ArLoco

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ArLoco 3.1 is released!

In 3.1 are some bugs fixed.
Now you can assign an individual address to each input outside the range of the ArLoco based on the base address.
An input can be ‘inverted’. Until now an input was set to occupied on a low signal. With inversion an input can also be set to occupied on a high signal. This is usefull for optical detection where a train crosses a light beam instead of reflecting it.

NOTE: because the storage of the configuration in EEPROM is changed Arsigdec must be reconfigured after updating from version 2.

What is ArLoco

The ArLoco is a 16(UNO) or 58(MEGA2560) channel feed back encoder with LocoNet®.
It uses a special Arduino shield that includes 16 inputs for channels, a power supply for the Arduino and two RJ12 connectors for LocoNet.
On a MEGA the normal MEGA pins must be used for sensors 17-58.

ArlocoPrintbestukt3

The ArLoco program has the following features:

16 Channel, low or high active, feedback input
Use of a maximum of 256 addresses. So for each ArLoco you have to specify the required address range (1-16, 17-32,…, 241-256).
Each input can have its own address.
Optimised for both pulse detection (like reedswitch) and continuous detection (like current detection).
Simple configuration with your PC. So no complex CV-programming!
Powered by LocoNet or external power (12-16 V AC/DC)
Supports LocoNet-T and LocoNet-B
Each channel can be configured for pulse or continuous detection. (Channel 1 only for pulse)
Continuous detection:
- Prevention of fake detection caused by spikes
- Prevention of fake detection caused by short current outage
- Ideal in combination with current detection print OKKIE
Pulse detection:
- Generates a fixed length pulse of 1 second.
- Eleminates contact bouncing
- Prevention of a double pulse when driving slowly
- Ideal for use with reedswitches.

What do you need?

An Arduino UNO microcomputer
An ArLoco shield (see picture above)
A Command station that supports LocoNet (E.g. Intellibox, Daisy II, DR5000)
or a LocoNet buffer.
A computer with train control software (E.g. iTrain or Traincontroller)
Optional: a current dectection print like OKKIE

ArLoco shield

Two LocoNet RJ12 connectors
Includes power for the Arduino. Powered by LocoNet or external power
16 Screw terminals for 16 sensors
2 Screw terminals for GND (ground)
2 Screw terminals for external power
Power led
Status led

OKKIE

Okkiebestukt

Current detection print for 8 track sections
8 Screw terminals for input from tracksections
8 Screw terminals for output to ArLoco shield
GND screw terminal
Screw terminal for Common track

You can order the Arloco shield and Okkie (print + components) here

Typical Application

ArlocoConPul-C15

Download.

39 thoughts on “ArLoco”

Ted says:

20/11/2017 at 11:14

This went together very easily thanks to following the clear instructions. I’m using it along-side some Digitrax BDL16 units. Make sure that the number you assign it doesn’t duplicate a number assigned to a BDL16 as it won’t be recognised. This may seem obvious, but wasn’t to me initially.

Reply
Florian says:

14/03/2018 at 23:05

Just a question: does the okkie also work/report to a dcc++ arduino or to jmri?

Reply
1. nteering says:
  
  15/03/2018 at 09:48
  
  Okkie is just a passive electronic circuit and thefore not related to any software product. The output voltage of an Okkie drops to zero if a current is detected on the input. It must be connected to a device(like an Arduino) that holds the Okkie output at 5 V by a pull up resistor.
  The ArLoco shield and sketch ‘produces a LocoNet signal that can be picked by other LocoNet devices. Therefore there is no relation with DCC+ or JMRI.
  
  Reply
diehard says:

06/04/2018 at 15:53

Hi,
I’m new to Arduino, I was trying to load your code using the Arduino IDE but was getting an error. Then after doing some google searching, I was told to use version 1.06 and that worked.

Reply
1. diehard says:
  
  06/04/2018 at 15:59
  
  avrdude.exe: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00
  
  Reply
  1. nteering says:
    
    06/04/2018 at 22:37
    
    I see, Mostly it is caused by a corrupt bootloader. On my download page there is a document on how to fix this.
    
    Reply
2. nteering says:
  
  06/04/2018 at 22:18
  
  Hi John,
  
  Why did you use thr IDE? You don’t need it. ArLoco is automatically uploaded when you start ArLoco the first time.
  What went wrong?
  
  Nico
  
  Reply
diehard says:

06/04/2018 at 16:16

Hi,
Do you have a version of this board that has 16 outputs instead of inputs ?

Reply
1. nteering says:
  
  06/04/2018 at 22:15
  
  Hi John,
  
  What do you want with 16 outputs? It is a feedback encoder and all such encoders have only inputs. Please explain.
  
  Nico
  
  Reply
  1. diehard says:
    
    06/04/2018 at 22:24
    
    Hi Nico,
    I built this control panel using Team Digital hardware which gets expensive. I wonder it I can build one for cheaper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1tKq7kpXB8&t=7s
    
    Something like this http://teamdigital1.com/prod_catalogue/src162e_product/src162e.html
    has 16 inputs for pushbuttons and 16 outputs for led’s.
    
    Thanks.
    
    Reply
    1. nteering says:
      
      06/04/2018 at 22:44
      
      For that purpose I have the ASAR sketch (Analogue Servo control with ARduino)
      You can control upto 12 servo’s without led indication or 8 servo’s with led indication with 12 momentary switches.
      https://forum.beneluxspoor.net/index.php?topic=69109.0.
      ASAR is no part of Arcomora, so documentation only in Dutch available. Sketch is in English
      
      Reply
Mikkel says:

12/12/2018 at 11:31

Hi,

First of all, thanks for a nice piece of work!!

