DCC on esp32-S3

[fire-bot]

Sent by (@JohnnyGame3). Created by fire.

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Hello, I have a problem and would be happy to get some support.

I am a student from Germany and I am currently doing my technician degree in information technology. As my final project, I want to convert my LGB garden railway from analog to digital. For this I want to use an ESP32-S3 as a central unit. This should generate a DCC signal and amplify it via a BTS7960 H-bridge and place it on the tracks so that I can control existing decoders in the trains but also self-built decoders (also made from ESP32 S3 microcontrollers). I would like to use the DCC-EX library to generate the signal. However, I have been trying for days now to simply generate a DCC signal and send it to another ESP (initially without an H-bridge, just with a directly connected cable) but I can't get it to work.

[habazut]

I don't know how big (time) or advanced (novelty, research value) your degree project is supposed to be, so if the task is a good fit I leave for someone else to decide.

The DCC-EX project includes code to generate a DCC signal on the ESP32-WROOM. There might be a small amount of porting necessary if you want to use the ESP32-S3. If you need to adapt the RMT code to run on the -S3 I would be glad if you could provide that back to the DCC-EX project.

I would like to use the DCC-EX library

For various reasons, mostly configuration issues, it is not a library but a stand alone application.

If you want to use the second ESP32 as a decoder you have several alternatives. Either use the NMRA-DCC library or modify the EX-Inspector (in another DCC-EX repository on github).

As you have the ESP32 which has builtin Wifi capability I would consider to use wireless communication and then maybe not the DCC packet format. Considering the limitations with the number of TCP connectons on then ESP32 you should in that case consider UDP.

I recommend joining our Discord chat.

Harald.