Motor shield and model train!

[aspro648]

Holy smokes. That was easy. In one evening I soldered the kit and had my model train doing the "PWM-boogie".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emjzSqA5gnU

Thanks to Lady Ada for making it possible for wantabe hacks like me to do cool stuff!

[adafruit]

yay

[aspro648]

Added a toggle switch and more code, and now it is a functional train controller. I can set the max speed and max rate of change to simulate a real engine while keeping is easy enough for my 7yo daughter to run. All I need is some positional sensing and I can do some auto reversing, ect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AE__PzMaM8

I'm amazed how easy you made this for us! Many thanks Lady Ada! My only regret is not being able to stack a wave shield on it.

[pylonz]

This is really cool! I have just started looking into Arduino, and I'll be buying one soon to control an auto-reversing train layout. Are you interested in sharing any of your work? I'd be glad to do the same.

[aspro648]

Hey, I added a Wii nunchuk, made an instructable, and got "featured":

http://www.instructables.com/id/Wii-Nun ... del-Train/

It also got posted on "Hack-a-day"!
http://hackaday.com/2010/01/18/wii-nunc ... -controls/

[aspro648]

This is really cool! I have just started looking into Arduino, and I'll be buying one soon to control an auto-reversing train layout. Are you interested in sharing any of your work? I'd be glad to do the same.

You can check my progress at http://dawson-station.blogspot.com/ to see where I'm at. I think there is a lot of fresh ground to be covered between model trains and Arduino. Besides auto-reversing, I'm looking at turnout control, and maybe some audio effects using the wave shield.

I'll be interested in what you come up with!

[adafruit]

adding a wii nunchuk kinda gives you a guaranteed audience of gamer geeks

[pylonz]

You can check my progress at http://dawson-station.blogspot.com/ to see where I'm at. I think there is a lot of fresh ground to be covered between model trains and Arduino. Besides auto-reversing, I'm looking at turnout control, and maybe some audio effects using the wave shield.

I'll be interested in what you come up with!

That is really cool! I like the smooth control you got with the nunchuk. I'm building an end-to-end layout with auto reversing. I want to have the Arduino auto-calibrate to handle the effects of one vs. multiple locos, so I may add detectors and do a speed calculation.

I noticed a significant whine in your first video from the PWM that wasn't in your later video. Did you cure it? I've tried the various frequency settings for the motor shield, but no luck.

BTW, I'm doing N scale as well.