We have been very busy in recent months and have brought many ideas to prototype maturity. With this article, we want to give you a little look behind the scenes so that you know what to expect in the coming months in terms of CTC news.
DCC Adapter
From now on, all our locomotive modules can be equipped with alternative firmware that communicates DCC at the motor output.
This makes it possible to clamp a CTC locomotive module between the track and the DCC decoder. This way, the CTC app can remotely control your DCC locomotive with full functionality via WiFi – including sound, of course.
As you can see, in our test locomotive S 3/6 from Roco (Art.No. 69370), the standard CTC locomotive module is still a bit large, but already a 21mtc module would barely be noticeable under the locomotive roof.
If desired, a battery can now also be installed in the locomotive, completely dispensing with power supply via the track. For one or the other garden railway enthusiasts, this is certainly an interesting development – at the latest when our locomotive modules for garden railway locomotives (with higher current load capacity) are released for the 2021 garden railway season.
New Locomotive Module – the Feature Monster
Ten switching outputs, two servo connections, and a connection for a second motor driver should be sufficient for almost all wishes. And all this in the same form factor as the first CTC locomotive module!
Our test train is an SVT137 “Hamburger” from Märklin (Art.No. 37770). We gladly did without sound, so we can now turn the front and rear lights red and yellow, both driver’s cabs, and both passenger compartments on and off individually. And not even all the switching outputs are used up.
TODO Image Locomotive
Locomotive Module with 21mtc Connection
There has been a first prototype for a long time, but other things took priority. Now it’s finally here: A fully functional prototype with a 21mtc connector is finished and already on its way to the press. So there will soon be an article about it.
Except for sound, the CTC-21mtc locomotive module can do everything the 21mtc standard provides and also has a connection for our IR receiver. Thus, there is nothing standing in the way of uninterrupted CTC fun with suitably equipped locomotives.
CTC for the Garden Railway
…also works with the current CTC locomotive decoder for not so power-hungry locomotives, e.g., for our Adler:
And for the large locomotives and the turnouts, appropriate CTC modules will be coming for the 2021 garden railway season – promised!
By the way, everything started eight years ago with the garden railway – for the prototypes built on hole grid boards, there was simply more space in the garden railway locomotives:
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