KingEdwardII

I think you need to explain this in more detail, since as it's written, it is very vague. Can you be specific about which part(s) of the track don't light up the track tester - for me "turnout" means the whole thing - stock rails, switch rails, frog, the lot. And I don't really know what you mean by "track tester" - is this the Gaugemaster GM52? https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/magento/model-railways/gaugemaster-track-brand5/gaugemaster-gm52.html That would make sense of your comments about Orange vs Green lights. And yes, if you're powering the track with a DCC signal, Orange is what you would expect to see. Ideally, you should go back to your original diagram in your first post and show on that the positions of the track tester where the track tester does and does not light up - and which colour. Yours, Mike.

I come back to my question - after a train has run over the crossover, is every section of track on that route powered and of the correct polarity? If the answer to that question is "yes", then we can eliminate any wiring problems as being the cause. If "no" then there is some wiring to fix. If "yes" then I'd next ask whether there is a problem with either or both of the frog juicers - they may be malfunctioning. I think the simplest way to check this out would be to replace them one at a time with another frog juicer borrowed from another part of your layout that is working OK. I'd also ask whether this occurs with all your locos or only a subset of them. Why I ask this question is that there can be track contact problems on turnouts, especially for small locos. The frog juicers you're using depend on seeing a short which they react to by flipping the polarity - the short occurs by the wheels on the frog side of the loco bridging between two sections of rail that are of opposite polarity. This can only happen if there is good contact between the wheels and the rail. Any kind of unevenness in the track can cause problems, especially for small locos. Yours, Mike. PS I assume the "buzzing" you are referring to is coming from the frog juicer(s), which I understand do make a noise as they operate.

OK, we are ready to edit the CMME Sketch using Arduino Create. Start with the original CMME Sketch: The first thing to do is to create a base address for the servo controller. I create a new constant called BASEDCCADDR and set its value - in my case to 200, which suits my layout: The new constant is then used to define all 16 addresses for the servos a bit further down the sketch (note the line numbers, which are displayed in the Arduino Create editor): Doing this change means I can update the base address in one place and all 16 servo addresses change - so, for example if I buy a second Servo controller, it can have its own set of addresses. The next thing is to adjust the sweep angle, which goes from the value represented by the second parameter ("SERVOMIN" here) to the value represented by the third parameter (which starts out as SERVOMAX-250). This is done by adjusting the value of the 3rd parameter for the servo concerned - line 97 above for the servo with address BASEDCCADDR. You may need to play around with this value to get it right for your installation - I suggest gradually reducing the value in stages until you get the sweep that you want: In my case, I've changed the upper sweep angle to SERVOMAX-350. Once the edits are complete, use the buttons at the top of the editor: First use the button with the Tick - this verifies and saves the updated Sketch. If all is OK, then use the button with the Right Arrow to upload the Sketch to the Servo controller. The editor will indicate that it is "Busy" while it is doing this and you will notice LEDs flashing on the Arduino board of the Servo controller as the upload takes place. Messages also get displayed at the bottom of the editor window, like these: Notice the final "done. Thank you" message that indicates that everything is complete and the updated version of the Sketch is now running. You can now issue DCC commands to activate the servo - here, with JMRI, for example: The DCC accessory address here is "200", matching the first entry in the updated sketch shown above. "Thrown" and "Closed" buttons cause the servo to move to one end or the other of its sweep range. For me, "Thrown" is here: and "Closed" is here: So, now we have the servo set up and ready to operate a semaphore signal.

I have to say that I am not familiar with frog juicers, since I use point motors with built-in switches to set the polarity of my frogs. However, if you run a train over the crossover (i.e. curved route over both points) then once you have done that I would expect the polarity of the tracks to be correct all the way along that route - and all sections of rail on that route should be powered. If that isn't the case, then I can only assume that the wiring is incorrect somewhere. You indicate in your comment that there is a problem, but I'm not clear what part of the track you are referring to, so it's hard to suggest a fix. Yours, Mike.

I'd start by checking out all the sections of rail with a multimeter, to see whether they have the polarity you expect - or even worse, whether they have no power at all!. One question to ask is how power is reaching the switch rails of the turnouts. If you're relying on the contacts between the blades and the stock rail then that might be a cause of the problem, since these contacts can degrade over time. Yours, Mike.

