Does the LED on a NCE Interface light up

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
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Still having issues trying to hook up to that old apple computer i have had some helpful suggestions from the JMRI users group. And tried enough different versions of Java to think i may have another problem.

I notice on the NCE Interface board what appears to be a small LED next to where you plug in the printer cable. I have never seen this light up and i have this question in my head perhaps this circuit board is faulty.

Does this LED light up when the board is connected to the computer and both the power cab and computer are turned on regardless of wether the computer is running JMRI?

2

the NCE PowerCab Panel (PCP) has 2 jacks, one of which provides power to the track from the PowerCab when it is plugged into that jack. If the track connection on the back of the PCP is connected to the track it will be ON whenever there is track power.

i was using the PowerCab before replacing it with an NCE SB5. That LED is on whenever the SB5 is providing track power with nothing plugged into either PCP jack.

what are you using to power the track?

3

Thanks Greg. I have the PCP plugged into the track, using the wall wart power supply that came with it. I also have the powercab throttle plugged in to the left front and a 4 wire connection on the back of this connected to the NCE interface. The red LED on the PCP is on. But nothing is lit up on the NCE Interface board.

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Hello All,

Kim,

As you have been explaining your issues, I have- -in parallel- -been operating my system and giving you the descriptions of what I am actually doing and how a single locomotive is reacting on my pike.

Regarding your latest question about the LEDs on the USB interface, there are two, one next to each port.

These LEDs are not continuously lit.

Both LEDs light up when a command is received, via the USB to Printer “input” side and sent via the RJ-12 plug “output” side.

After doing a web search for “USB to NCE interface instructions” I found a video from Larry Puckett “The DCC Guy” that explains the setup and jumper connections for all the NCE systems.

Jumper #1 on the interface board relates to the Baud rate of the system.

According to the video, the Baud rate of the PowerCab system should be 19,200.

This video shows how to change that with the jumpers.

He also has a part 2 video that deals with the software setup on a PC- -not too helpful for Mac users- -but it does talk about the DecoderPro JMRI settings and how to change the Baud rate of the system.

Keep the questions coming, and as always…

Hope this helps.

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Thanks for following along and giving all the information and advice you have. It is greatly appreciated. I had watched that video before but i did again as it sometimes takes a bit for me to get the gears rolling. I also found some info on the jumper settings on he JMRI site and it agrees with what the manual says.
That being a PowerCab version 1.28 is to have all jumpers in the off position.

I guess though i am back to my original thinking that my Interface board is faulty as Greg says the LED is always on (but his explanation kinda made me think he was talking about the LED on the PCP board)
But from what you have said i understand that the lights will not come on until i have the board communicating with the computer properly.

I occurs to me i may of had some remnant of java 1.8 still installed when i installed and tested with java 1.6. I will try un installing the Java 11 and installing 1.6 again fresh and see if i can get the computer to detect the interface again.

Thanks for your help.

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sorry, i was referring to the PCP board when you said NCE interface

if the USb interface is like an NCE cab-4/5, the LED only flashes when there is a button press, or in this case, a cmd to the USB interface from the PC.

the manual says the PC should automatically download/install a driver for the NCE USB interface. Do you know if this happerned?

there are various web pages discussing using JMRI and the UCB interface

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7

Hello All,

Kim,

I have reviewed your posts regarding this subject.

You said your system is…

Which software version is your PowerCab running?

When the unit powers up, it briefly displays the software version installed on your unit.

On the top of page two (2) of the instruction manual for the USB interface (rev. Sept. 2012), it states,

"Notice: This product requires PowerCab version 1.28c (or newer) for proper operation.
If you have version 1.28b or earlier contact NCE (585-265-0230) for a free upgrade."

Have you watched the Larry Puckett video?

In this video, he shows the wiring diagram on the last page of the manual, including the USB interface.

I recommend replicating this wiring diagram, including using the exact same cable configuration.

He also talks about jumper #1 on the NCE USB interface.

The jumper on pin #1 changes the Baud rate from 9,200 (Off) to 19,200 (On).

On page 3 the jumper pin chart shows that the PowerCab v1.28c runs at 9,600 Baud, while the PowerCab v1.65 runs at 19,200 Baud.

Have you tried moving jumper #1 to “On”?

Further on in the video, he shows…
•Pin #2 “Off”
•Pin #3 “On”
•Pin #4 “On”

Have you tried this jumper pin configuration?

Currently, the NCE website doesn’t list the updated USB interface manual(s).

I reached out to the NCE at support@ncecorporation.com and asked where I could download the most current information for the NCE USB interface.

They sent me a Zip file that has all the current and past documentation for the USB interface.

DM me, and I can send you the Zip file or you can reach out to them directly and ask for the information.

Hope this helps.

1 Like
8

Thanks for clarifying that Greg.

Awesome thanks: i have version 1.28a. I’ll get in touch with NCE to see how i can get this upgrade performed. That is hopefully the issue s to why it didn’t work as i did some of the trouble shooting steps i found on the numerous websites i have been trolling.

I have not tried moving any jumpers as from all the information i have seen i have the jumpers set in the correct position for the software version i have on my PowerCab (1.28) that being all Off.

I did watch the video twice now he is running v1.65 in this video i was plugged into the 4 conductor plug on the back of the PCP board as i assumed it was the same as the right plug on the front of the pannel. So ill try that once ihave the software upgraded.

Thanks so much guys.

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