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Has anyone played around with the Raspberry pi and DCC yet?

Im thinking of starting a project to make the raspberry pi control things from DCC commands, useful as a cheap DCC interface for lights and stuff like that
 
I am doing a PicAxe project at the moment, although it's not for a railway related project.

Others here have used PicAxe for G scale, but I haven't seen anyone use the Raspberry Pi as yet....
 
Sure I saw something in the '00' press a while ago.. ??

I want to create a 'box' to allow wireless operation of (many) points.. This to drive LGB point motors via DCC control..
Want to create a mimic on the wall to show how points are set. - This for 'Joe Public' as well as 'Us' operating the layout.
Needs to be wireless, like the Navigator, but with an intuitive layout of switches to show the points for novice(me) and visiting operators. ::)

Not sure if a Raspberry Pi would fit this brief, or not. - Might be overkill.
 
Pretty sure folk have been trying JMRI on the R-Pi, but finding it a bit underpowered.

Are you saying you want to turn the Pi into a glorified accessory decoder, ie. it listens for DCC commands and controls accessories? Probably a bit overkill but fun to have a go at programmming it to do this! What progamming language?

I guess you'll need some sort of simple hardware interface to pick up the DCC serial stream from the track or power bus and reduce the input level. That might even be a simple as a resistor or two - I've seen DCC packet sniffers which run on a pc and use the mic/line input and a simple cable with the resistors (seem to remember I tried it some years ago and it worked, but I don't recall the details).

You'll need routines to handle all the serial decoding of the preamble etc. to extract the actual DCC commands, then identify the address, identify the instruction and parameters etc. and take action accordingly. I've no doubt there are examples of such routines out on the 'net, as people have created their own DIY decoders.
 
PhilP said:
I want to create a 'box' to allow wireless operation of (many) points.. This to drive LGB point motors via DCC control..
Want to create a mimic on the wall to show how points are set. - This for 'Joe Public' as well as 'Us' operating the layout.
Needs to be wireless, like the Navigator, but with an intuitive layout of switches to show the points for novice(me) and visiting operators. ::)
Click to expand...
You can certainly do this with NCE gear - I have created a little box with a mimic diagram, the buttons are monitored by an NCE Minipanel module which talks to the command station. To make it wireless I used one of the cheap multi-button R/C relay modules we dicussed on here a year or so ago. The relays activate the inputs on the MiniPanel. I haven't actually converted my diagram's buttons to work via the remote (I just use the supplied remote "doofer" as-is) but it would be simple. In fact one of the guys on MyLargeScale took up on the idea after I suggested it to him, and has made some really neat remote point panels.
 
Paul - Get hold of "Exeter Geek" I think it is - Did post regularly

I've seen a setup he was running - RaspPI and a SPROG using JMRI
Controlled via a smartphone app with the PI creating the wireless network also

If I get it right - PI running JMRI - output to SPROG - SPROG controlling loco
Obviously you need current running through the track - He was using an LGB 1 amp supply (was only a circle of track with a siding)
 
Ian is correct, Chris (ExeterGeek) and his mates down there have used that setup.

I have a Pi here that I was intending to use with my 1200Z but as per usual never managed to get round to it.
 
Only looking at the PI2 as thats 6x faster than the original one, i have loads of them in the office for other projects that we are working on, and was just wondering if anyone else had done anything with them, as they are cheap as chips and easy to work with, just some simple hardware needed to connect to the gpio connector and some fairly simple routines to monitor the DCC signals.
 
Some of my fellow volunteers at Chasewater are using them to monitor block-signalling (tablet?) equipment, and then using the Interweb to connect said devices from one end of the railway to the other..
 
Yes indeed we have have had Raspberry PI running stuff.

Aarthur Aardvark is the brains of the operation - I just do PR, media, make the tea, supply the chocolate digestives....

He was/is supposed to do be doing an article for the G scale society magazine post Stafford where we had it on display as part of the Exeter Group stand....

Real life as always intervenes in various ways.... I'll see about chivvying him along and get him to reply here...

Chris
 
Paul,

Information to digest!
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35296

https://github.com/hsanjuan/dccpi

https://pypi.python.org/pypi/dccpi/1.2.0


The Arduino may be a better choice as a Decoder for your requirements.

For those wishing to use a Pi2 with a Sprog, this is the place to go..........
https://github.com/proffalken/JMR-Pi
 
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