5 Amps Power Shield (Video

[@MrMirkatmir]

Merry Christmas Hans. Since following your channel, I have learned many new things about DCC. Thanks for all the information.

[@IoTT]

Thank you. Merry Christmas to you!

[@donaldkormos5529]

Merry Christmas to you!!!

[@IoTT]

Thank you, same to you!

[@geesharp6637]

Great stuff as usual and Merry Christmas.

[@IoTT]

Thank you. Merry Christmas to you.

[@philiphillebrand2965]

Merry Christmas Hans from Australia (as I write this it is now December 26th, so Christmas is done and dusted here). I am currently just finishing off the Servervo Decoder board that I have built based on circuits and code you published back in videos #17, #18 & #19. I have built this for a friend's layout. So now in the New Year I will start seriously working on my DCC-EX command station, so looking forward to getting some of your new boards for this project. Kind Regards Philip Hillebrand. (PS Another big thank you for all the work you have put into these projects)

[@IoTT]

Sounds like an interesting project ;-) Merry Christmas to Downunder!

[@robleathley6024]

Merry Christmas Hans! Wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday season and all the best for a successful 2023! My board is on order. Looking forward to setting up my own Red Hat DCCEX system soon.

[@IoTT]

Thank you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year as well. Your boards should ship sometimes this week.

[@glenhenryoconnor3370]

love your videos. stuck with the motordrivers.h changes needed to suit the makerfabs shield.

[@EsotericArctos]

You've come a long way since your first videos. I've been following this project from the start and it really does rival some of the expensive commercial products. Now the only barrier for people getting into the hobby is the cost of the locomotives and rolling stock.........

[@IoTT]

DCC EX is a great software but if you look at who is using it, it is mostly technology minded people (or Engineer level in DCC EX terms). In order to help to make it compatible with the average model railroader ("I have no clue about electricity, I just love trains"), I am focusing on four things: Performance (meaningful track current, hence the new PowerShield instead of the Mickey Mouse Motorshield), Simplicity (everything plug and play, therefore the shield form factor), Connectivity (Loconet, because on a larger layout you need some type of control bus to connect distributed components, and the above type of model railroader does not want to mess around with jumper wires for sensors or servos), and Aesthetics (therefore the enclosure system to impress the wife).

[@matthewesler8379]

@@IoTT thank you

[@HHExpress]

Merry Christmas to you and your Family too. Very interesting video. Can you use multiple DC shields?

[@IoTT]

Yes, as shown in the Video. I stack up 3 of them. With the current version of the DCC EX software you can support 2, one for Main and one for Prog. With future DCC EX versions you can have additional DC districts as long as you have IO pins to control them. I think the maximum would be eight, but we will know for sure when the software gets released.

[@matthewesler8379]

Thank you

[@IoTT]

No problem.

[@matthewesler8379]

@@IoTT how many dc district can be stacked

[@IoTT]

That's another question for the DCC EX team. I think there will be eight, but I am not sure.

[@cmu3rd]

What is the difference between your power shield and the DCC EX Power-shield. They look similar.

[@IoTT]

In short, the IoTT PowerShield has more powerful chips but on the other hand supports only one DCC channel per board. There are more differences regarding power supply, which I explained in video #130. The IoTT Powershield uses 43 Amps H bridges, which allows for drawing 5-7 Amps continuously and you can set the trip value in DCC EX to about 7500 mA. The 8874 is using a dual channel 7 Amp chip set with a significantly higher on resistance, so it heats up considerably more at lower currents and 5 Amps is more a peak value.

[@geesharp6637]

I think the demand for these will be pretty high. It could come as the new standard motor shield to use for DCC-EX making the audience for this board quite broad.

[@IoTT]

I think there is a certain potential as for the first time it is possible to have a meaningful track current without having to be an engineer and messing with jumper wires. Plug and play is a precondition to make a DIY command station like DCC EX attractive to a larger audience. Time will tell ;-)

[@zacheryriggins1965]

Will this circuit work with G scale trains??

[@IoTT]

Assuming you are using it with Arduino and DCC EX as shown in the video, yes, no problem. The new version will be good for up to 25V track voltage.

[@corwin81]

Does this work with the Arduino Mega board?

[@IoTT]

Yes, as you see in the video, I am using a Mega for the demo. But it also works with the Arduino Uno.

[@corwin81]

@@IoTT sweet, I currently have the Deek Robot motor shield and Maker Fabs WiFi system and I know the current will be a limitation.

[@glenhenryoconnor3370]

I am tring to use the makerfabs motor shield. need help.

[@IoTT]

Maybe start with a description of where you get stuck. Installation? Wiring? Configuration? Software installation? Also, check the hardware information on the DCC EX web page: dcc-ex.com/reference/hardware/motorboards/makerfabs-h-bridge-motor-shield.html

[@IoTT]

Ok, I had a look at the schematics of the board. This is what I would try: #define STANDARD_MOTOR_SHIELD F("STANDARD_MOTOR_SHIELD"), \ new MotorDriver(9, 4, 5, UNUSED_PIN, A0, 3, 500, UNUSED_PIN), \ new MotorDriver(10, 7, 8, UNUSED_PIN, A0, 3, 500, UNUSED_PIN) These settings should give you a DCC track output on both channels. The problem with the board is, however, that it does not have a current sensor (that's why I set both analog inputs to A0), so there is no short circuit protection, nor can you use it for service mode programming. For short circuit protection you absolutely need to have some sort of circuit breaker or current limiter, either in the DCC output or in the DC input to the board. Otherwise, your transistors will pop when you have your next derailment.