RAF96 Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 NMRA posts details of their check procedures for anyone who wants to see if their home brew kit meets spec. This is for decoders... https://www.nmra.org/dcc-decoder-test-system This is a DCC signal generator... https://www.nmra.org/test-board-theory-operation This is their conformance and inspection... https://www.nmra.org/conformance-and-inspection-main-page Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted September 5, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 5, 2018 NMRA posts details of their check procedures for anyone who wants to see if their home brew kit meets spec. This is for decoders... https://www.nmra.org/dcc-decoder-test-system This is a DCC signal generator... https://www.nmra.org/test-board-theory-operation This is their conformance and inspection... https://www.nmra.org/conformance-and-inspection-main-page Rob Hi Rob Am I missing something as I can't find any reference to the actual hardware itself? There are plenty of operating instructions and tips on construction but no actual hardware to construct. It's all a bit old fashioned anyway, being in DOS and using a plug in slot (ISA) 99% of PCs probably haven't got! Keith K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crosland Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 So long as the overcurrent protection works and the track voltage is within spec, you are unlikely to damage a decoder. You might scramble a few CVs with rogue programming packets, but that should be recoverable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIMorrison Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 … It's all a bit old fashioned anyway, being in DOS and using a plug in slot (ISA) 99% of PCs probably haven't got! … Welcome to the world of DCC - that is quite up to date for some places Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 (edited) Hi Rob Am I missing something as I can't find any reference to the actual hardware itself? There are plenty of operating instructions and tips on construction but no actual hardware to construct. It's all a bit old fashioned anyway, being in DOS and using a plug in slot (ISA) 99% of PCs probably haven't got! Keith K What is on the NMRA site is all there is. You may be better off trawling Lenz website, at least they post all their protocols in the public domain. I just wish it was compulsory for all other manufacturers to so do. Rob Edited September 5, 2018 by RAFHAAA96 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIMorrison Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 Interfaces and protocols such as Loconet are proprietary to Digitrax and you need to purchase a licence to use them and I feel that Railcom may be similar Roco has placed the Multimaus protocol in the public domain, hence people being able to use the WiFi version on other systems that have chosen to implement the protocol. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted September 5, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 5, 2018 (edited) Interfaces and protocols such as Loconet are proprietary to Digitrax and you need to purchase a licence to use them and I feel that Railcom may be similar Roco has placed the Multimaus protocol in the public domain, hence people being able to use the WiFi version on other systems that have chosen to implement the protocol. Railcom was patented by Lenz and the patents donated to the NMRA working group. No licence fee is payable for implementation. Keith Edited September 5, 2018 by melmerby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crosland Posted September 6, 2018 Share Posted September 6, 2018 Interfaces and protocols such as Loconet are proprietary to Digitrax and you need to purchase a licence to use them and I feel that Railcom may be similar Roco has placed the Multimaus protocol in the public domain, hence people being able to use the WiFi version on other systems that have chosen to implement the protocol. Railcom was patented by Lenz and the patents donated to the NMRA working group. No licence fee is payable for implementation. Keith And doesn't the MultiMaus use XpressNet, also a Lenz protocol, so not Roco's to place in the public domain. The protocol doc is freely available from the Lenz web site (or was). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIMorrison Posted September 6, 2018 Share Posted September 6, 2018 But Multimaus use of Xpressnet over wifi is very much theirs to place in the public domain Lenz doesnt have that capability - if they had surely they would have used that in the new handsets rather than requiring you to but a belt adapter and a 23151 to gain the 'wireless' capabilty - a very expensive and proprietary solution (for the consumer) to solve a problem that has already been solved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junctionmad Posted September 11, 2018 Share Posted September 11, 2018 By and large once you conform to the DCC bit timings and protocol, which is quite simple , your command station will work with any DCC decoder. Note that design uses a SN755410 darlington driver, these are very inefficient and there’s NO WAY you’ll draw 2A out of that chip , 500mA is the practical max , with 1A peak pulse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted September 11, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 11, 2018 By and large once you conform to the DCC bit timings and protocol, which is quite simple , your command station will work with any DCC decoder. Note that design uses a SN755410 darlington driver, these are very inefficient and there’s NO WAY you’ll draw 2A out of that chip , 500mA is the practical max , with 1A peak pulse That's an obsolescent 30 year old design, designed for TTL logic. IMHO Mosfets would be much better. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 All the decoder and controller info I have shows dual mosfets used as an H-bridge for most outputs (motor control or track, boost or programming, etc). Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin2 Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 I suspect the Infineon TLE 5206 h-bridge chip would be a convenient choice. It can control 5 amps and has short-circuit protection and an error indicator pin. I have used them for regular DC motor control. ...R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RedgateModels Posted December 18, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 18, 2018 I built the main PCB last night. Hope to test this evening ....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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