General > General Discussion
RailPro with ProtoThrottle
KPack:
--- Quote from: William Brillinger on April 24, 2020, 01:02:48 PM ---
--- Quote ---I do have some time to figure out the approach I want to take with RailPro and the Proto Throttle.
--- End quote ---
Call Tim Ring at Ring Engineering and tell him you want to have an interface for the ProtoThrottle. It can be done. The PT software is all opensource - he just needs to build software that would connect it to the CI-1.
--- End quote ---
Now that is interesting. Though I suggest we move further discussion to the Protothrottle thread so we don't clutter up the intro thread too much.
G8B4Life:
Mod note: Split off from Introduce Yourself thread to keep things tidy.
G8B4Life:
--- Quote from: Smoke on April 24, 2020, 11:58:55 AM ---I did some additional research on using the Proto Throttle, and it appears you can use it without a full DCC system. I have inquired with ISE to see if that is really true or not, or an error in their documentation. I will post what I find in the Proto Throttle thread once I hear back.
--- End quote ---
It depends on what's meant by full. What you read probably means is that you don't need the DCC system's native throttles and associated throttle bus / throttle radio system; you do need the command station; and the ProtoThrottle receiver for the brand of command station that you have.
--- Quote from: William Brillinger on April 24, 2020, 01:02:48 PM ---Call Tim Ring at Ring Engineering and tell him you want to have an interface for the ProtoThrottle. It can be done. The PT software is all opensource - he just needs to build software that would connect it to the CI-1.
--- End quote ---
I think it might need a bit more hardware too; the receiver that would be specific to RailPro. I haven't opened up a CI-1 nor looked inside a HC-x for a long time but I don't think RailPro uses XBee which is what ProtoThrottle uses for wireless comms. That said a Raspberry Pi with an XBee module, a CI-1 and the conversion code running on the Pi could make for a cheap receiver instead of those purpose built units that ISE sells.
- Tim
Smoke:
I contacted ISE to inquire about using the Proto Throttle without a DCC station, and you DO need one. Some documentation made it seem like you could just use JMRI, but that is not the case.
I emailed Mr. Ring about the possibility of using Proto Throttle with RP in the future, we will see what he says. It would be really nice to be able to have the added interface that the proto throttle has, even though i'm sure most RP users wouldn't use it.
Something I am looking into is the ability to use the Proto Throttle with DCC++, which would be a cheap way to have a DCC system to run the proto throttle. I don't know much about DCC or DCC++ yet, but I guess I'll have to start learning to use the proto throttle. In any case, having native proto throttle support from Railpro would be the best, but I don't think it will happen any time soon (if ever).
Alan:
It would be interesting to know how many Protothrottles have been sold to date. Anybody know?
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