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rocnet:rocnetnode-setup-en

RocNetNode Configuration

Features

  • This dialog will pop up automatically in case of:
    • A new node was detected by the Rocrail server.
    • The push button on one of the RocNetNodes was pushed.
  • Very fast Port/Channel/Macro Setup because 8 ports are set/get with one request/response.
  • Drag&Drop from the index or the locality tree the RocNet-ID(bus) into layout objects.
  • Drag&Drop from the port/channel setup number to set RocNet-ID(bus) and address into layout objects.


Addressing

Index


Node selection to be modified.
The list is automatically sorted on ID.

Columns

ID

The RocNet-ID of the node.

Locality

Optional locality ID. Possible use with modular layouts to group the nodes.
This locality is not part of the addressing scheme.

Vendor

Class

Mnemonic Class Description
A Accessory I2C GCA-Pi02
D Digital Railsync Generator dcc232, sprog
I Identification (RFID) rfid12

Sub IP

The Sub IP address are the last two numbers of the network IP address: xxx.xxx.subipH.subipL.
This Sub IP will be randomly generated in case the retrieval of the IP address did fail on the Raspberry Pi.

Shutdown

Shutdown the selected node.

Shutdown all

Shutdown all nodes in the network.

Show

Triggers the LED2 on the GCA-Pi01 to flash or stop flashing after the second show command.

Query

Query all available nodes in the network.
Normally this is done automatically, but in case of a second Rocrail server in the same network it can be of use.

Report

The Reporting option requires a file name which must be specified by dialog. The file format is CSV and can be read and manipulated by most spreadsheet programs.

PuTTY

For experts only.

Opens a PuTTY terminal, ssh, connected to the selected RocNetNode for maintenance. (For Linux admins only.)
IP-Adresss = 192.168. plus RocNetNode Sub-IP.
PuTTY must have been installed, Linux/Windows, and callable.1)

Default Login

login as: pi
pi@192.168.100.84's password: raspberry

Install

Windows
Linux
sudo apt-get install putty
Mac OS X

RocNet


All text fields which are marked with a @ can open the @Box by a single click on its label if the text field is not empty.
The text field contents will be used to do a find.


Nodemap

The optional locality ID is mapped with the layout Track Panels.
The plan title is used as root node label.
Context menu on nodes:

  • Show
  • Shutdown

Context menu on locations:

  • Shutdown → All nodes in this location

Context menu on the root:

  • Shutdown All nodes

ID

The RocNet ID of the Node which can be modified and written to the Node.
This ID is part of the addressing scheme and should be used as 'Bus' on interface tabs: See Addressing
Initially this ID is set to 65535 which will trigger the host software, like Rocrail, to set a new unused ID automatically.
To avoid assigning double IDs the SubIP is also part of this procedure and makes it possible to add multiple '65535' nodes at the same time.

More then one node with the same ID will lead to unpredictable side effects.
The ID can only be changed if the node is the only one in the network; Remove nodes with the same ID to be able to changed.

Locality

Optional locality number for grouping nodes.

UID-Name

This is the optional symbolic name of the RocNet-ID which can be used to address this Node.

Set

Set the new RocNet ID to the Node.
The Node will send a shutdown event and will try to identify with the new ID.

Options


Acknowledge sensor event

The host must acknowledge all sensor events within 500ms.
After this timeout the node will repeat the event. Max. retries is 10.

Use push button

In case the GCA-Pi01 is connected the push button can be activated by this option for show and shutdown actions.

RFID

Activates the RFID12 library on the native serial interface /dev/ttyAMA0.
Advised reader: ID12LA

GCA-Pi05

Activates the motor PWM and 16 function channels for large scale locomotives.

GCA-Pi07

Enables the GCA-Pi07 analog sensor support.
:!: This option disables the RocMouse, GCA-Pi04, because they share the same I2C address range. (0x48-0x4F)
The used offset for reporting is 129 to avoid collisions with sensors reported by the GCA-Pi02.

Threshold

The minimal measured value for reporting a sensor as occupied.
This threshold value is also used to report again if the delta compared with the actual measurement is greater then the previous reported value for updating the load representation in Rocview.

I2C

Hardware I2C-0 Location I2C-1 Location I2C-2 Location
RasPi Version 1 P1 header Not Avail. -
RasPi Version 2 P5 Header P1 Header -
BeagleBone Black - ? ?

