This project is a wifi controller for large scale garden railway locomotives. It uses a ESP32 microcontroller to generate a webpage so you can control your loco on from your smartphone, or tablet. This provides and cheaper entry into battery control by not having to purchase a separate transmitter. And of course you are welcome to modify the code for your own scenario.
I have also designed a wifi throttle for this controller, so it can be controlled from a physical throttle instead of a mobile phone: https://github.com/nygma2004/Wifi_Throttle
- Wifi microcontroller generates its own wifi network, or connects to yout home wifi network and hosts the webpage control your loco
- Supply voltage from 6V to 24V
- 3.6A motor controller
- Built in sounds (horns, whistles, bells, station announcement, etc)
- 2 outputs for front and rear headlights that change automatically change based on the direction of travel
- 2 additional auxillary output for lights
- 2 switch / reed inputs to trigger sound effects
- 2 switch / reed inputs to trigger shuttle or station start/stop mode
- Built in configuration that saved in the local memory
You can find a picture of the prototype setup above. On the top left a motor block connected for testing, and a generic 8 ohm speaker. The 4 LED strips simulate the 4 light outputs, two for headlight / tail light and 2 more for other lights. The barel jack provides power to the entire setup, but on a loco that would be a battery pack. The input channels are not connected on this prototype.
You can also check out my introductory video on this project, which goes through the features implemented:
V1.0
- Access Point mode is not implemented yet
- Implement multi language support
V1.1
- Acces Point mode implemented
The controller is build on a custom PCB that you can order from PCBWay: https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/ESP32_Wifi_LocoRemote.html. The components used was mostly purchased from Aliexpress, small components like resistors were purchased from local shop.
- ESP32 WROOM-32 model, on a 30-pin development board: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32819056304.html (this is a 10 pcs listing)
- DRV8871 H-Bridge brushed DC motor driver board: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000336358857.html (this is a 10 pcs listing)
- MAX98357 based I2S 3W amplifier board: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32999952454.html
- Mini DC-DC Buck converter: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000076471931.html
- LR7843 Mosfets: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32871690649.html
- 2.54mm pitch screw terminal blocks (2P, 4P and 6P): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000867583795.html
- Pin headers
- 10K, 11K and 100K resistors
As mentioned above the Hardware section, you can download my PCB design to build the exact same controller. You can also find the schematic here.
This is how the PCBs look like ordered from PCBWay:
This side shows the microcontroller, the motor driver board and the sound amp board:
And the order side has the mostfets for the outputs and buck converter to power the microcontroller:
