I'm looking for a DCC signal decoder that would be compatible with a JMRI dispatcher panel. The only ones I'm aware of are the Digitrax SE8C and something made by TrainTek in the UK. However, I'm not sure if the SE8C is compatible with anything other than the LocoNet. Ideally, I'd like to have JMRI handle the logic of what indication goes to the signal and the decoder simply light the LEDs as instructed -- I think the SE8C does more than this.
Has anyone worked with anything like this?
There's a million of them. Check companies like RR-CirKits and Team Digital.
A vast majority of devices are Loconet compatible. This doesn;t mean you can't use them with another DCC system, tons of people run their trains with NCE but use a standalone Loconet for the signals and detection - the Loconet bus can handle that stuff, the cab bus of NCE or Lenz or MRC can't.
You need input, too, to drive the logic in JMRI. If you just want to click on a JMRI panel and make the signals change, you can do that more cheaply by using plain signals with LEDs in them and some toggle switches. If you want JMRI to calculate signals based on what's happening on the layout, then you need to know turnout position and block occupancy. The SE8C is almost exactly what you want to do - it has no computational logic whatsover and is simply a device that drives a whole lot of LEDs for signals. Some of Team Digitals's products have the logic in them to calculate signal aspects, but if you ask me, from reading the manuals all the CVs that need to be set to define the logic is much more complicated than making a panel in JMRI and applying the logic there.
There are also DIY products that can do this sort of thing, like the LocoIO from Hans Deloof. It's available as just a bare board you build yourself or completely ready to use.
Or really DIY - I'm building my own with Arduinos. Using CMRI protocol. There is CMRI but unless you build your own, the cost per port is rather high compared to the SE8C or RR-Cirkits Tower Controller and driver boards. For the price of the SE8C - it drives 32 signal heads, and has inputs for 8 block detectors. The example shows a typical siding turnout where you have 2 lights over 3 facing the points, a 2 or 3 color dwarf on the siding facing the frog, and a standard 3 color signal on the main facing the frog, but you don;t have to implement every connection to the SE8C this way - each signal head can be controlled with a pair of switch addresses and they are completely independent, although there are certain ways they have to be wired together to support the multiplexing scheme used.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I want to go the click on a jmri panel to toggle a signal route. Is there a cheap way to do that? Or do I still need a decoder.
I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.
BNSF UP and others modeler I want to go the click on a jmri panel to toggle a signal route. Is there a cheap way to do that? Or do I still need a decoder.
You'll need something to interface between the computer and your layout.
Check the list of hardware (not all DCC) that JMRI supports: http://jmri.org/help/en/html/hardware/index.shtml
Do the research to find which one meets your needs. Some folks prefer one approach, others like a different approach. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. But as Randy has already noted, there are lots of possibilities.
And yes they all have some cost.
And after you have the interface between the computer running JMRI and your DCC system, yooou still need a decoder. Something has to control the switch motor based on a DCC command, they don;t just do it by themselves. Which one you need depeneds on the type of switch machines you use. If you use Tortoises, it's hard to find a cheaper on than the NCE Switch8, which will work with other DCC systems, not just NCE. But the Switch8 won't control the twin coil motors like Atlas or Peco.