Hardware

Microcontroller List

Type / Brand	R e c o m m e n d e d	S u p p o r t e d	Level	Shield Format	HAL / I²C	E E P R O M	EX- RAIL Sup- port	Track Man- ager Sup- port	D C Sup- port	W i F i	Wifi # Con- nect- ions [9]	Comments / Notes
EX-CSB1	Yes	Yes	Conductor	UNO / Mega	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	~11	This is our stable, well supported platform
Arduino Mega2560	Yes	Yes	Tinkerer	UNO / Mega	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes [2]	yes [1]	4	This is our stable, well supported platform
ESP32-WROOM	Yes	Yes	Tinkerer	-	Yes [5]	No	Yes	Yes	Yes [2]	Yes	~11	Inexpensive and includes both WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, limited in I/O pins
STM32 Nucleo	Yes	Yes	Tinkerer	-	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes [2] [4]	Yes [1] [4]	4	Lots of memory and 32 bit architecture, still in the convenient Uno form factor but with more I/O pins
Arduino Uno R3	No	Yes	Tinkerer	UNO / Mega	No	Yes	Limit- ed [3]	No	No [2]	No	-	Ok for small layouts with no programming, or a dedicated programmer with JMRI
Arduino Uno R4	-	No	-									Different architecture to the R3. Will never be supported.
Arduino Nano	No	Yes	Tinkerer	-	No	Yes	Limit- ed [3]	No	No [2]	No	-	Similar to Uno, but without the convenient Uno footprint
Arduino Mega+WiFi	No [6]	Yes	Tinkerer	UNO / Mega	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes [2]	Yes	4	This is our stable, well supported platform, but with WiFi on board, but beware quality issues
SAMD21	No	Dep- re- cat- ed [7] [8]	Engineer	-	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No [2]	Yes [1]	4	Limited support only, will be removed in 6.0.0
Nano Every	No	Dep- re- cat- ed [7]	Engineer	-	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No [2]	Yes [1]	4	Limited support only, will be removed in 6.0.0
Teensy	No	Dep- re- cat- ed [7]	Engineer	-	Yes [5]	Yes	Yes	No	No [2]	Yes [1]	4	Limited support only, will be removed in 6.0.0

Motor Board List

Type / Brand	R e c o m m e n d e d	S u p p o r t e d	Com- fort Level	For- mat	S t a c k a b l e	Short Cir- cuit Pro- tect- ion	Cur- rent Sen- se [20]	DC Sup- port	No. Out- puts / Tra- cks	Max Amps [21]	Comments / Notes
DCC-EX EX-MotorShield8874 RevA	Yes	Yes	Tinkerer	UNO / Mega	Yes [22]	Yes	Yes	Yes	2	5
Arduino Motor Shield R3	Yes	Yes	Tinkerer	UNO / Mega	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	2	1.3 - 1.5
Deek-Robot Motor Shield	Yes	Yes	Tinkerer	UNO / Mega	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	2	1.3 - 1.5
Flashtree Motor Shield	No	Yes	Tinkerer	UNO / Mega	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	2	1.3 - 1.5
DIY More L298NH	No	Yes	Tinkerer	UNO / Mega	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	2	2
YFRobot L298P	No	Yes	Tinkerer	UNO / Mega	No	No	No	No	2	2
L298N (dual)	No	Yes	Engineer		No	No	No	No	2	2	It doesn’t have current sense
Dual Module H-bridge MOSFET IRF3205	No	Yes	Tinkerer		No	No	No	No	2	15
Pololu MC33926	No	Yes	Tinkerer	UNO / Mega	No	No	No	No	2	3	current sense is not acceptable. We recommend using an external current sense board like the MAX471
MiniIBT L6201P (single)	No	Yes	Tinkerer		No	No	?	No	1	5
BTS7960 IBT_2 (single)	No	Yes	Tinkerer		No	No	?	No	1	43
Keyes/Fundumoto (“Beeper Board”)	No	Yes	Engineer	UNO / Mega	No	Yes [23]	Yes [23]	No	2	2
Makerfabs H-Bridge	No	Yes	Engineer		No	No	No	No	2	8
Velleman KA03/VMA03	No	Yes	Engineer		No	No	No	No	2	2
DFRobot 2x2A DC Motor Shield (DRI0009)	No	Yes	Engineer	UNO / Mega	No	No	No	No	2	2
VNH2SP30 - SparkFun Monster Moto and others	-	No	-								Does not work. It can’t switch fast enough to generate a reliable DCC signal
IFX9202ED - Infineon Dual H-Bridge	-	No	-								Does not work. Can’t switch fast enough.
DFRobot Romeo V2	-	No	Engineer	-							Well, an Engineer could perhaps get this one to work.
Kuman Board (and any L293D based boards)	-	No	-								Does not work. Not enough current.
Pololu TB9051FTG based motor shield	-	No	-								Does not work. It can’t switch fast enough to generate a reliable DCC signal