Loconet

Loconet is a bus developed by Digitrax to communicate its different devices: controls, stationary decoders, retromodules and other devices with the control panel or between any two devices connected to the bus.

It is also used by other manufacturers such as Ulhenbrock, Roco, Digikeijs and YaMoRC, although there are some variations with respect to the original protocol published by Digitrax to have new functionalities.

Loconet uses a 6 pin RJ12 connector like Xpressnet but it is totally incompatible. DO NOT CONNECT a cable from one bus to the connector of the other bus by mistake or damage to the equipment will occur.

In European equipment, two types of connectors are usually found, Loconet-B (for boosters) and Loconet-T (for throttles) the difference between the two is that one carries the DCC signal on pins 1 and 6, like the original, while the other carries +12V on those pins

LN2CDE


Here you will find the designs that I have made for the Loconet bus:

LNB2CDELoconet-B to CDE Adapter
FastClockLNDisplay for Fast Clock
PacoMouseAdditional customizable throttle




LNB2CDE

The LNB2CDE adapter allows you to connect digital amplifiers (boosters) with CDE input to command stations with Loconet-B output. The LNB2CDE has two CDE connections for boosters with their own monitoring and short circuit notification. By programming LNCV you can configure the way in which the LNB2CDE will notify the command station of short circuits.

By default, in the event of a short circuit, a GPOFF will be sent to the command station, which will stop sending the digital signal to the tracks. In addition, the connection that caused the short circuit will be notified both by Loconet (the DR5000 command station allows it to be displayed) and by the LNB2CDE LED. The LED can also indicate a lack of RailSync signal on the LN-B input as well as whether a GPOFF has been sent.

The adapter uses a PIC12F1822. You can download the manual and program here.





fastClockLN

Simple Loconet Fast Clock display based on an Arduino Nano, with four 8x8 dot matrix displays with the MX7219, four buttons and an optional real-time clock (RTC) module with the DS3231.

FastClockLN can work in different modes (Slave, Sync, RTC Sync and Master)

You can download the manual and program here.





PacoMouse

PacoMouse is a simple additional throttle to control our model layout. It can be mounted in different versions with Loconet or Xpressnet connection, or WiFi connection with Z21, ECoS, Loconet over TCP or Xpressnet LAN protocols.

Based on an Arduino Nano (also Uno or Pro Mini) for the Loconet or Xpressnet versions or a Wemos D1 mini (ESP8266) for the Z21, Loconet, Xpressnet or ECoS WiFi versions, it has an EC11 type rotary encoder with a push button, a 3x4 or 4x4 keyboard and an SSD1306, SH1106 or SSD1309 OLED screen (sizes 0.96", 1.3", 1.54" or 2.42").

You can found the complete design here.