#4.e - Adding an LCD Display to DCC-EX
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 มิ.ย. 2024
- @DriverD Trains #4.e - Adding an LCD Display to DCC-EX
Welcome to Driver D trains. Thanks for stopping by! I’m your host Driver D.
Our conductor and brakeman Scratchy-C is glad to be back on the job!
[Meow]
In my last video, I showed you how to configure DCC-EX to connect to your home Wi-Fi network, as well as how to add an automation in DCC-EX to turn on your track power when the command station boots. If you haven’t already seen that video, be sure to check it out!
** Configuring DCC-EX Wi-Fi **
In this video, I’ll show you how to add and configure a digital LCD display to your DCC-EX command station.
Both of these videos are part of a series on how to assemble and configure a DCC-EX Command Station to control your trains.
Videos in this series:
Part 1: #4.a - Assembling a DCC-EX Command Station th-cam.com/users/videoHatlU7A5S5s
Part 2: #4.b - Installing & Configuring DCC-EX th-cam.com/users/videojv_xfwLZJd8
Part 3: #4.c - Adding Wi-Fi to DCC-EX • #4.c - Adding Wi-Fi to...
Part 4: #4.d - Configuring DCC-EX Wi-Fi for Station Mode • #4.d - Configuring DCC...
Part 5: #4.e - Adding and LCD Display to DCC-EX [**This video!**]
Part 6: #4.f - Correcting the Wi-Fi Firmware for DCC-EX [**Coming soon!**]
Chapters:
00:00 Welcome to Driver D trains!
02:02 Adding an LCD Display to DCC-EX
03:38 Step 1 - Purchase LCD Display (& Jumper Wires if needed)
07:34 Step 2 - Connect LCD Display to Arduino
10:51 Step 3 - Configure DCC-EX for LCD Display
14:42 Step 4 - Customize DCC-EX LCD Display
20:32 Step 5 - A Case for Our DCC-EX Command Station
23:10 Step 6 - Run Some Trains!
25:34 What’s Next… Installing the Correct Wi-Fi Firmware
27:15 Thanks for watching!
27:35 Credits
Products included in this video:
GeekPi 20x4 I2C LCD Display: www.amazon.com/dp/B07QLRD3TM
Edgelec Jumper Wires 20cm Variety (120 pcs): www.amazon.com/dp/B07GD2PGY4
Elegoo Jumper Wires 20cm Variety (120 pcs): www.amazon.com/dp/B01EV70C78/
DCC-EX: www.dcc-ex.com
WiThrottle App (available on the iOS App Store): www.withrottle.com/
What’s next?
In the next video, I’ll show you how to upgrade or downgrade the firmware on your Wi-Fi chip to the correct version for DCC-EX.
All aboard!
[Meow!]
DriverDTrains ©2023
Excellent!!!!! I jumped ahead and added my LCD screen, I had a 2 line on hand, I'm sorry I didn't wait for your video to come out. I have my DCC-EX command station in an old PC power supply,
power supply went bad on a friend's computer, and after replacing it, I asked him if I could keep the dead one. I wanted a fan to cool the DCC-EX station. I have to admit it works like a charm.
I started with the original DCC++ system and when I saw the DCC-EX system, I jumped on it. I've been into trains since 1978 when I got the bug for the hobby, I started with HO, but moved to N scale. I started my electronics career in 1967 during the Vietnam war and continued in the technical career till 2012 when I retired, I worked on equipment that was older than the hills all way up to Cisco equipment. I'll admit I am learning a lot from your series of videos, there are always new tricks to learn. Thank You and keep them coming, you're an Excellent Instructor and teacher.
{I used a EP01s board with a carrier board for my Wi-Fi on my second DCC-EX machine. And this does work well.}
Thank you so much for your kind comments, and sharing your stories. I'm glad to hear your system is working well, and happy to share any tips I can. If you've seen my video #2 you know that I've been involved in the hobby on and off at various times throughout my life, but with various moves and family haven't been able to really stick with it for long periods. Right now I'm happily enjoying my little 1'x6' switching puzzle and thinking of ways to upgrade it. But gotta make a few more videos first hi hi.
Thanks again!
DD
Super video explanation, clear and concise with easy to follow instructions, looking forward to further videos to help a novice (me) enjoy the benefits of DCC-EX, thank you 😊
Thank you so much for your kind comments. I'm glad you enjoyed the video(s) and found them helpful. I'm working on the next one (and the one after lol) and hope to have it ready soon.
Thanks again!
DD
A very effective tutorial. The step-by-step views were very easy to follow. A great asset for Newbees and retired Technicians like me.
I am looking forward to your video on adding commands to F-keys. ie: Join and Unjoin.
I love DCC-EX, I have been using it for 2 years.
Keep up the good work
Thank you very much for your kind comments. I'm glad you are enjoying the videos. Great to hear that DCC-EX has been working well for you for 2 years now, and glad I can offer something new. I'll be working on the automation video soon.
Thanks again!
DD
Fantastic series, thanks for all the information presented here. By following along from the first video I have been able to get my DCC-EX up and running. Now I need to get the LCD display. I will be watching for the next vid and keep up the good work. Thanks...
Thank you very much for your kind comments. I'm glad to hear that the videos have been helpful and you've gotten your DCC-EX system up and running. Good luck with the LCD next. I think you'll find it very helpful.
Thanks again!
DD
Thank you so much for this very easy to follow step-by-step! Can't wait to learn how to control signals, lighting, and other items!
Thank you so much for your kind comments. I'm glad you are enjoying the videos. I am working on the next one and hope to have it done soon.
Thanks again,
DD
I have been waiting for this video and you did not disappoint.
Thank you very much for the kind comments and glad you enjoyed the video. I'll circle back around to the LCD again in the future, but have a few other areas to tackle first.
Thanks again!
DD
Great video, it’s all starting to come together now, well done!
Thanks again for all the kind comments. I glad it's still making sense! ; )= To think that when I started on Video #4 in June I thought I could cover the entire DCC assembly and configuration process in one video lol.
Thanks again!
DD
What incredible videos! Thank you for really clear enjoyable and informative videos. Very grateful for the help you have been to me. I was beginning to dabble with DCC-EX when and felt like my head was in a fog. However your videos seem to answer every question as I ask it. Really appreciate your thorough approach that answers all the side questions too. Very much looking forward to the next videos. Thanks again.
Thank you so much for your kind comments! I'm so glad that you found the videos helpful. DCC-EX is definitely a project more than a product, but that's the very much in line with the character of model railroading. Enjoy, and I'll have more videos coming soon.
Thanks again!
DD
Brilaint. More treats for Scratchy C. Looking forward to more videos.
Always appreciate the kind remarks, and Scratchy always loves treats! : )
Thanks again!
DD
Great series - keep them rolling.
Thank you so much for your kind comments. I'm glad you're enjoying the videos. I hope to have the next one done shortly. Thanks again!
DD
The OLED display option is also nice option ... it's smaller, but displays more lines of text and it's easier to read in my opinion.
Thank you for your kind comments and suggestions. I have a couple of OLED panels I need to hook up and try out. My eyesight isn't the best anymore so I am curious so see whether the OLEDs are too small; I wonder if I can find some kind of magnifying plastic case to put them in. I also have a second LCD display configured for my DCC-EX command station; I need to make a video about that sometime as well.
Thanks again and enjoy!
DD
@@DriverDTrains My eyesight isn't great either!! Look into the 2.42 inch 128x64 1306 OLED (white) ... available online for about $10. You get 8 lines of very bright white text displayed all at once on black background. Have three of them on three DCC-EX command stations for different layouts. Al the best ...
Many thanks for your video's, you have helped me big time. Now using the driver board for the first LCD display, realised that on the motor shield you have 2 sets of pins for the LCD so this will be a help moving forward when I add the 2nd LCD. Looking forward to you releasing your next video's.
Thank you for your kind comments. I'm glad you enjoyed the videos and found them helpful. Good luck with your second LCD!
Thanks again and I hope to have more videos out soon.
DD
Hi, I wonder if you are near to releasing your next video showing how to program the 2nd LCD display? I have been trying to achieve this but struggling so would appreciate some guidance please, I only need the code?
Thank you for your comment. It can be a little tricky getting the 2nd LCD hooked up. Here are some things you need to do:
1. Make sure you change the hardware address on the 2nd LCD so it is not the same as the first one. Otherwise it will just show the same text as the first LCD (unless that's what you want). You do this by soldering across the A0 (or A1 or A2) pads on the IC2 backpack. If you solder the A0 pads, it will decrease the hardware address by 1 (so for example from 0x27 to 0x26). If you solder the A1 pad, it will decrease by 2, and the A2 pad by 4.
2. To activate the 2nd LCD in DCC-EX you need to add a myHal.cpp sketch to your DCC-EX package. You need to find the CommandStation-EX folder on your computer and duplicate/rename the myHal.cpp_example.txt file to be myHal.cpp. Then open DXX-EX in the Arduino IDE.
3. You need to uncomment the #include "IO_HALDisplay.h" line in myHal.cpp
4. Then you need to uncomment the HALDisplay::create(2, 0x26, 20, 4); line. Note that the version in the example is not correct; it is missing the ::create part. I have included the correct text here (also on DCC-EX website bottom of the page here: dcc-ex.com/reference/hardware/i2c-displays.html). NOTE that I have changed the 27 to a 26 as described above assuming you soldered across A0 pads.
You can now display messages on the 2nd LCD using the SCREEN command in EX-Rail automation scripts. You can find those here [basically its SCREEN(display#, row#, "message")]:
dcc-ex.com/ex-rail/EX-RAIL-command-reference.html#communication-and-display-functions
The display number matches what you use in the HalDisplay command in Step 4 above (2 in that case). Note that displays are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. while the rows of text on the displays are numbered 0, 1, 2, etc.
Also note that the additional displays do not scroll or swap pages the way the regular LCD screen does, so you only get 4 lines of text (not 8). Hoping to find a way around that.
Also unfortunately there is not an easy way to use these commands or extra screens outside of EX-Rail. It can be done in the myHal.cpp but that is way more complicated. I can walk you through an example if you want once you get the display working.
Hope this helps!! Let me know how far you get. I'll may be able to post some images in a community post this weekend.
Thanks again!
DD
@@DriverDTrains Many thanks for taking the time to help me, hopefully I can make progress
Hope you were able to get that 2nd LCD working. I'm currently in the middle of my video series on JMRI but will eventually get back to making a video on adding additional displays to DCC-EX.
Good luck, and all the best!
DD
Hi. Thanks for the video's on dcc ex
Thank you for your kind comments. I'm glad you are enjoying the videos!
Thanks again,
DD
When are you going to 4f??? You’ve got me going and waiting for more. Thanks! 🚂
Thank you for your kind comments! I'm glad you are enjoying the videos. I am busy working on the video for 4f about the Wi-Fi firmware now, and have a bunch more lined up after that. If you need to check your Wi-Fi firmware, please be sure to see the post on my community page about checking your firmware version and the parts you will need. I'll have the video out as soon as I can.
Thanks again!
DD
My eyes aren't great either!! You might try a 2.42 inch 128x64 OLED screen (white). Available online for $10 to $15. Displays 8 lines of bright white text on black background. Have three of them on a DCC-EX command stations for different layouts. Other colors available, but I prefer white. All the best ...
Thanks for the pointers! I somehow missed that there is a 2.42 inch version of the OLED; I have the 1.3 version. I ordered one to check it out. I'll post a video on all the options at some point in the future.
Thanks again!
DD
Who say's model railroading has to be expensive? My layout is powered by an old PC power supply. Gives me 12v, which I step up to 14v for my DCC EX, and 12v, 5v and 3.3 v for all my accessories, all via DCC connected Arduino boards. (Check out the Model Electronic Railway Group - MERG). Great tutorial. Looking forwarg to JMRI integration as that's where I'm at on my railway. What is that hand held throttle you're using?
Thank you very much for your kind comments. I hope to start working on some JMRI videos shortly; mostly starting with DecoderPro and JMRI Throttles.
So you noticed that little device I was using as a throttle? Not sure if anyone would pick up on that. One of the nice things about JMRI throttles is that when you run JMRI on your computer you can use almost any input device including your mouse, keyboard, and quite a few other things as a throttle. What you saw at the end of the video is a drawing tablet controller, that also doubles as an application keyboard shortcut device, called a Xencelabs Quick Keys. It is customizable with 8 buttons, a dial, and an OLED display, each of which can have multiple settings that you can cycle through. I really need to learn how to use it more.
It does have a few limitations. It requires that you run JMRI on a computer (Mac or Windows) and does not support Raspberry Pi. It requires that you use an included USB dongle for 2.4ghz wireless connection as it's not bluetooth. The dial does not have any stops or detents; it just spins. And it does not display any information received back from JMRI, such as set locomotive ID, speed, functions, etc. But I find it quite handy as a handheld controller. It's not super cheap, but it costs less than a DCC throttle. I paid $80 for it on Amazon. Here is the link.
www.amazon.com/dp/B08VNCLDTK
Thanks again for your comments!
