I have CVP's EasyDCC. It was recommended by a friend who has tried all systems out there. I am very pleased and their service is top notch.
Ken Vandevoort
ATLANTIC CENTRAL fieryturbo Why not use DCC++? http://jmri.sourceforge.net/help/en/html/hardware/dccpp/index.shtml An Arduino Uno and motor shield are like a little more than $10 total shipped from China. A comparable Digitrax system is literally THIRTY TIMES the cost of this :/ Save your money and spend it on track or something really necessary. I also found this article: a DCC decoder for $5: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/19070 Also using the same arduino tools. That's entirely too much work of most people.......... Can I assume that the only way to have a wireless throttle with that is to use a smart phone? That leaves me out thank you. Most people in this hobby today use DCC because they did not want to do much wiring or learn anything about electronics......... Sheldon
fieryturbo Why not use DCC++? http://jmri.sourceforge.net/help/en/html/hardware/dccpp/index.shtml An Arduino Uno and motor shield are like a little more than $10 total shipped from China. A comparable Digitrax system is literally THIRTY TIMES the cost of this :/ Save your money and spend it on track or something really necessary. I also found this article: a DCC decoder for $5: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/19070 Also using the same arduino tools.
Why not use DCC++?
http://jmri.sourceforge.net/help/en/html/hardware/dccpp/index.shtml
An Arduino Uno and motor shield are like a little more than $10 total shipped from China.
A comparable Digitrax system is literally THIRTY TIMES the cost of this :/
Save your money and spend it on track or something really necessary.
I also found this article: a DCC decoder for $5:
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/19070
Also using the same arduino tools.
That's entirely too much work of most people..........
Can I assume that the only way to have a wireless throttle with that is to use a smart phone? That leaves me out thank you.
Most people in this hobby today use DCC because they did not want to do much wiring or learn anything about electronics.........
Sheldon
We're not talking about most people (whatever that implies). We're talking about the OP who said he was very technologically inclined. I highly doubt he will have any difficulty with the solution I suggested.
DCC++ requires less effort than setting up JMRI does, and that's by a long shot. You plug two boards together, download some software, install it, and upload it to the board. Then you have to configure it in JMRI.
Julian
Modeling Pre-WP merger UP (1974-81)
My suggestion is to wait a few months and see what comes from Layout Command Control (yahoo groups: layout command control). LCC is an NMRA standard.
This year at the NMRA national convention, the LCC developers ran a battery power locomotive in consist with a DCC locomotive. These products are currently in development.
I encourage all to at least give LCC a drive by look and see what it has to offer. Join the group and ask questions if you think you might be interested.
My club uses Digitrax with a JMRI interface. I love being able to my smartphone as a throttle. At home, I have an NCE PowerCab, also with the hardware to run JMRI down the road if I get a layout going. Try out as many systems as you can and see what you like best.
Alvie
LCC is NOT designed to replace DCC, it's for all the other stuff - structure lighting, animation, signal control, detection. DCC will still be used to run the trains, or DC, or anything else. All those people with other DCC systems that don't have the control bus capacity of Digitrax Loconet use either a standalone Loconet, or CMRI, or now, LCC, to gain that capability. Also the CMRI protocols have been adopted into the NMRA standards as well. It's just that the actual components are so expensive compared to other options - I'm rolling my own with Arduinos but using the CMRI protocol with an RS485 network for my signals and detection.
The biggest problem I have with CMRI, besides the cost of the boards for the 'real thing' is that there has been almost no progress on the software side - the newest code examples are maybe VB6 - pre .Net stuff. Any more, if you aren't using a REALLY old computer using a DOS BASIC, it's all JMRI. And I frankly do not like the Java programming language, nor the silliness that is Jython scripting as used in JMRI.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Andrew,
LCC does not control trains(or consisting). It controls layout functions like lighting or signaling for example. The idea is to take non-train traffic off of the DCC bus.
LCC uses a standard automotive industry CAN bus, and is on a separate set of wires (bus).
My take on the next DCC thing is DIY stuff like DCC++. Us old guys like a hand held throttle with a 'knob'. The new generation is comfortable with a smart phone throttle. A DCC++ command station can be assembled in under a hour with about $30 worth of parts.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
ATLANTIC CENTRALCan I assume that the only way to have a wireless throttle with that is to use a smart phone? That leaves me out thank you.
Dave Bodnar modified it so you can use a TV remote with an IR sensor. I think I'd turn off the talking part.
Dave and some other people over at the Trainboard forum are working on designing wireless throttles with knobs. Here are a few pics of what they've come up with.
http://www.trainelectronics.com/DCC_Arduino/Nextion_LCD/images/TopPic.jpg
http://trainelectronics.com/DCC_Arduino/DCC++/Throttle/images/plexUnit1.jpg
The plastic case below is made by Hammond Mfg.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3565228/IMG_20160117_243342069.jpg
Im not sure exactly what I am seeing (unfortuneately I went (well INRD and Gerry Albers layout were way better than going to a bunch of clinics) on a tour during the clinic), but you can see the presentation online at the NMRA 2016 convention website.
There is some sort of specialized interface in the mix of that system to allow it to understand NCE Cab Bus. While yooou CAN do it, the intent of LCC is not to replace your DCC system but supplant it and add features not avialable to most DCC systems.
The concept of a translator could theoreticaly be realized with JMRI, or with multiple interfaces to an LCC system, where you could use NCE and Digitrax throttles on a Lenz DCC system, for example. LCC will also be useful alongside a dead rail control system, since they are generally direct radio, there is no existing bus for signaling and detection. Plus the ability to control structure lighting and animations not directly related to train operation
My only beef is that right not it's not too DIY friendly, although I'm sure that will change, DIY DCC bits took a while to arrive on the scene after the standard was approved, and now there in everything from decoders to complete systems avilable as DIY projects.