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….--- Very Inexpensive DCC Wireless Physical Throttle – Part 1 ---

When I got back into the hobby I got to run a wireless throttle at a club layout and knew right away that this is the way I wanted to go. The least expensive way to get into that was about $180 and that was for a throttle and a very limited DCC command station (basically the throttle was the command station). To add the items I would need for multiple throttles and a more powerful command station I would soon have over $400 invested.

Now going with DCC++EX ( Web site here ) I've got a command station with a lot of flexibility and a dedicated train room computer running JMRI and DecoderPro and the wireless throttle show here and on the next two pages that has a physical throttle control I have my $400 DCC system for just a little over $100. Now that I have a phone throttle with good physical tactile feedback I feel I have a throttle every bit as good as the one I used at the club layout.

Jimmy on DIY and Digital Railroad on YouTube put up a video showing how to use an USB volume control to give you a physical throttle when using EngineDriver. This is a great upgrade when using a phone throttle in my opinion, thanks Jimmy. ( HERE ) is the link to his video. Watch it for sure for more info on using a USB volume control. With it you have a nice physical (knob) throttle to use with EngineDriver.

You can source the USB volume control and any cables you need for $35 or less ( HERE ) or maybe ( HERE ). The cable should be a OTG (on the go cable) between the phone and the volume control. It needs to match the phone's USB input/output. In his case that was a USB C cable. See his video ( HERE ) for the parts he used.

Since I'm using an older phone I tried using the Micro USB cable (splitter) ( HERE if the link works). That cable would not work with my Moto phone with the Micro UBP input. I ended up cutting the charging cable off and I unplug the cord to the volume control and plug a charging cable in after using it. You might want to do some research if you are using an older phone with the Micro USB input on other options. Looks like some phones work with a splitter cable that also has the charging cable and some like mine don't. I did see a YouTube on making a cable that does work but didn't try it ( HERE ).

Also the cable that came with the USB Volume control was way longer than what I needed so used the blue cable shown which came with an Arduino. I tried another short cable that I had and it didn't work. Try it out with the one that came with it first and then try a shorter one. If it doesn't work try a different one.

I've also designed a 3D printed case/platform similar to the wood one shown here. It will look better but probably won't work better. While it was printing I went out and made the wood one shown here in about an hour. Many of you probably don't have a 3D printer so this is wood one is a viable option and the more I used it the less I thought the 3D printed one was needed. It is a long print at around 15 hours total for the three parts. I'll put the 3D print files up (a link to where they are) if they prove to be successful on my web site.

In my opinion this is a great throttle solution. I was going to build another one that wouldn't of used a phone but EngineDriver is so much better than what I would have had with that throttle. For me the only negative to using a phone throttle is the lack of a 'physical' throttle. Now thanks to Jimmy that is no longer the case.

So let's move on to the pictures showing what I did to make this quick throttle.

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….. continued on the next page.....

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