DD
@@DriverDTrains Thnaks for the info on the throttle. That looks pretty neat.
Wow...fantastic series of tutorials. I have got 99% of the DCC-EX up and running, but i cant seem to bring the wifi ESP01 online, as i don't know how to flash it to the compatible version :(
Thank you for your kind comments. Sorry to hear you are having trouble with the ESP-01. I don't have any experience with that module as I am using the Makerfabs Wi-Fi shield which has the ESP-12 module on it. They are both ESP8266 chips, but the packaging is different. My video on how to flash that with new firmware will be out soon. Maybe it will give you some helpful ideas.
Thanks again!
DD
Nice video. Question: is the I2C address of the LCD always 0x27? Or would I need to change it dependent on the manufacturer of the LCD?
Thank you for your kind comments!
Good question. My understanding is that most of the LCD displays on the market use the 0x27 address, so that seems to be the common assumption. I have read a few different places that if the address is *not* 0x27 then it is probably 0x3F.
If you're interested, I found this Arduino code for an I2C Address Scanner online at arduinogetstarted.com which you can use to verify the I2C addresses of any devices connected to the Arduino. I tested it and it works (at least for the one LCD display I tested it with).
Thanks again!
DD
// I2C address scanner program from arduinogetstarted.com
#include
void setup()
{
Wire.begin();
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.println("I2C Scanner");
}
void loop()
{
byte error, address;
int nDevices;
Serial.println("Scanning...");
nDevices = 0;
for(address = 1; address < 127; address++ )
{
Wire.beginTransmission(address);
error = Wire.endTransmission();
if (error == 0)
{
Serial.print("I2C device found at address 0x");
if (address < 16)
Serial.print("0");
Serial.print(address,HEX);
Serial.println(" !");
nDevices++;
}
else if (error==4)
{
Serial.print("Unknown error at address 0x");
if (address < 16)
Serial.print("0");
Serial.println(address,HEX);
}
}
if (nDevices == 0)
Serial.println("No I2C devices found");
else
Serial.println("done");
delay(5000); // wait 5 seconds for next scan
}
Hi and great videos!!! Where did you find the commands for changing the LCD display messages...I looked all over the dcc ex website and documents but the info for the display is rather limited....I looked on Discord too but that is a confusing website for sure!!! Lol
Thanks
Bill
Thank you for your kind comments! I'm glad you're enjoying the videos. I have not seen much information about online customizing the LCD display either. Discord definitely takes a bit of effort to navigate to get what you're looking for (you may get three different answers to your question before you get the one you wanted). I do plan on making a video about how to add some additional customizations and dynamic text to the LCD display. For now I will repeat most of what I said in response to another comment.
For starters, you can send text to the LCD display pretty easily in your automations using the EX-Rail LCD command. (I just published one example in a video short on my channel.) This is an easy way to report the status of switch turnouts, which routes are set, etc. While you can script the text to change throughout the automation, it's not really dynamic (it does not update by itself).
For example, I wanted to intercept the DCC commands sent to my locomotives to report their speed on the display. That particular activity happens in the CommandDistributor.cpp sketch, so I added some code to the "broadcastLoco" function in that sketch to report the road number (DCC Address) and speed. You can also obtain which DCC functions are active from the same function. This is what that looks like...
This is the existing code that sends the DCC commands (speed & functions) to the loco:
void CommandDistributor::broadcastLoco(byte slot) {
DCC::LOCO * sp=&DCC::speedTable[slot];
broadcastReply(COMMAND_TYPE, F("
"), sp->loco,slot,sp->speedCode,sp->functions);
Just after the broadcast to the loco I added the following to send the loco ID and speed to the display:
// Updated 11-08-2023
// @DriverDTrains code to display most recent active loco & speed in LCD;
// Have to convert speeds 2-127 to -1 to -126; 130-255 to 1-126; 128 & 129 to 0
// LCD (0, F(""), sp->loco,slot,sp->speedCode,sp->functions);
if (sp->speedCode==0 || sp->speedCode==128 || sp->speedCode==129) {
LCD (3, F("Loco: %d Spd: 0"), sp->loco);
} else if (sp->speedCode>129) {
LCD (3, F("Loco: %d Spd: %d"), sp->loco,sp->speedCode-129);
} else {
LCD (3, F("Loco: %d Spd: %d"), sp->loco,1-sp->speedCode);
}
The rest of the broadcast function remains unchanged. I just inserted my bits.
