 | | LDCC and Boosters
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Has anyone had any success using DCC Boosters with LDCC? There are ways to connect Boosters of different brands to command stations (e.g., you can use a Digitrax Booster with an EasyDCC command station). Although to do this, you need to know which (...) (21 years ago, 24-Jun-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) to (...) use a (...) you (...) connecting (...) I haven't really looked at commercial DCC boosters, but I have been looking at the various homebrew designs on the net. Haven't gotten past the "contemplation" phase, though. :-) (...) was (...) (...) (21 years ago, 24-Jun-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) So, they're 10K, not 1K as they appear. Anyways, I'll be doing a write up of this sensor and the slave code soon. Mark (21 years ago, 24-Jun-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) I'm wondering how you could possibly get the signals synced closely enough for this to work without a physical cable connecting the two RCX internals (clocks??? I dunno). What is the cycle timing on these compared to instruction clock rate? (...) (21 years ago, 24-Jun-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) I don't think you can, because there would be no sinc between the boosters. :( (...) I'd like to see this written into the code. It seems to be the only way that it would be possible to do it. (use one RCX as master and multi as slaves, all (...) (21 years ago, 24-Jun-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) It was (...) are to (...) for (...) instruction (...) surges (...) The CPU instructions can be anywhere from 1/8 to 1 microsecond (or longer) in duration. Assuming you could sync up to within 1us, you'd still be off by ~2% since the pulse (...) (21 years ago, 24-Jun-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) You'd have to look at the actual spec's for DCC, which are hosted by NMRA. I'm not sure what they actually call for- I know they are fairly tolarent of misdeeds. James (how nice to have someone geeking for us!) (21 years ago, 24-Jun-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) So, I was thinking there must be some way to make this out of standard Lego parts. I thought of using 4 temperature sensors but dismissed the idea because a) I don't have 4 temperature sensors, and b) it'd be pretty expensive. I had thought of (...) (21 years ago, 24-Jun-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) to (...) use a (...) you (...) connecting (...) boosters. :( DCC boosters in general are nothing more than powerful switches with short circuit sensors and protection. Because the DCC signal is digital and very simple, such boosters are not (...) (21 years ago, 25-Jun-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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Mark Riley wrote: , it turns out Lego lamps will work: (...) [snip] (...) [snip] (...) and so are you! 8-}==: <-- that's me drooling (21 years ago, 26-Jun-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) I know beggars can't be choosers, but I was wondering what your release schedule is for this. We (IndyLUG) have a GATS in October... (21 years ago, 2-Jul-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) schedule (...) Hi Brian, I'm just as anxious as you! I've been testing all this stuff on a pathetic little oval with a couple turnouts. On the weekends I can setup something bigger, but currently I don't have any place for a permanent layout. (...) (21 years ago, 2-Jul-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) Yeah, somehow the rug in my living room doesn't make the most stable track substrate :) (...) Oooh something I'm good at! I'd be thrilled if I could make a contribution by helping with the documentation. (...) Argh! And I'll be painting at my (...) (21 years ago, 3-Jul-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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Ok! Here it is: (URL) B. Alano" <throwaway@insightbb.com> wrote in message news:HHFAID.23LF@lugnet.com... (...) by (...) (21 years ago, 4-Jul-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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This is great. I have one question. I assume that the DCC stationary decoder does need to be powdered and it can be powered by either batteries or AC/DC 9 volt adapator. Have you thought about using a soundtraxx decoder to add sound to the engines (...) (21 years ago, 4-Jul-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) Yes, that's correct, the decoder RCX still needs to be powered, but it doesn't have to be AC, you can use batteries since the switches aren't drawing lots of continuous power. (...) That would be great. They're not cheap, though. The ones my (...) (21 years ago, 5-Jul-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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1.04beta isn't working with nqc 2.2r1 for Linux :(. After the download completes I get a SOUND_FAST_UP then the LCD goes blank and the RCX is completely unresponsive. I have to pull the batteries to reset it. This happens with both lacc104.srec and (...) (21 years ago, 7-Jul-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) I was wondering if there is a DC component to the DCC signaling such that you could actually draw the power from the track to power the decoder RCXs? SteveB (21 years ago, 8-Jul-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) you (...) Yep, I just tried it: I fed the track power straight into the RCX 1.0 power input jack (and to the lamp brick "sensor" attached to sensor port 1). The switch motors do operate slower, probably because they're seeing something like 7V (...) (21 years ago, 8-Jul-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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Ok, I think I have it fixed. Apparently, nqc doesn't like .srec files that have gaps in the memory sequence. So, I just added some zeroes in those spots to makes things copacetic... :-) I tested it with the Win32 version of nqc 2.4 a4 and it seems (...) (21 years ago, 8-Jul-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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Just curious: Would it also work if the booster is powered by an external source and the LDCC RCX draws its power from the track? Or does the booster have to sense the presence of the DCC controller before it supplies power? (...) (21 years ago, 9-Jul-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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Well done! and THANKS! I tried Sunday night to use lacc as both a decoder and booster, but I didn't have a proper "sensor" (couldn't find my second 9v light), and none of my jury-rigged versions did the trick. I'll pick up some resistors and build a (...) (21 years ago, 9-Jul-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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Yes (to the second question :), the booster code will cut power if the polarity of the track power hasn't changed for 10 milliseconds (or if no power is detected). Basicly, the command station is always sending out packets by flipping the polarity (...) (21 years ago, 9-Jul-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | Re: LDCC and Boosters
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(...) is the (...) sends a (...) comnand to (...) know of (...) Actually, LDCC sends out what is called an "Accessory Decoder Packet" to control the switch motors. This is a different type of packet than those sent to the mobile decoders in the (...) (21 years ago, 9-Jul-03, to lugnet.trains)
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