TMWDCC2

This page is only a preview of a DCC system that I and my friend Andreas are experimenting with here at home right now. The system is up and runing, controlling my home layout at this moment. The system will be be downloadable later this year.
TMWDCC2 is a completely new design, and has nothing in common with the old DCC-MB based TMWDCC system. However, the older TMWDCC boosters will still function on this new system.
This new design runs from Win95 and Win98. It uses two com ports to control a model railroad layout. One com port connects to the booster(s) and one com port connects to a base station. The base station is PIC16F84 controlled and connects to the hand held throttles by up to four RS485 buses and one radio link. You can run the system with a mixture of tethered RS485 throttles and wireless radio throttles. The throttles are intelligent, and are controlled by a PIC16F84 processor and they communicate with the PC via a polled protocol in 9600 bps. All throttles can be built up as tethered throttles and can easily be upgraded with the radio feature later.

Here is a beta test vesion of the program. Connect a booster to com1, between Send Data and GND, and you can play with this pre release of the program. This is the version that now controlls my home layout and our club layout. The throttle bus is connected to com2, but the drawings and instructions on building the throttle bus are not ready yet. To play with the test version, you can control your trains with the inbuilt on screen PC-throttles.
Instructions on operating the program will be written later. And yes, I know that there are still some nasty bugs in the program, but it is quite capable of controlling a layout.

tmw_win103.zip
Uploaded July 28 2003

The system will have the following features, and I have marked the features that I have already implemented and tested as ready.

NMRA-DCC compatible. Ready
14/28/128 step modes. Ready
9999 locomotives. Ready
Turnout control. Ready.
Accessory control Ready.
Routes. (Turnout ganging) Ready
Route editor. Ready
Functions F0 - F12. Ready.
16 throttles.Ready.
Consisting (Basic and advanced). Basic ready.
Several booster types. (from 0.2A to 4A.)Ready.
Several throttle types, tethered. Type I and II Ready
Base station for the RS485 wire link to the tethered throttles. Ready
Several throttle types, 433 MHz radio. Type I and II Ready
Base station for the 433 MHz radio link to radio throttles. Ready.
Loco inventory on disk. Ready
On screen (soft)throttle. Ready
Loco decoder programming, on the main. Ready.
Accessory decoder programming, on the main. Ready.

Planned but not yet implemented features:

Computer interface (Lenz emulation). Not ready.
Simple decoder programming (Service mode). Not ready.
Advanced decoder programming. (Service mode) Not ready.
Walk around accessory, turnout and route controller for the RS485 bus. Not ready.
Walk around 433 MHz radio accessory, turnout and route controller. Not ready
Stationary control panel unit for "manual" turnout and route control. Not ready.
Feedback from the layout. Well, I don´t know...Not ready.
Advanced ack detection. Don´t know here either...Not ready.

Throttle Type I

This is a preliminary description, but the throttle is up and runing, both the tethered version and the radio version.
The type I throttles are simple throttles that only consists of a PIC16F84 (or PIC16C84) chip and a RS485 interface chip or a radio board. All throttles of the type I throttle family, has a pot for speed control, a toggle switch for direction, momentary or toggle switches for F0 and F1, and a pushbutton for an attention function. It also has two LEDs.

Type I also has four decimal thumb wheels for loco selection and route (turnout ganging) controll.

Throttle Type II

This is a preliminary description, but the throttle is up and runing, both the tethered version and the radio version.
The type II throttles consists of a PIC16F84 (or PIC16C84) chip and a RS485 interface chip or a radio board, and additional logic chips. All throttles of the type II throttle family, has a pot for speed controll, a toggle switch for direction, four decimal thumb wheels for loco , turnout and route selection, a pushbutton for emergency stop, momentary or toggle switches for F0 - F1, a "plus" and a "minus" and a "R" button for turnout and route controll, and a pushbutton for an attention function. They also have two LEDs.

Type IIa has the above switches and features. (F0 - F1)

Type IIb - IIe has the above plus additional chips and functions, up to F12.

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