This is a pretty basic example. It just prints out the values of variables that are already in the code (with a little math to show the speed the way it appears on the throttle). Also, it only displays the values for one locomotive; whichever was the last to receive a new command. I eventually plan to add some additional code to store values for multiple locomotives that can all be displayed at once.
Anyway, hope this helps give you some ideas. Like I said, I plan to go over some more of this in a future video.
Thanks again!
DD
@@DriverDTrains Thanks DD...that's a pretty comprehensive answer to my question!!!..Lol...I and a newbie to this "code" stuff and just built the DCC EX arduino setup and also built a USB volume control with the Adafruit Trinket connected to my android phone...works well but what a pain to get the code uploaded to the Trinket....had to go to several different websites to find all the info...maybe I will put it all in one place to make it easier for someone else....lol...I hope I remember what I even did??? anyway, going to play around with the script you wrote and see what happens...half the fun for me is experimenting with the electronics...thanks again and look forward to more videos!
I have added an LCD display and changed the info displayed from the default but would like to customise the screen to show more dynamic info. However I cannot find any info on how to do this. I have watched and enjoyed this series of videos and I think you mentioned such customisation in one of them. Will you be producing such a video or do you know of a source of relevant guidance?
Thank you for your kind comments! I'm glad you're enjoying the videos. Yes I will be making a video about how to add some additional customizations and dynamic text to the LCD display. No, I have not seen much information about it online either. The only source of information I have found is the DCC-EX Discord server, but that takes a bit of effort to get what you're looking for (you may get three different answers to your question before you get the one you wanted).
For starters, you can send text to the LCD display pretty easily in your automations using the EX-Rail LCD command. This is an easy way to report the status of switch turnouts, which routes are set, etc. While you can script the text to change throughout the automation, it's not really dynamic in the way that I think of it.
As an example, I wanted to intercept the DCC commands sent to my locomotives to report their speed on the display. That particular activity happens in the CommandDistributor.cpp sketch, so I added some code to the "broadcastLoco" function in that sketch to report the road number (DCC Address) and speed. You can also obtain which DCC functions are active from the same function. This is what that looks like...
This is the existing code that sends the DCC commands (speed & functions) to the loco:
void CommandDistributor::broadcastLoco(byte slot) {
DCC::LOCO * sp=&DCC::speedTable[slot];
broadcastReply(COMMAND_TYPE, F("
"), sp->loco,slot,sp->speedCode,sp->functions);
Just after the broadcast to the loco I added the following to send the loco ID and speed to the display:
// Updated 11-08-2023
// @DriverDTrains code to display most recent active loco & speed in LCD;
// Have to convert speeds 2-127 to -1 to -126; 130-255 to 1-126; 128 & 129 to 0
// LCD (0, F(""), sp->loco,slot,sp->speedCode,sp->functions);
if (sp->speedCode==0 || sp->speedCode==128 || sp->speedCode==129) {
LCD (3, F("Loco: %d Spd: 0"), sp->loco);
} else if (sp->speedCode>129) {
LCD (3, F("Loco: %d Spd: %d"), sp->loco,sp->speedCode-129);
} else {
LCD (3, F("Loco: %d Spd: %d"), sp->loco,1-sp->speedCode);
}
The rest of the broadcast function remains unchanged. I just inserted my bits.
This is a pretty basic example. It just prints out the values of variables that are already in the code (with a little math to show the speed the way it appears on the throttle). Also, it only displays the values for one locomotive; whichever was the last to receive a new command. I eventually plan to add some additional code to store values for multiple locomotives that can all be displayed at once.
Anyway, hope this helps and gives you some ideas.
Thanks again!
DD
Thanks for the info. I added those lines to CommandDistributor.cpp, compiled and uploaded the code and am happy to report that it works just fine. I look forward to your future videos.
Alan
We wanna see turnout control!😁
Thank you for your kind comment! I would like to see some turnout control too! : ) I hope to get to that eventually. Right now I am trying to shut down a video on the Wi-Fi firmware, then have a few other assorted topics to hit before I do an intro to JMRI.
Thanks again!
DD