malc-c
Member
- Joined
- 1 Dec 2017
- Messages
- 995
When I ventured into the world of DCC I opted to purchase a miniDCC board which was a small PCB with headers to connect the LCD screen, switches and pots. It worked well for several years, but thought it would be better as a module with everything mounted on one board. So a few weeks back I sat down and created a new PCB in DipTrace and programmed one of the 16F1938 PIC micros with the miniDCC firmware in readiness for when the PCBs came back from China.
Less than a week later the boards arrived and construction commenced. I soon realized that I had made a boo-boo with the keypad matrix so corrected that, but by the end of the day I had a working DCC station. I've been in contact with the original designer of the MiniDCC system, and over the course of a few evenings I refined the design to make a new revision of the board with a few corrected component values. I also added USB connectivity to aid uploading of CV values. I've yet to have a second batch of boards made, but here are some imaged of my new DCC station
I chose the MiniDCC station as it maintained the ease of use, just like a 4 track DC controller, but with the constant track voltage, and multiple locos on the same track that DCC has to offer.
Just need to make progress on the layout, but as I will possibly be moving within the next 12 months I might just wait until I've settled into my new home and make a more permanent layout
Less than a week later the boards arrived and construction commenced. I soon realized that I had made a boo-boo with the keypad matrix so corrected that, but by the end of the day I had a working DCC station. I've been in contact with the original designer of the MiniDCC system, and over the course of a few evenings I refined the design to make a new revision of the board with a few corrected component values. I also added USB connectivity to aid uploading of CV values. I've yet to have a second batch of boards made, but here are some imaged of my new DCC station
I chose the MiniDCC station as it maintained the ease of use, just like a 4 track DC controller, but with the constant track voltage, and multiple locos on the same track that DCC has to offer.
Just need to make progress on the layout, but as I will possibly be moving within the next 12 months I might just wait until I've settled into my new home and make a more permanent layout