The MattzoTrainController for Bluetooth (MTC4BT) has two main use cases:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On this page, the MattzoTrainController <\/strong>functionality of the controler is described.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MTC4BT supports the following BLE devices to control trains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Up to nine BLE devices can be connected to the MTC4BT at the same time. BLE devices can be combined. This means that you can control a mix of up to nine BLE devices using just one single ESP-32 controller. You can even combine different types of BLE devices in one locomotive if needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please note that the different BLE hubs have different number of ports, to which train motors or lights can be connected:<\/p>\n\n\n\n But wait, there is more! We use the ESP-32 controller and it already has all those pins at our disposal. MTC4BT enables you to use those pins to attach stuff to them. For now it’s limited to lights (LED’s), but support for other peripherals can be added in the future. Think of all the possibilities this could give you, if you’d put an ESP-32 inside your train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These extras of MTC4BT open up many new possibilities for your locomotives and trains in general. We can’t wait to see what you’ll do with it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Rocrail wants to make a train go into a certain direction, it communicates this as a “loco” command via the MQTT broker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MTC4BT receives this command and evaluates it, to see if the command is relevant for one of the BLE hubs that is connected to the controller. It checks if its own MattzoControllerID corresponds with the “address” attribute that is configured for the train in Rocrail (see below). If this is the case, MTC4BT converts the desired speed and direction into a command for one or more connected BLE hubs, which then regulate the power supply for the attached motors and lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All BLE hubs and attached motors \/ lights must be configured. You can also configure the sense of rotation for all motors individually. This flexibility enables an enourmous variety of deployment scenarios for your trains, e.g.:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many other scenarios are possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The implementation of the MTCBT adds full support of Rocrail’s capability of up to 32 functions. Each function can be connected to either a hub channel or a pin on the ESP-32. It is possible to connect cheap standard LEDs to the MTC4BT, which will enable various independent lighting options for the train, which you can control from Rocrail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the future we hope to include things like direction-dependend automatic white\/red head and tail lights, a flashing disco light for a special wagon using multi-color LEDs, flashing lights in any color for special trains, etcetera. We also plan to adapt the motor power to the decreasing voltage of the battery in future versions of the firmware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make sure you know the MAC address(es) of your hub(s). The MAC address of your hub is required to start configuring your first locomotive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s assume you have a locomotive you want to control using Rocrail. It has a PU Hub in it, with a motor attached to channel A and lights to channel B. In that case your controller_config.json<\/strong> could look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\nSupported devices<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Functional Description<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Controller Configuration<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Configuring your first locomotive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
{\n \"locos\": [\n {\n \"address\": 1,\n \"name\": \"Your first loco\",\n \"bleHubs\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"PU\",\n \"address\": \"00:07:80:d0:47:43\",\n \"channels\": [\n {\n \"channel\": \"A\",\n \"attachedDevice\": \"motor\"\n },\n {\n \"channel\": \"B\",\n \"attachedDevice\": \"light\"\n }\n ]\n }\n ]\n }\n ]\n}<\/pre>\n\n\n\n