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Railroading on the Southern Pacific Coast

Turtle Testing

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[edit] Testing and IC installation

Test Slder joints and component placement

DO NOT install ANY of the Integrated Circuits until explicitly directed!

  • Check to make sure you installed everything on the "Component" side of the board!
    • Visually check the components on the board to ensure that they are in the correct place and that all components have been installed.
    • Visually check all the solder joints. Look for solder bridges between adjacent pins/pads, cold solder joints, unsoldered components, and the like.
    • Check to see that the polarity sensitive components (capacitors, diodes) are actually installed the correct way.
  • Test Power Supply
    • Apply power to the base unit. The Red and Yellow LED power indicators should light up; all the other LEDS should be off. Turn off the power.
  • Test Turtle Circuits
    • Install just the LM556 and LM324 ICs - U1 through U6. There should be a dot in the corner of the chip indicating "pin 1"; alternately there will be a notch similar to that on the socket on the pin1 end. Don't bend any of the pins as you install the ICs - double check visually before continuing.
    • DO NOT install the PIC yet, and DO NOT connect the base unit to the LocoNet or any of the remote daughterboards.
    • Apply power to the base unit. As before, the Red and Yellow LED power indicators should light up; all the other LEDS should be off.
      • There is no Turtle remote test card, so you will need to breadboard your own. It should have one bi-color LED with a 1K resistor connected to pins 1 and 8, and momentary pushbuttons connected from pin 4 (gnd) to pins 2 (!Normal) and 5 (!Diverging) as well as a pushbutton (Occupied) connected between pin6 (5v) and a 10K resistor connected to pin 7 (Trigger).
      • Pushing the Normal and Diverging buttons at this point does nothing at this point.
      • Pushing the Occupied button should cause the Yellow LED for that section to light.
      • The bicolor LEDs should be illuminated on the breadboard and in that section.
    • Remove the power from the board.
  • Loading the LocoIO Firmware into the PIC
    • The Detector was designed to use the latest LocoIO software produced by Hans DeLoof (v1.46 or later).
    • Carefully install the OpAmp (COMP) and the microprocessor (PIC). Both parts are extremely sensitive to static electricity (see cautions).
    • DO NOT connect the base unit to the LocoNet or any of the remote daughter boards or test boards.
    • If the PIC isn't already programmed:
      • Apply power to the base unit,
      • Connect the MicroChip ICD to the ICSP connector with the ICD provided cable,
      • Start up the MicroChip IDE and invoke the download routine,
      • Download firmware into the PIC,
      • Remove the ICSP ICD cable and
      • Power everything off.
  • PIC Firmware Test
    • DO NOT connect the base unit to the LocoNet or any of the remote boards.
    • Power up the base unit.
      • Both the Red and Yellow LEDs (power) and the Blue (LocoNet activity) indicators should light up; all the other LEDS should be off.
      • Power things off.
  • LocoIO SV configuration
    • You still need to configure the SVs in the LocoIO to match your layout. Either Hans' LocoIO.exe or the JMRI LocoIO Programmer will work. See Turtle LocoIO Configuration for details.
  • Connect the base unit to the LocoNet and power it up.
    • The LocoNet LED (Blue) should flicker as LocoNet packets are seen; it should be "mostly off". If it is solidly on, it indicates a bad LocoNet connection.
    • Using one of the above LocoIO programmers, set the board address and configure the SVs to be "active low" occupancy detectors for the correct blocks.
    • Power off when done.
  • Final Tests
    • Once configured, connect the base unit to the LocoNet and the Test breadboard.
    • Connect power to the base unit.
      • The Red and Yellow LEDs (power) should light up and the Blue (LocoNet activity) indicator should flicker as LocoNet packets are seen.
    • Press the various pushbuttons on the test card.
      • As above, the Occupied LED on the base unit should toggle on and off in sync with the Occupied button.
      • In addition, the Blue Loconet Activity LED should flicker each time a button is pushed, indicating that changes result in LocoNet activity. If you are running JMRI or LocoIO.exe, you can open a LocoNet Activity window and see the packets being transmitted.
    • Disconnect the test breadboard and connect daughtercards and Tortoises
      • Set the various jumpers on the daughtercards and jumper J1.
      • The bicolor LED on the daughtercard should match that on the base unit; when the turnout is thrown (from JMRI or a hand throttle), the Tortoise should respond and feedback messages should be seen on the LocoNet.


Congratulations, you are done! Power things off and install your new Turtle on your layout.

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