Subject:
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Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Thu, 20 Dec 2007 02:08:14 GMT
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Viewed:
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14716 times
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In lugnet.trains, Dave Curtis wrote:
> One thought that comes to mind is that if we can reverse engineer the IR
> protocol, there is no reason we can't build repeaters or our own controllers.
> You could sprinkle IR transmitters throughout the layout and wire them all in
> parallel. With that, the loco should never be out of reliable communication
> range.
I already did something very close. I reversed engineer the IR protocol of the
Power Functions and created a small device that can both send and receive IR
commands. The components in this device probably cost around $10-15 (but
excluding the gadget that connects the thing to a PC to program it, which costs
$20-50 more). It connects to the NXT, but it's possible to build similar
stand-alone devices like repeaters, custom remotes, etc. One person used my
specification of the protocol to build a custom Power Functions remote.
Last year I made some measurements of the IR protocol of the IR trains, but I
wasn't methodical enough to allow me to reverse engineer that protocol from my
measurements. But I think that the two protocols are closely related. If
somebody lends me a Trains IR remote for a couple of days (in the Boston area),
I can probably reverse engineer that protocol as well.
The details are at <http://www.tau.ac.il/~stoledo/lego/AVR-ir/>.
Sivan
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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| (...) <snip> (...) Very good! That is exactly what I was thinking. I work a lot with AVR's, too, so I'm happy to see you made the "right" choice in microcontrollers :) -dave (16 years ago, 27-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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| (...) Ummm.... except that you lose control when the train goes into a tunnel, or you have areas of unreliable control on your layout. Losing control in a tunnel would be a big deal for "serious" model railroaders that like off-stage "staging" (...) (16 years ago, 19-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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