For pinouts of headers P1 and P5 see http://elinux.org/RPi_Low-level_peripherals


I2C Scan

The actual connected GCA-Pixx device addresses are listed.
If the Node was new and had become automatically a new ID it could be necessary to reboot it to see the values of the I2C Scan.

  1. Power off
  2. Power on


Hardware Type

The Pi 1 and Pi 2/3 do have a different GPIO base address.
The correct setting is needed for the LEDs and button on the GCA-Pi01.
Type 'Others' is for experimental support for boards like the BananaPi; Do not use for Raspberry Pi.


DCC Type

Type Description Devices
none No DCC support
dcc232 DCC generation on the serial USB device. (Software CS) /dev/ttyUSB0, /dev/ttyUSB1, /dev/ttyAMA0
sprog SPROG II, SPROG 3 or S-Nano. (Hardware CS) /dev/ttyUSB0, /dev/ttyUSB1, /dev/ttyACM0

DCC Device

USB device on which the DCC generator is connected.
For SPROG 3 and S-Nano select "/dev/ttyACM0".

Get/Set

The values are automatically read after selecting a node from the index.
Get/Set the options.


Port Setup

Ports on the GCA-Pi02 can be used for all GCA interfaces.

The port numbers are fixed because they are unique by the RocNet ID.

Port

Every node has a fixed port range from 1 to 128.
See: GCA-Pi02 Address selection

Type

0=Output, 1=Input

Delay

10ms units, max. 255 * 10.

Type Function Zero
Input The delayed off timer. Direct report of state changes.
Outputs The pulse timer. Continuous state.

Use the delay as interval for blinking.

Toggle

An output will flip ON/OFF only at an ON command.

Invert

Invert the output port.

Test

Test button for output type ports.
The real state is set in this button after a Get command.
The button label is for ON "1" and for OFF "0".

Event

If set greater then zero the port on this node will be synchronized with the port on the node with ID:Port.

ID Port
The sender or recipient ID. The port number.

Usage

Shows the Rocrail object ID which is linked to this port.
A double click in this field will open the properties dialog of the listed object.

Next > < Previous

Select a group between 1 and 16 of 8 I/Os each.

Get/Set

Get/Set the selected I/O group from the Node.
All 8 configurations are embedded in one data package.

:!: Without an initial SET the default output configuration is not stored in the RocNetNode. :!:

Delete

Delete the 8 selected ports from the node setup.
This could be necessary in case the number of connected GCA-Pi02 has decreased.

Drag&Drop


Drag a port number to a pre-existing layout object to set the object's bus and address after drop.

20131023.142948.621 g9999I main     item     0445 D&D data [bus:2:5][7]
20131023.142948.621 g9999I main     item     0452 D&D command [bus] for ID [2]
20131023.142948.621 g9999I main     item     0467 D&D: set bus to 2
20131023.142948.621 g9999I main     item     0477 D&D: set address to 5


Channel Setup

Channels on the GCA-PI03, PCA9685 chip, can be used for:

  • Servos
  • Light Signals (Slow dimming)
  • Lighting (Day/Night)


Channel

Every node has a fixed channel range from 1 to 128.
To address a channel instead of a port the port type servo must be set on the interface tab of switches and outputs.
See GCA-Pi03 Address selection

Left/Right

The left position must be less then the right position!

The position in range of 0…4095 for the on/off state.
Servos should range between 150 and 600.

Left/Right Steps

The number of steps to use every 10ms to travel to the wanted on/off position.
Zero will jump directly to the wanted position.
Advice: Increase this value and the delay if fine granularity is not needed, or does not add a visible effect, to save CPU power of the Raspberry Pi.

Blink

Flips to the other position after the wanted position is reached.

Report

Reports if the wanted position has been reached.
This event can be used as switch feedback: Use field events.

Servo

This option will put a channel into "sleep mode" after reaching the desired position. What this does is deenergize the servo after it reaches it's final position thus permitting manual movement of the servo motor. See section 7.3.1 of the PCA9685 data sheet for more information. Some servos like ESU for example, automatically go into sleep mode, so this option has no effect.

Standard Servo options
rocnet-non-servo.jpg rocnet-servo.jpg
PWM remains unchanged as expected. Full PWM=+5V after 1 second.