With DCC, this is the part that is really simple. All that is necessary in DCC is to connect up the droppers from the track to a single set of bus wires that you run from one end of your layout to the other. Job done. With DC, you have to worry about creating track sections and having the means to control power going to each section. This usually demands a control panel with lots of switches and wiring that goes from the control panel to each section of track. For anything other than a simple layout, this soon becomes a rats nest and requires a great deal of planning and discipline. I came back to modelling recently but I have found that DCC can simplify some things enormously as well as providing some capabilities very hard to provide with DC. DCC is worth the effort and cost, in my experience. Yours, Mike.

One of the pubs in our village - the Dog & Crook - used to have a thatched roof. Unfortunately, it demonstrated one of the problems with thatched roofs in that one night the thatch caught fire and burned the place to the ground. They rebuilt the pub, but in a much more modern style - and it had a tiled roof. They have a "before and after the fire" picture on the wall inside - a little different to the usual hunting scenes, etc. Yours, Mike.

Yes, I thought it was something like that - I have a friend who used to work as a thatcher and I was going to ask him about this next time I see him. Yours, Mike.

I suspect that getting that pattern on the ridge section of the thatch might be the trickiest part - pretty well all the thatched buildings around here have some patterning, although the actual pattern used varies a bit - I think it's a style thing. Yours, Mike.

Tell us which ward and we'll come and visit you in hospital...

OK, so far I have got the Servo controller connected and working and I am able to drive a servo using DCC accessory (turnout) commands. The next steps are to configure the Servo controller for two aspects: The DCC address for the servos The sweep angle of the servos Setting the DCC address enables us to assign addresses for the servos that fit into the overall DCC address scheme and also enables each Servo controller unit to have its own unique addresses. Setting the sweep angle for each servo enables us to adjust the throw to suit the semaphore signals. The default 180 degree sweep is going to be much too large as you can appreciate from the distances involved in the pictures at the end of the last posting. The distance required is going to be of the order of 3 to 5 mm. Configuring the CMME DCC Servo controller is somewhat different to other DCC units I have used. Configuration is not done by setting DCC CV values as might be the case for other DCC controllers. The CMME Servo controller is driven by software running on the Arduino Nano board that is part of the controller - by a small program called a Sketch in the terminology used in the Arduino world. To configure the Servo controller, parameters in the sketch are modified as required and an updated sketch is loaded into the Arduino Nano. This is the purpose of the USB connection to the Servo controller, which needs to be connected to a computer of yours that is configured to run software that can be used to: Edit the sketch Validate the updated sketch Load the updated sketch to the Servo controller There are multiple software packages available that can do this - I am going to describe using one of thee packages - the package recommended by CMME themselves. However, if you are an expert in Arduino programming and prefer a different software package, there is nothing stopping you using your favourite tool. The chosen software package is called Arduino Create. This is a web based ("cloud") system, where most of the work is done using a web browser and the tools and files are held by a central web server - and thus work the same whatever computer you are using (i.e. its the same whether you're using Windows, a Mac or a Linux machine like a Pi). However, there is one component that must be installed and run on your computer locally. This is called the Arduino Create Agent. Its job is to link the Arduino Create system running on the Web to the USB connection from your computer to the Servo controller. The first thing to do is to install the Arduino Create Agent by pointing your browser at this web page: https://create.arduino.cc/getting-started/plugin/welcome Follow the steps there and you will download, install and run the Arduino Create Agent on your computer. The details vary depending on the kind of machine you're using. Once you have done this, then you access the Arduino Create tools via your web browser on this page: https://store.arduino.cc/digital/create You need sign up to Arduino Create - it has a freemium model, meaning that it has a free tier that provides basic functionality, but you pay a subscription for advanced features. The free tier is fine for reconfiguring the sketch for the CMME Servo controller. Once you've got an account and signed in, then the tool you're going to use to edit the sketch is the Arduino Editor: The Arduino Sketch for the Servo controller is available for you to download onto your machine from the CMME website here: https://chesterfield-models.co.uk/arduino-guide-sketches/ Look for the "DCC Servo Sketch" section on that page. It displays the sketch and also provides a Download button - click on the download button and a file 16_Servo_Complete.zip is downloaded to your machine. Within that zip file is a file called 16_Servo_Complete.ino - this is the sketch itself. From there you can import the sketch into the Arduino Editor using the button with the upwards arrow. You then open the sketch in the editor: One final thing remains before you start editing. You need to connect the editor to your Servo controller. This is done using the box in the top middle of the editor window - it has the words "Arduino Nano" in it in the image above. Clicking on that enables you to select the connection to your Servo controller via the USB connection on your machine. The exact address will depend on the configuration of your machine - but the Arduino Create Agent should already have worked out where the USB link is and will relay it to the Editor, so that all you have to do is to select it. When you're done the editor will look like this: The editor is now communicating with the Arduino Create Agent and the editor will be able to upload modified versions of the sketch to the Servo controller. This post is already a long one, so I think I'll stop at this point before describing the changes to the sketch that are used to configure the Servo controller.

Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't, I think. I experienced the joys of a reversing camera on a hire car in the USA (first time I'd ever seen one). It instantly became a "must have" for my next new car - a deal breaker. And when I bought a new car about a year later, that gizmo was indeed pretty well top of the list - and one salesman who tried selling me a model that didn't have one got some pithy input from me (he'd already been told I wanted one). I suspect that for some technology, enough customer pressure like this gradually makes some optional extras into standard features. I am sure that DCC for locos progressed through this sort of pressure - a certain percentage of modellers wanted DCC for their locos (note: by no means everyone, even today) and would buy models at least easy to convert to DCC in preference to others that were hard to convert. So over time, locos all became at least "DCC ready", even though that required redesign & retooling from the vendors. Yours, Mike.

Now we're ready to operate the servo. First power up the Servo Controller by applying the 5V and then enable control via DCC by connecting the DCC to the output of the DCC controller (Digikeijs DR5000 in my case): A green LED lights up on the Arduino Nano board and a red LED lights up on the servo shield board. I used the Turnout Control panel on JMRI on my Pi400 to issue DCC commands to the Servo controller. The default DCC address for Servo 1 is simply 1 (Servo 2 has address 2 and so on). The defaults can be changed - I'll describe how to do this later. Enter address 1 into the Turnout Control panel and then select the Closed button. This causes the servo to turn through 180 degrees anticlockwise. Then clicking the Thrown button causes the servo to turn back through 180 degrees clockwise. The extent of the motion is again the default and this can be changed through configuration - I'll describe how to do this later.

The next step is to attach the necessary connections: DCC bus, in my case a link from the DCC accessory bus This is only used for signalling, not for power. 5V DC power supply This powers the servo controller itself and also the servos. I have used an adapted USB power supply, since I had some going spare. The power output is up to 2.0A, which should be more than enough. If not, I have an alternative available with 3.0A output. USB connection This connects to either my Pi400 or my MacBook Pro - the connector on the servo controller is a USB mini, so I used a USB-A to USB-mini cable that I had in my bits box. Then I was ready to attach the first servo. For simplicity I attached this to the servo 1 connector. Connection is using the 3 wire cable square pin adapter which is pretty well universal for mini and micro servos. The servos have a standard cable that is about 250mm long - for placements around the layout, it is necessary to use extension cables, which are available to order in a range of sizes from 300mm to well over 1000mm. All the connectors are shown in the picture here: I am using the HXT900 servos from HobbyKing - a bit cheaper than the commonly used Tower SG90, but having a good reputation for reliability: The squares on the cutting board are 1/2inch, so you can appreciate that these servos are quite small. The servo comes with multiple arms - I chose to use the simple single arm, which I think is most suited for operating the wires for semaphones. This is attached with a simple screw and the angle of attachment is easily adjusted to suit.

I wonder if there is something else running causing you to run out of resources, e.g. memory. Might be worth running some diagnostics to see what's going on. My Pi400 has 4Gb RAM and the use of a USB Flash drive improves disk speed performance, but even with JMRI running and lots of windows open, I'm using less than 1Gb RAM, which is what your Pi 3B+ has. I don't get any long pauses. Yours, Mike.

Clearly something significant wrong with your Pi OS install. You need to fix that. Have you tried the following commands: sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade or even sudo apt full-upgrade One other thing to consider once you've got the system sorted and running properly is to have a backup of the SD card in reserve. For me, I got my Pi400 working with a NOOBS SD card and once I was happy with it, I cloned the system onto a USB Flash drive using the SD Card Copier app and then removed the SD card and booted the system from the USB drive. The SD card is my backup and is safely in a drawer. Yours, Mike.

