ColinB Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 When I connected my Heljan Turntable to DCC connecting pins 1 & 3 and 2 & 4 to DCC as per the manual, although the turntable worked perfectly the display flashed at a rate of about once a second. So I only connected pins 1 & 2 to DCC, pins 3 and 4 connected to 15 volts AC the same supply that feeds my DCC controller. It now works perfectly with no flashing. Now I was led to believe pins 1 and 2 were for the deck only but obviously not. Has anyone else had the flashing issue? I am using a Fleishmann to power the DCC. As I say no issue I was intrigued why it would do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitter Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Colin, it appears to me that you now have it wired up in analog mode . ( see wiring diagrams page 3 ) .The power supply to the Heljan controller should be from your buz wires or soldered to track. The heljan controller display will flash when t/t moving to new position, Hugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted September 8, 2020 Author Share Posted September 8, 2020 I know I read the wiring diagrams, in fact I initially had it set to the analogue to check it worked, then converted to DCC as it says in the first post. If it was in analogue mode it would not reply to the DCC signal. If I set 3 turn out positions it will move to them. If when I power the unit up with no DCC commands, it should not flash, after the Heljan "Welcome Message", it flashes when it receives a command to move. This was flashing in it's idle state. As I said it is working perfectly with the accessory commands fired from my Fleishmann Controller. I just wondered if anyone else had seen this issue, it could be that that one of the capacitors in the unit that is supposed to create a filtered voltage from the DCC signal is not working properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitter Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 So have you run a loco on and off yet . I'm assuming you will have . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted September 8, 2020 Author Share Posted September 8, 2020 No, not got that far, just checking it works at the moment. Pins 1 and 2 supposedly supply power to the track, which will be DCC so I see no issue, but I will try it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitter Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 Does it obey commands from the Heljan controller . I am also wondering about reverse polarity when you have a loco runing off and on ? Colin...... I don't really understand your concern with the display flashing when waiting on programme commands and driving to a new spur position , which as you have said is normal for the controller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted September 9, 2020 Author Share Posted September 9, 2020 I know you are only trying to help, but you don't appear to read the post. It is flashing when it powers up, no command being issued. You get the Heljan start up message and then it defaults to "Tr 1", then the display starts to flash. I am sure it wasn't designed to do this, unless someone decided it was a good idea to show it is working on DCC. As I said I have sorted it, so for me no issue, a flashing display means it is doing something like moving the deck, so it shouldn't be flashing when it is standing idle.All I wanted to know was if anybody else had seen this symptom. I could take it apart trace out the circuit and work out what they have actually done, but as I say for me it is working.Yes, it is moving to the required position, I setup five and yes it goes to all of them. I will try moving the loco on and off. If there was an issue with DCC, when the turntable has gone full circle it would short out my DCC, which it doesn't. People on this site get upset when I say what I used to do for a living, so just lets say I do know what I am doing in the electronics/digital field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted September 9, 2020 Author Share Posted September 9, 2020 Yes, the loco runs on and off deck and loses connection as it passes through the half way point, as it says it will do in the manual. I was using a sound loco so it was easy to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitter Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 Hi Colin, went up and checked out mine. start up as you describe, as far as defalt to whatever spur position t/t is at , but does not flash. so as you say there appears to be a wee problem on yours as you say. I thought mine was probably performing in the same manner as yours , but I was wrong. Sorry about my confusion. Please rest assured that in no way was I questioning your electrical knowledge as I have read your comments/ input on other topics on the Forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted September 9, 2020 Author Share Posted September 9, 2020 @Gitter no you were actually right, I did some more tests on mine. I found if I turned the dcc wires around it didn't get any commands, so obviously that is not going to work if I need to reverse the dcc wires. So I then connected up as the manual and there is the flash, but it is now more of a flicker. Turntable works ok. I then left pins 3 & 4 the same and swapped pins 1 and 2 so effectively reversing the dcc on the deck. No flicker and turntable works. The deck is not connected to anything, so I don't know what is going on. I did email Heljan to see what they say. The thing is the flicker is not that noticable so it is not a big issue, I suppose I am more critical than others because if the flicker was on one of my circuits it would indicate I had got something wrong, or worse case something is wrong and it is going to fail. Anyway when I put in the input and output tracks ( I need to get some code 75 track, I found just converters won't do) I can work out if the dcc connections to the track are right.Thank you for questioning me, there was that thing at the back of my mind thinking I maybe wrong, that is why I did a load more tests. As to why it does it I haven't got a clue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted September 9, 2020 Author Share Posted September 9, 2020 I suddenly realise you don't need the track outlets to check the dcc polarity just check the positve dcc rail with the one on the deck. It was wired the wrong way round so reversing the deck wires made the display flicker, but if you reverse 3 and 4 connections the flickering disappeared. One day I will take it apart and find out what is wrong, it is out of guarantee so I have nothing to lose. My bet is two of those pins are wired wrongly, but I assume they are on a PCB so that seems unlikely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitter Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 Pleased that you got it sorted out Colin. I think that it is a great turntable , very accurate . I sit and play with it empty , just for the pleasure of watching it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted September 9, 2020 Author Share Posted September 9, 2020 It is, I bought it because I wanted a quiet one, the previous one was an old Triang, it looked alright but made a horrendous noise. I even asked Hattons before I bought it, if it was quiet. I was amazed when I got it to go to the required position via dcc. Like you I love to press the button and just watch. Funny after all this time I still get a buzz when something works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted September 9, 2020 Author Share Posted September 9, 2020 It is, I bought it because I wanted a quiet one, the previous one was an old Triang, it looked alright but made a horrendous noise. I even asked Hattons before I bought it, if it was quiet. I was amazed when I got it to go to the required position via dcc. Like you I love to press the button and just watch. Funny after all this time I still get a buzz when something works.The other thing that is fascinating, is how it slows down to get to the final position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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