For anyone just wanting a small, quite (fanless), inexpensive JMRI solution, another option would be a mini PC or stick PC (if you search for mini PC a lot of options come up, but what I'm specifically talking about is the approximately 4" x 4" x 1" form factor, which is what I have JMRI running on). The cheapest ones are just a little over $100 brand new and have plenty of horsepower for JMRI, plus you can still run standard Windows programs on it if you want.
Your photo & annotations of your setup did not show a connection to a 3d printer... Are you saying the Pi4 is also connected to the 3d printer, while it is connected to, and you are trying to run, your Arduino for the layout? If so, then yes, remove the 3d printer from the RR setup. What voltage are you supplying directly to the Arduino (not the motor driver board)? How much current is that supply rated for?
BigJake no i have a separate PI4 for the 3d printer also it turned out you are right about some kinda ground shorting (witch i kinda new ) OK NOW for the UPDATE this am bright an early i tore out the whole sha bang and started from the beginning. wiped out the sd card to a clean state. Turns out the PI4 board is in fact bad. the hdmi port is shorting out. so now for a few hrs this am ive been running lcocs ,EVEN my sound loco is running fine witch its never run up untill now with the jmri/pi4... so it turns out to be a bad HDMI port. i changed ports and its running just fine now. ive shorted out the locos 5 or 6 times and every time the JMRI goes right back to work..... now i dont know if the short cable from the monitor bent the hdmi port in a way that shorted it or? but it sure seems that is what the problem has been ...i knew it had to be with that board either the image or the board its self. turned out to be the board. So great big THANK YOU guys for trying to help me figger out just what in the tarnation was going on. now i need to order a new PI4.
With the cost of .... .... right now I think I'd just use the good port now and into the future. Thanks for sticking with this as it does show that DCC++EX with a Pi (or other computer) and Steve's image file for the Pi is a good solid system. Something like what happened could of been on the computer's HDMI port. Sumner
Whew! Glad you got it sorted out, and are running again! Hopefully they will switch to a double-deck, dual full-size HDMI receptacle on their next model... I was dismayed that they stayed with the micro HDMI's on the Pi 400!
Wait a minute! That there's a Punkin' Pi. Them are good fer eatin', but only Raspberry Pi's are good fer compootin'! "Pi are NOT square; Pi are round! Cornbread are square! My geomertry teacher weren't none too swuft if she don't knowed that!"
yes the dcc++ex system does work and i do love it . i love the fact that i can have all my throttles on a screen and also use the wi-throttle (IE phone ) for my yard locos. just for some reason i got the messed up board.. it was driving me nuts , because y'all been running it fine and i was having a dickens of a time when it should have been easy. im just glad its over with 7 days of trying to figger it out... i know you guys thought i was nuts or just not doing the right things (IE power bricks ect ect ) but i knew i did it all right Especially after the 3rd time of loading the image ect ect. Thank you guys for hanging in there with me on this very frustrating problem.... I really do appreciate all your thoughts , opinions, comments and help on this matter..... and ya sumner those prices are crazy.. but maybe ill move this pi4 over to my 3d printer and take the 3d printer pi4 to the dcc++ex for my trains.
its still working great . been running trains most all morning..good lord the prices for a PI4 jumpin jimedies i think im gunna wait to buy one..
In this market, and especially if you'd use a keyboard with it anyway, I'd opt for the Pi 400. $70 and available from authorized dealers. Oh, and a shutdown key on the keyboard!
update all is still working very well. I could have just ditched the whole shabang and just used my NCE power cab but i hate fumbling with finding the locos .. witch is what i really love about this rasp/pi and dcc++ex . all throttles open on a screen so i can very easily pick and also use the phone throttle for yard work.... NOW for that dog gone 1943 loco that refuses to cooperate..... i should just sell the darn thing, when it runs its a power house (when it runs) price was right when i bought it but now im sure that it was not worth it (emd SD70ACe kato )garbage and i love kato too, just not this one
I thought I’d jump in with a question. Using a Pi 400 and added a powered usb hub. Am I correct in assuming the connected devices to the hub will not cause any strain on the Pi? I’ve noticed when the 3 ports are occupied the Pi gets a bit laggy.
