We have a lot of space on the Utility Driver, so I can afford to add some TVS diodes on the ports that go directly out. These are 3.3V and can only handle 6-12mA out – basically they can just about drive a Led with some care. I also need to change UART0 pins +…
I found this schematics on esp32.com forum. I will add pull-up resistors on GPIO0 and EN as well as route them to the extension bus on the TCS. I also need to change pins so I use pin 34/35 as UART0. UARTS can be assigned to any GPIO pins, but in this case I need…
This is a draft of the Utility Driver. Basically this is a ESP32 based driver board with 7 PWM lines, 2 H-Bridges, 12 IO lines and a RS-X connection. The board can be used as a wired/wireless utility board. ESP32 Wroom 7×2 PWM connectors 2 x H-Bridge Motor ports RS-X port w 12V Power inn.…
With a small controller in each train I need a standard wireless router, a train central and Train Utility Drivers to have a complete system. I also need a HMI, but I will use the HMI Browser for this. The Utility Driver based on ESP32 (actually ESP WROOM 32) already contains Wifi/Bluetooth. But it is…
This shows the new Train Model Control System based on ESP-WROOM-32. The full size is 19.5 x 26.6 mm. The old one was 20 x 30 and I needed to cut it down from 30 to fit in my smallest cockpit. Pin 1,2 & 9 are GPIO. Pin 7 & 8 can also be used…
This is the block diagram for the ESP32 alternative. The parts in yellow is the new board mad in the same size as the ESP-WROOM-32 breakout and mounted back to back. The total cost of this should be < 10.- USD, but it is very board. The PCB is a bit of a challenge with…
ESP32 and it’s breakout board ESP-WROOM32 actually impresses me. Expressif surpriced everyone with ESP8288 a few years back, but ESP32 is a serious upgrade. Just look at this list: Supported in Arduino IDE. Straight forward to develope custom solutions. 38 pin IO Dual core 32-bit 240Mhz MCU – 600 DMIPS performance. Floating Point Unit &…
An interesting option is the ESP32 WROOM breakout board. This comes with wifi and bluetooth and a very powerfully MCU. More important is that it support wifi security, cost ca 3.5 USD and measure 18 x 25.5 mm in size. If I use this as MCU I only need to worry about the H-Bridge, PSU…
It is now ca 2 year since I started this blog writing about a Model Train Control System. The system had several newbie issues, but what stalled me was the 40Khz sender I needed for the position system. I never found components with correct size and cost that could do the job. The design itself…
HMI Designer is reaching a state where I can use HMI Designer itself to design some of it’s content. I can do this because the Designer also embed the Browser allowing me to embed XML based HMI specifications. I am not sure I gain anything, but it will be a good test case for the…