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Model Railroad DCC? — Parallax Forums

Model Railroad DCC?

John R.John R. Posts: 1,376
edited 2006-02-17 22:21 in General Discussion
I'm looking at this for sometime down the road, but I was wondering if anyone has used either a STAMP, or more likely an SX chip to make any DCC (Digital Command Control) items (decoders or "command stations").

I've seen a PIC (16F628) bases system, but would like to do something with a Parallax product.

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John R.

8 + 8 = 10

Comments

  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2006-02-17 01:45
    John,

    ·· The following threads talked about DCC, though I don't recall if anyone had anything interesting about Stamp Control.· Hope there's something good in there.

    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=554852

    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=548488

    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=510169

    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=509700

    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=506772

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    Chris Savage
    Parallax Tech Support
    csavage@parallax.com
  • John R.John R. Posts: 1,376
    edited 2006-02-17 02:09
    I had looked a couple of those before. Nobody mentions making an actual DCC command station or decoder. One of the threads points to a system that is PC based, with the signal coming out the parallel port. (Everyone rais your hand if you're old enough to remember printers that used Centronics Parallel Ports.)

    The PIC version can be found at http://www.minidcc.com/

    I don't know if this is "worth the effort", but some time down the road (at least 9 months out), I could see myself doing this "just because it could be done", or just to see "if it can be done". On the other hand, I suspect I could build one heck of a system with a Propeller... (I love the name, my e-mail is "chiphead" only because "propellerhead" and "prophead" were already taken.)

    At the current size, features and price of engine decoders, it really doesn't seem to make sense to "roll your own", other than as an academic excercise. There are a number of possibilities for stationary decoders, as well on the "command station" and "booster" side. As a whole, command station software is non-trivial, but the individual pieces of it don't look too bad. I have looked at the standards "in concept" but haven't done the math in terms of how fast a processor needs to be to "do the work" as well as put the signal out. (I suspect a STAMP might not be up to the task. An SX might, or might need some help from a friend to off load some of the "thinking" and non-signal processing.) I'm not thinking so much commercial application (there is a good range of products out there), but more as a hobbyist thing to "do your own" and/or add some special features or enhanced computer interface.

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    John R.

    8 + 8 = 10
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2006-02-17 02:37
    It was worth a try...I didn't really get too much into those threads as I don't know anything about DCC and model railroading.· But I did remember seeing them.· =)


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    Chris Savage
    Parallax Tech Support
    csavage@parallax.com
  • Jerry ElyaJerry Elya Posts: 16
    edited 2006-02-17 17:25
    Maybe a better project idea would be to use a Stamp to control OPERATION or Animatronics for scenery.

    The old Lionel stuff amazed kids with pulleys and springs; just think of the stuff that can be crammed into a huge Lionel boxcar.
  • John R.John R. Posts: 1,376
    edited 2006-02-17 22:21
    Jerry Elya said...
    Maybe a better project idea would be to use a Stamp to control OPERATION or Animatronics for scenery.

    The old Lionel stuff amazed kids with pulleys and springs; just think of the stuff that can be crammed into a huge Lionel boxcar.
    That is already in the works, with a couple specific projects already underway.· Ultimately, my personal take on the hobby is a highly automated model railroad that can be run with as much or little "hands off" operation as fits the circumstances and my mood.

    One key concept is to attempt to use the DCC system(s) as the "communication bus" for all this activity.· The DCC standard is capable of supporting this, but there are limitations to some of the DCC systems and especially in the area of "stationary" decoders.· The various manufacturers have also taken different paths on how and what the command stations do, and how "vendor specific" items like cabs (throttles or controllers) and various other components fit into the system.

    This project may end up proving not practicable.· I suspect if it does happen, it will happen because "it can" and/or because "I want to", not because it strictly makes sense economically or feature wise.· At the entry level price of commercially available systems, and even the price/performance value of the higher end systems, unless you have a real disire for a DIY project, I can say without any research, this project doesn't make sense.

    Then again, nobody said anything we do for fun needs to make sense.


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    John R.

    8 + 8 = 10
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