I just might get one of those BigJake. im looking for them but prices WOW....maybe if i could dig out the PI4 from the keyboard
Why not use the keyboard instead of the one you are using now? For me the problem with that, and it might be minimal, is that I'm a touch typist and I'm very use to the keyboard I use on my main/CAD computer and use one like it on the Pi connected to DCC++EX. Of course I don't use it that much except for programming a new loco with DecoderPro and adding it to the roster. I could still use my mouse with the Pi400. 3 USB ports would work, one for the mouse dongle, one for a thumb drive with a backup for the roster on it and the last goes to the DCC++EX Arduino Mega. That would cover it for me and I guess you could always add a USB hub to one of the ports if needed. I'm set on how many Pi's I need now but if I need one for the layout I'd probably get the 400. If I was looking for a Pi for other projects I'd probably wait if I could and get a normal Pi 4. Sumner
The circuit board inside the Pi 400 is a completely different shape/layout than that of the Pi 4b. The 400's circuit board is long and narrow, to fit in the back ~half (deepest/thickest part) of the wedge-shaped keyboard, and present its ports through the rear face of the keyboard. It has a fairly large sheet-aluminum heatsink too. The 400 processor has a higher speed stepping (silicon version), and IINM it runs at a higher default clock rate.
i really dont need the key board. i dont use this one but for when i need to change something. i just leave it unplugged till i need one. ive got the pi4/ arduino mounted where i think ill call it home for now. i printed sumners case for both the pi4 and arduino . it came out pretty nice. this setup is working out great so far. but i really need to replace that PI4 i think its doomed. i might shell out some $$$.$$ for a new one. ive got some glitches with the power on this one and i believe its because of that small hdmi port . i dont wanna take a chance on switching the pi4 on my ender 3d printer ( cant have any glitches on a 6 or 7 hr print)
I looked at going the Pi/camera route on the printer but decided that I don't need the remote control of the printer since I'm never too far from it. I would like to see it though so I wouldn't have to go to the printer to see if things looked normal so I went this route for less than $35.... http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/3D-Printer-2/page-58.html So far I'm happy with it, Sumner
sumner i had a camera on the printer it got hacked up for something else. but i did build one from an old lap top that i had laying around , i made the cable short for it so as to not have a lot of cable all over.. . I just have not installed it yet. im still thinking about the case for that one and where to put it for best view. like you i dont really need it as its right next to me when im printing. Its just a nice add on.. so far all the mods ive done to the printer have been very good (a few not so good) octo print was one of the better mods with the pi4 and the main board upgrade. I also printed a fang witch i should have done from the first day. Now i can see the prints better.
ok so I took the PI4 out of the 3d printer and put it on the train layout and its still doing the same thing.. i lose all control of locos and power. can not shut it down or control locos until i unplug everything from the main power...... Now i know the pi4 board is good from my 3d printer because i use it almost every day... I noticed to day when running trains i had five running today then down to 3 running that the pi4 and the motor control board was running pretty hot. nothing changed except i did run into a turn out that was set for the other direction and that of coarse stopped all locos then when i flipped the turnout back everything went back to normal . BUT that's also when i could not control locos no more......This is boiling down to the software on the sd card not being able to handle many locos . FUNNY Thing is its been working great up till i hit that cross over (and it don't matter what cross over either ) so now im at a loss as what the $^&$%*&^ is going on with this (**(^%#@@) thing. ------------------------------------ THINGS THAT I KNOW FOR SURE is>>>> #1 the Arduino board works just fine and motor sheild (because i can run trains 6 at a time with out any problems on my windows computer with JMRI ) #2 every time i hit a turnout that's not set in the right direction is when i have problems. #3 if i wipe out the sd card and start all over everything works great (until i hit a turn out that's not in the right direction ) --------------------------------------- SIDE NOTE is that i got that dang SD70ACE running again. them lil itty bitty gears in the trucks one of them is bad from the factory. i took out the offending gear and it seems to be running pretty good finally. its never ran 100%. But when it does run it pulls like a mule. But now it only has 5 axles for power . one doesn't have a gear no mo. ------------------------------------------------- At this point im really open for any and all ideas that i have not tried (NOTE that i said have not tried ) Im going to ditch the pi4 at this time and just use my pc because im tired of fighting this losing battle . i want to run my trains 8 days of fighting this and no fix. BUT i sure did think i had it this last time. i had real good hopes that all was good. -------------------------------------------- i better put things ive tried because i hate repeats... #1 Ive used separate power supply's #2 heck i cant remember now all of it ...... (note maybe i need repeats because i cant remember i must have c,r,m,s syndrome )
