ADDING A NEW DECODER TO JMRI

[Kusojiji]

I am thinking about buying a decoder from Deskstation (https://desktopstation.net/smilesound) who offer a next18 decoder for very cheap. It seems to have all the functions that I need.

I asked them if their decoder was listed in JMRI and they said no, but they did provide me with the xml file that they did develop for it, but did not follow through with, I guess.

I have tried to go through the jmri io group, but they speak way over my head.

So my question is, how do I create a new decoder profile in JMRI? Or do I need to? Do I just go with a generic one and see if the CV's match?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Kusojiji]

I found the JMRI: DecoderPro User Guide Creating A Custom Decoder File and gave it a shot. I keep getting an error with in the debug validate xml file with

Error on line 16: cvc-complex-type.2.4.a: Invalid content was found starting with element 'programming'. One of '{soundlabels, comment}' is expected.

I am not programming a sound decoder, so am confusioned.

Attached xml that I created.

 

[J.Albert]

If you haven't bought it yet...
... then consider the posts you made above to be a kind of "warning: buy something else which will work, even if it costs more..."

 

[Kusojiji]

Perhaps so. But at $10 each, gotta give it a try. Also, they have solder pads for the F0 and AUX functions. The N18 boards that I already have do not.

 

[Kusojiji]

Ok, spent several hours and finally got the xml to pass the verification test. Used notepad ++ as it highlights the opening and ending statements so that helped find the syntax errors. Stuck it in JMRI and it now shows up. It is just a list of CVs at this point and none of the stuff like basic, motor, lights have anything in them. Will now venture into trying to get stuff into them to make it more user friendly.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Go cheap, be disappointed.

 

[Kusojiji]

Yeah, probably. As I'm programming this, I'm finding out that it doesn't really offer much. Most is with lighting effects, which is what I need. The makers of this use a programmer to set up everything, including the NMRA compliant CVs, but stuff like PWM frequency are not defined in a CV for some reason. If that is set high, like 32Khz, then fine, but if I have to tweak it, then I'm sucking. The CVs that I can (I hope) tweak in JMRI are the functions mostly. So, if all fails, I can turn this into a function decoder. It does have the option to turn off the motor and add a resistor so that the decoder can still work.

It does say that it supports 128 speed step and long addressing, but I haven't figured out how to get those variables to show up in JMRI yet.

So a $10 function decoder may be what it ends up being.

 

[Earl Gilmore]

Keep us updated on your progress. I am just getting back into the hobby (this time in N scale) so start up is getting expensive. A $10 decoder is just what I need if it works.Thanks
Earl

 

[Kusojiji]

If all you need is motor (CV2,5,6), 2 bit address, headlight, taillight, and interior light, this decoder works fine. It has a neat headlight dimming feature that dims the headlight when the loco comes to a stop. You can set the dimming amount, and the delay of when the dimming starts after the loco stops.

Am not able to get anything into JMRI as far as the motor tab, speed setting tab, function tab, etc. Only the basic 2 bit address tab and the CV tab.

I'll keep trying as this thing is supposed to support 4 bit address.

Will update as I find more info on how to do this and make any progress.