Delay

Delay between position commands.
The range is between 0 and 15.
0 =10ms, 2=20ms, … 15=160ms

Fine-tune

Fine tune a channel range:

A thumb release will trigger setting the channel to the new value.

Preset

  1. Maximal: 0…4095
  2. Servo: 150…600

Test

This toggle button can be used to send an output command to the channel for testing.

Usage

Shows the Rocrail object ID which is linked to this channel.
A double click in this field will open the properties dialog of the listed object.

Drag&Drop

Drag a channel number to a layout object to set the bus, address and port type after drop.


Macro


Macro numbers have no relation to port numbers.

Features

  • A macro has max. 8 command lines. To be executed the port number in a command line must be set > 0.
  • Macros can be addressed by port type "macro" on the interface tab of stationary objects.
  • Signal aspects are mapped to macros independent of the port type specified.

Notes

Some Operating Systems require an enter before a new cell value is accepted in the table.
Without this enter the Set command will send the old value to the RocNetNode.

Number

Macro number in the range between 1 and 128.

Port

Port number to set with the value. (1…128)
The line is not used incase set to zero.

Delay

Delay in units of 10ms before setting the new port value.
Range: 0…255 → 0…2550ms

Type

Port type:

  • 0 = Output (GCA-Pi02)
  • 1 = Input (Not used.)
  • 2 = PWM Channel (GCA-Pi03)
  • 3 = LED (Pi08)

Value

The new value to set. (0…255)
A digital output can be either 0 or 1. (0=off, 1=on)
A PWM channel can be either 0, 1 or 2…255. (0=off, 1=on, 2…255=pulse width * 16)2)
For PWM on/off the values are used from the channel definition.

Blink

This will overwrite the port blink attribute.
The delay is used as interval.

Export/Import

Export/Import all eight macro lines into a file.

Get/Set

Get/Set the selected macro. (All eight lines.)


Update


The button text, "Update" or "Poll", depends on the contents of the "New revision" field.
In case this field is empty the text will change to "Poll".

Poll

If the PC on which Rocview runs is connected to the Internet it can try to find out if a new revision is available and will display the new revision number and info.
There is probably no Internet connection possible if the button remains grayed out after a poll action.

Update

The Raspberry Pi must be connected to the Internet before updating the RocNetNode software.

Update to the new revision.
Check http://rocrail.net/software/rocrail-snapshot/ for the correct number.
No reboot needed, and these are the steps made automatically:

  1. Stop the rocnetnoded service.
  2. Download the new installer package.
  3. Install the new package.
  4. Start the rocnetnoded service.
  5. Ready.

File

If the file option is checked the installer file must be copied manually in the Raspberry Pi /tmp directory before updating:

scp rocnetnode-xxxx-raspbian-armhf.deb pi@raspberrypi:/tmp
pi@raspberrypi's password: 
rocnetnode-xxxx-raspbian-armhf.deb                    100%  419KB 418.9KB/s   00:00    

The default hostname of the Raspberry Pi is "raspberrypi" but could have been changed in the Raspberry Pi configuration menu.
Instead of using the terminal command "scp" other GUI programs can be used also like:

The /tmp directory is automatically cleaned up at (re)boot.


Backup Configuration

All configurations are saved in the rocnetnode.ini and can be copied to another computer for backup purpose.
The IP address can be easily composed with the Sub-IP of the RocNetNode.
The easiest way is to use a terminal with the secure copy command:

scp pi@192.168.100.168:/opt/rocnet/rocnetnode.ini .

WinSCP or Filezilla can also be used with the SFTP protocol.

Restore

Before restoring the rocnetnode.ini the RocNetNode program has to be stopped to prevent overwriting the restored ini file.

ssh pi@192.168.100.168
sudo service rocnetnoded stop
exit

Restore the rocnetnode.ini:

scp rocnetnode.ini pi@192.168.100.168:/opt/rocnet/

Start RocNetNode:

ssh pi@192.168.100.168
sudo service rocnetnoded start
exit


Example(s)

Servo Switch

Signal with Macros

1)
The program must be findable with the path environment variable.
2)
A pulse width internally has a range from 0 to 4095.
rocnet/rocnetnode-setup-en.txt · Last modified: 2022/10/22 08:21 by rjversluis