I missed this question originally. The answer to that is "yes". See this page: https://webserver.jmri.org/install/Raspbian.shtml 2/3rds of the way down the page it says: "To create a complete set of Desktop icons that you can just double-click, Dan M. wrote a set of desktop startup icons for the Pi." - there is an embedded link in that line to download the icons. Yours, Mike.

Keith, Did you start with NOOBS and install the OS from there, or was this some other approach? Have you actually installed Raspbian Buster, or something else? Hmm, I download JMRI from here: https://www.jmri.org/download/index.shtml What is available there is a Linux version (not Debian) with the name: JMRI.4.22+R4c4384d74.tgz On my Pi400 I open this using xarchiver, which is a GUI tool since I mainly work with the GUI where I can. I can unpack the .tgz file which gives a /JMRI directory and I can run JMRI from there. Your command "tar -zxcf JMRI" does not look quite right to me, although I don't use that command & I'm no fan of command lines - the canonical form for extracting a .tgz to a specific directory is supposed to be like this: "tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz -C /tmp" I hope this helps. Yours, Mike.

I'm sorry to say that VGA is more archaeology than technology these days. Things are moving in the direction of ever-smaller connectors. My latest laptop only has USB-C connectors, even for the monitor connectors - they work perfectly, but it took a set of new cables & adaptors when I first got the machine. The Raspberry Pi400 has a pair of HDMI connectors, but even there, the USB-C connector has made an appearance. Yours, Mike.

Always bear in mind that there could also be problems with bad connections along the way - it may not be the cable itself. The voltage drop you've measured is large - and it will only get bigger as the current draw increases, which is where you came in on this, by adding an extra loco... Yours, Mike.

Originally I hoped this thread would gather some experiences from folk who had used the CMME Servo Controller to drive their semaphore signals. Since no experiences were forthcoming, I decided to change tack and describe my experiences with the CMME Servo Controller - since I took the plunge and purchased one. I bought the controller online. It is contained in a neat 3D printed box: The scale shown on the cutting board is in inches. The box has retaining holes for screws so that it can be installed in the most convenient location, including under the baseboard. The interior is clean and neat: There are 3 external connections: 5V DC, for both driving the servo controller itself and for powering the servos DCC - for DCC accessory commands USB connection to connect to a computer when configuring the servo controller Finally, there are the 16 3-pin connectors for the servos. The small circuit board in the top right is an Arduino Nano, while the circuit board bearing the servo connectors is an Adafruit 16 channel servo shield.

Hmm, I have long since banished fluorescent tubes and replaced the lot with LEDs. The flicker and hum associated with fluorescents always annoyed me. The first time I saw a demo of an LED strip replacement tube I was hooked - no flicker, no hum and a choice of colours. The daylight ones are exceptionally good. They are more expensive than fluorescents but worth every penny. Yay to that! Especially for aging eyes like mine... Yours, Mike.

Do you have a multimeter? If so, what is happening to the track voltage when you start the second loco? I'd expect the track voltage to be dropping, to explain what you're observing. If it is dropping then the next task is to work out what is causing the voltage drop... Yours, Mike.

Keith, I can sympathise with that - but that is why I splashed out about £200 on my 22" screen - with that, I make the active areas about the same size as my fingertip and keep them well separated so that accidentally selecting the wrong one isn't going to happen (unless I've been at the cider ). With the Pi it is basically mimicing a mouse and it is basically select & click with none of the swipe or drag stuff to worry about like you get on a smartphone. Yours, Mike.

Nigel, Yes, I realise that I could go down that path, but I'm not convinced yet that I want to use the smartphone for controlling turnouts & signals. The smartphone is great for controlling locos - and I've been able to control multiple at the same time on my phone. I really like the big touch screen for handling the turnouts and I am currently working on the signalling to enable the same thing - but I am starting from scratch (signals, servos, controllers, JMRI control, the lot) so it is taking quite a while. I am beginning to understand why folks are happy to shell out >£50 a piece for the Dapol motorized GWR junction signals . "Built it yourself" using the MSE kits I hope will bring them in at less than £20 a piece, but my lack of skill means it is taking a long time. Well, I find them delightful, operating with a Mk1 finger - and no scrabbling around to find the mouse and a surface to operate it on when I'm trying to flip some turnouts... worth every penny to me. Yours, Mike.