer. The computer might have some kind of protection on the USB port that the Pi doesn't have??? 4. Do you have another Mega to try? 5. I'm assuming you are using some of JMRI'S screen throttles to control the trains. What happen when there is a short if you are only using a phone throttle and JMRI's WiThrottle? Sumner
sumner I do have another mega with built in wifi and i think i have dcc++ loaded up on it but i do not have the wifi working yet. (i have not tested it at all. It took me a while to figger out witch flip switches to flip in order to even load dcc++ . i do have another board not sure if its a uno or ? its in a box someplace.. Now about #4 i have not tried just the phone throttle alone with out any other throttle opened. Ill try those tomorrow if i have some time. ive been working on my truck trying to restore it sorta . tilt wheel , lots of make it comphy work 77 chevy square body rebuild rear end again. also getting yard work done , house replacing some beams under it . scrapping a camper so i can rebuild something on the trailer part...(poss a new train room).
You do not need to have the Wi-Fi working for the mega to work. Also the command station will fit on a Uno also. Just do the auto installer. Good luck with the rest of your projects, I know how that goes.. Sumner
well after a bit of time and me tearing out the old layout getting ready for module building a new layout ive ran across the problem. It was indeed a short one the track. and its been right in front of my stupid face the whole time.. it was the double cross over's 2 of them placed end to end but off set. it will make sense when you see the pic. How i stumbled on it was i was reading about t-trak wiring blue wire to out side rails and white wire to in side rails soooo, i started checking the wire's on my track witch i had already done before and it was all wired right BUT i stared at those kato double cross overs and i said to my self lets have a look sure as im a dumb #$% there it was this whole time. if you remember way back i had said it was a turn out screwing up stuff and it really was i just did not think about those double cross over's.... so now all should work just fine now. ill dig out that PI4 and hook it back up maybe tomorrow if im feeling up to it for another go but im sure that it was them double cross overs see pic .... i think i need a reversing switch here on those cross overs Please correct me if im wrong on this. look at pic
I might be missing something but I don't see a way that a train could reverse with that layout the way it is shown but.... For your situation I'd wire them like above (NOTE: I recolored the wires on the one cross-over). Above the top rail of the bottom cross-over is still the inner rail of the oval as is the rail it connects to on the top cross-over (third rail from the top). If following the cross-over the track looped and came back to the crossover and the train could reverse then I think they would be wired like in your drawing and you would need a reversing switch in the track out and back to the crossing. Clear as mud, I'll be interested in what others have to say, I might be wrong. Sumner
Will this layout be a modular layout, with wiring standards to which you need to adhere? If not, then you really don't have ANY reversing loops. All three loops can be wired the same polarity, and it won't matter which way the crossovers are thrown. You may have to provide feeders on the track that goes between the two crossovers. Keep in mind that the outer two rails on the dbl-xover are continuous end-end. All the inner rails of the dbl-crossover are gapped at mid-length from the factory. Think about it: Is there any path that the loco can take around your layout that will cause it to traverse the same trackage in opposite directions, without reversing the throttle? (Answer: No.) So you don't have reverse loops, and you don't need an auto reverser. Unless modular standards dictate otherwise (i.e. the inner track is reverse polarity from outer track). For your layout, wire the inner RAILs of all three loops to +, and the outer RAILs of all three loops to - (or vise-versa).
You can use the old 'colored tape on a boxcar' trick to determine which wire (e.g. blue or white if using Kato wiring) should be connected to which rail. Put blue tape on one side of the boxcar, and white tape on the other. Then, without lifting it from the tracks, roll it everywhere on the layout, throwing switches as needed to access every bit of it. Wherever you want/need to put a feeder, use the colors on the boxcar sides to tell you which wire goes to which rail in that location. Some people use two different colored sticky note flags* (smaller than sticky notes), and use those to mark the sides of the boxcar, and the rails of the track to match as the boxcar rolls over that track. Then go back and wire the rails to match the colored flags. * sticky note flags are used to temporarily mark locations in a printed document that need initials, signature, revision, etc. You can get them at office supply stores, or at department stores that carry office supplies. Or at that 'Amazing' online store.
Andy i have used the box car trick . thats how i wired it . but the problem remains i have the blue rail going to the green rain and it should be blue to blue and green to green. this has been my problem spot with all locos they all stop on this spot untill i push them past it then they resume . these two double crossovers are connected together as pictured off set. im confused about this section. i have all four corners of both double turnouts wired should that be of any help.
sumner its wired blue to out side rails and green to inside rails and this is the only spot that all of my locos stop at every single one of them . im not able to expand this area so i need to either remove one of the double cross overs or figger out how to wire them so they are in polarity i believe. if this was converted to dc it would be a dead short ground to power . i have all four corners of both double turnouts wired should that be of any help. im even more confused now.
Then you picked up your boxcar somewhere, and set it down somewhere else, incorrectly. ROLL the boxcar everywhere it can go, without picking it up. You need no reverse loops or trackage on that track plan. You could reverse polarity, if you wanted, on one or two of the three loops, but you do not need to. Doing so would require auto-reverse unit(s).
You need to supply power to that point, with the correct polarity. It does not need an auto-reverser. Either that section is wired incorrectly, or not wired at all. Either way, it can be wired correctly without an AR.
Ignore the T-Track wiring suggestions unless you are building this layout out of modules you want to connect to other modeler's T-track modules.
ok im a big dodo bird i ran my blue dot car around the track and got all my wires right sorry guys im just not thinking very clearly for some reason. ive rewired everything last night . funny i can and have rewired my whole house and rewired my project truck but i cant seem to wrap my tini brain on this dog gone train......Thank you all. im just a dodo bird (you guys must be thinking is this guy really that dumb )
When all else fails, bring out the blue dot railcar! Don't beat yourself up over it. In any case, the wiring may (should) be color coded, but the rails are certainly not! The good ol' blue dot car is hard to beat (I recommend a white dot/square/mark on the opposite side of the car, to correspond with Unijoiner feeder wire colors, if you use them.) I know from experience, when things don't work out and we don't understand it, we get frustrated and make more mistakes. Better to step away, relax, and proceed again from known (not assumed) conditions. We're all part of this great community that thrives on helping each other where/when we can. Believe it or not, your posting here, and the responses to it, will help someone else who is frustrated and looking for the solution to a similar problem.
Andy thank you yes i actually have two cars made with white square dot and blue square dot and ive even helped a couple people by telling them to make such a car. that's how i wired most all my layouts . i just cant believe that all of a sudden ive turned into a dummy when i know all this and didn't even THINK. ( hey i thought when we get older we get smarter.) I think im going backwards Well i hope that somebody gets something from this if nothing more than to say Hey STOP and THINK for a moment. im really not that stupid although lately its sure not showing . But now all trains are running nice and smooth now to find that pi4 that i stashed someplace But any who Thank You all for putting up with this blank brain of mine .
Boy, do I know what you mean!!! I don't believe we forget the information, so much as we just forget how to recall it. That's why chats with old friends are so enjoyable; they reinforce the relationships between memories we do recall, and those we could not. When we are reminded of information we "once knew" we recognize that we once knew it. And then sometimes we just plain forget anything about it...
