Prodigy Advance 2 USB cable

[RobertPotts]

Hi All,

 

I have a fairly sizeable layout (7m x 3m, two loops plus sidings and sheds) and I am using JMRI to run my layout with a Sprog 3. However the locos do not always appear to be getting the control signals from the sprog/JMRI and stopping dead, or cutting sound functions. 

When replaced with the Gaugemaster Prodigy Advance2 the whole layout is perfect which makes me think its something to do with the Sprog power output as the Locos just stop dead, and sometimes the sound ones will restart, but not move and just cut out again. Unfortunately I cannot seem to get a USB interface cable anywhere for it to use it with JMRI :( so:

 

1) does anyone have a USB interface cable that they would be willing to sell me?

2) does anyone know of any i could purchase somewhere else or, as I am a bit of an electronics bod;

3) does anyone know how its constructed so i can make my own? 

 

or alternatively does anyone have any suggestions how to increase or improve the sprog's power output to a level of the Prodigy base station?

 

My other radical thought is to get a Digitrax system, but they are out of my price range, unless someone knows somebody that has one for sale that would come with the computer connection module.

 

Thanks all,
Rob

 

[Nigelcliffe]

What Power Supply have you used for the Sprog ?  Voltage and Current being relevant. 

 

If you are using JMRI, what is your connection type ?   "Sprog" or "Sprog Command Station" ?   There is a difference, and to run a layout you should have it set to Sprog Command Station.  

 

Have you asked the makers of Sprog about it ?  They are usually extremely helpful.  

 

 

[Crosland]

On 16/10/2023 at 17:44, Nigelcliffe said:

Have you asked the makers of Sprog about it ?  They are usually extremely helpful.  

I try to be :)

 

Lots of questions, here's a selection...

 

What's the layout wiring like? Do you have decent size bus wiring and frequent droppers to the track?

 

Do the problems occur on particular sections of track, or when a particular loco (e.g., one that draws more current) is on a particular track section?

 

Does it happen if only one loco is moving? If you add one loco at a time is there a limit, or is the behaviour more random?

 

When things stop dead does the SPROG track power LED flash faster than normal? That would indicate some kind of overload. The SPROG is very sensitive. E.g., shorting on point frogs that are not "wired for DCC".

 

You need at least a 2.5 Amp supply for the SPROG 3 and I would recommend 15V if it's OO. The Prodigy Advance seems to be 3.5 Amp, so maybe you are at the limit of the SPROG (although I doubt it). How many locos in total? What scale? Any known current hogs?

 

You could wire a multimeter in series with the power input to the SPROG, set for DC current. It will not show any fast peaks but may give an indication of what is going on. The SPROG itself takes very little current.

 

PS Help will come quicker if you put SPROG in the thread title. I only came across this by accident.

[RobertPotts]

Hi Both,

 

Thanks for the reply both, i will try to reply factually to the questions :) 

Firstly the Scale is 00, and I don't believe there are any known current hogs, but there is one loco with a stay-alive (the rest do not have this) - i will test with the multimeter.

1. I have the 15v 3.3A power supply bought with the sprog 3 at the time

2. Its running in command station mode on JMRI, and in Ops mode for the rolling road for programming, where there is no issue at all with the locomotives that 'stop' on the main layout

3. The Bus Wiring is 30/0.25 with 16/0.2 dropper wires every 2 lengths of Flexi Track (these are soldered together, so the droppers are soldered under the joint) You may observe the wiring is a little beefy, but its also needed to carry the AC current from the Hornby Live steam that is interchangeably powering the track (there is an isolated engine shed area that cannot be fed when the live steam is running so no harm can come to the normal locos)

 4. It seems to be a sporadic occurrence with different locos but never at the extreme other side of the layout

5. It doesn't seem to matter on the quantity of locos, or if they are all sound fitted and running or not, there are usually two running, and another 6 on shed, but only 3 of the locos are sound fitted and when not in use are 'off' as it were

6. The sprog lights seem to behave normally.

7. I will put a multimeter in series and see what happens and report back (i am away until saturday so it will be at the weekend)

 

8. The only other thing i have noticed yesterday evening is in the JMRI window (running on Ubuntu) there is a constant Warning message for the delay time to communicate with the Sprog 3.  this is slightly strange as the device is connected with less that .5m of USB cable direct to the laptop, running JMRI 5.2 and the latest install of Java.

 

I would like to add, that I am delighted with the Sprog 3 as a product, this has been my only issue since having it on the layout this year (since Christmas) and why I am trying to (hopefully) prove its not at fault, its just strange the issue is removed when only using the Gaugemaster - hence the question for the USB interface as i was trying to narrow the issue down to the JMRI sever, or the base station. 

 

Thank you for all the advice and questions! 

Rob

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nigelcliffe]

Point (8)  may be significant.   I've never seen that when communicating with a Sprog.   Try a different (and known good) USB cable.   The length of the cable isn't critical (so long as its below about 2m),  the quality may be.  

 

 

 

[Crosland]

12 hours ago, RobertPotts said:

8. The only other thing i have noticed yesterday evening is in the JMRI window (running on Ubuntu) there is a constant Warning message for the delay time to communicate with the Sprog 3.  this is slightly strange as the device is connected with less that .5m of USB cable direct to the laptop, running JMRI 5.2 and the latest install of Java.

 

What sort of laptop? I've only ever seen this on Raspberry Pis. It's not related to the cable. It happens when the machine is too busy to keep the packets flowing to the SPROG, e.g., moving windows around on screen with a Pi. It's really just a warning.

 

What firmware version is the SPROG? You can see this in the console window.

[Crosland]

PS Please open help>system console in JMRI and log the activity during a running session.

 

Is there much else happening on the laptop at the same time as running trains?

[RobertPotts]

On 19/10/2023 at 10:53, Crosland said:

PS Please open help>system console in JMRI and log the activity during a running session.

 

Is there much else happening on the laptop at the same time as running trains?

Thanks Andrew, The Laptop is a Dell XPS (about 4-5 years old now), running the latest stable release of ubuntu, and not doing anything except JMRI (webserver and WiThrottle) - I'll grab the console logs a little later and post them.

 

Thanks

Rob