I have one problem those. The software does not recognize the MEGA2560, it thinks it is the UNO. The introduction message is:

“ARLOCO, the ARduino LocoNet feedback encoder
UNO version 2.2”

and it has 1 to 16 sensor inputs.

I am missing anything?

Reply
Trotters says:

28/12/2018 at 14:39

Hello,

How is the OKKIE powered, and what is it’s (idle / max) power consumption (or current draw)?

Won’t the diode bridge design cause a voltage drop of about 1,5v of the track power, causing trains on a track section monitored by OKKIE to run a little slower than on a track section without OKKIE?

Reply
Ted Humber says:

09/04/2019 at 16:39

Hi Nico,
The ArCoMoRa generates a DCC signal to Loconet depending on its inputs. I guess the DCC signal would be replicated in the track signal. Would these DCC signals be able to used by the MarDec to activate accessories attached to the MarDec?
Thanks, Ted

Reply
1. Nico Teering says:
  
  09/04/2019 at 20:29
  
  Hi Ted,
  Arcomora generates nothing. It is just a name for a railway automation concept based on an Arduino.
  Mardec and Arsidec are sketches that generates nothing but uses DCC to control accessories attached to the Arduino.
  ArLoco is a sketch that accepts and generates LocoNet signals for occupancy information. The ArLoco shield can use the DCC signal on pins 1 and 6 of the LocoNet cable for powering the ArLoco shield but does not use the information in it.
  
  Nico
  
  Reply
  1. Ted Humber says:
    
    09/04/2019 at 20:54
    
    Hi Nico,
    Sorry, I got the wrong word. My query should have read:
    “The ArLoco generates a DCC signal to Loconet depending on its inputs. I guess the DCC signal would be replicated in the track signal. Would these DCC signals be able to used by the MarDec to activate accessories attached to the MarDec?”
    Cheers, Ted
    
    Reply
    1. Nico Teering says:
      
      09/04/2019 at 21:06
      
      Ì repeat:
      ArLoco is a sketch that accepts and generates LocoNet signals for occupancy information. The ArLoco shield can use the DCC signal on pins 1 and 6 of the LocoNet cable for powering the ArLoco shield but does not use the information in it.
      ArLoco does certainly does NOT generate DCC signals.
      
      Nico
      
      Reply
      1. Ted Humber says:
        
        09/04/2019 at 21:44
        
        Yep, I think it’s becoming clearer. Thanks for your response.
        Cheers, Ted
Joel H says:

13/06/2019 at 13:23

Hello Nico,

What is the threshold for current detection with the Okkie?

I’m interested in getting some to use but would like to know if its sensitive enough to detect resistive wheels as well as locos?

Thanks,

Joel

Reply
1. Nico Teering says:
  
  14/06/2019 at 17:24
  
  Hi Joel,
  Just a few mA. is enough. We test Okkie with a 10k resistor as replacement for a loco.
  So your resistive wheels will probably not be a problem
  
  Reply
Joel Hauxwell says:

29/06/2019 at 21:40

Hello Nico,
Is there any plan to increase the number of supported loconet addresses for ArLoco? I’m guessing the limitation is perhaps outside of your control but i don’t think 256 addresses wont be enough for my project.

Thanks,

Joel.

Reply
1. Joel Hauxwell says:
  
  29/06/2019 at 21:42
  
  “i don’t think 256 addresses wont be enough for my project.”…
  
  i meant to say:
  
  i don’t think 256 addresses WILL be enough for my project.
  
  Reply
Nico Teering says:

30/06/2019 at 00:00

Hi Joel,

Currently I have no intention to increase the number of addresses.
That must be a very large project.
May be some time in the future.

Nico

Reply
Daniel Coupe says:

28/07/2019 at 01:25

Hi The current setup for the Arloco works for Loconet Is there any way that the Arloco would work with say a lenz system that uses xpressnet?

Reply
1. Nico Teering says:
  
  28/07/2019 at 13:05
  
  Hi Daniel,
  
  No. The ArLoco is only for LocoNet. XpressNet is a completely different protocol.
  
  Nico
  
  Reply
Kolitha says:

31/08/2019 at 08:25

Can this be loaded to Arduino mini Pro ?

Reply
1. Nico Teering says:
  
  31/08/2019 at 10:16
  
  You can load it on a Pro Mini, but you can’t use the ArLoco shield.
  
  Reply
  1. Kolitha Mandanayake says:
    
    31/08/2019 at 18:35
    
    Thanks for prompt response. I tried and program says failed to load the sketch.
    Please help how to load it to Pro Mini.
    
    Reply
    1. Nico Teering says:
      
      31/08/2019 at 19:34
      
      Use the Arduino IDE to upload ArLoco.ino. Set the board type to ProMini and set the correct port number.
      ArLoco.ino can be found in MyDocuments/Arcomora after installing the software (Windows only)
      But I do not support it!
      
      Reply
Martin Bezemer says:

06/11/2020 at 12:50

Hello Nico,
I am building a small layout and running it with DCC++ on Arduino with motorshield and JMRI on Raspberry Pi as the controller.
The DCC++ Basestation is connected to the JMRI using USB.
I was looking into the possibilities of JMRI and satellite systems and wondering if the ARLOCO shield can also be used to act as an interface between Loconet and JMRI ? Same as the (usually expensive) Loconet Hub or Buffer used to interface with a PC which acts as a command station using Rocrail or Koploper or JMRI.

Reply
1. Nico Teering says:
  
  06/11/2020 at 16:14
  
  Hi Martin,
  
  The ArLoco can not act as a LocoNet-master.
  So you need another device that can act as LocoNet-master.
  
  Nico
  
  Reply
Jan Wiegerinck says:

29/11/2020 at 16:37

Hi Nico,
I have a Digikeijs DR5000 and use S88N for occupancy detection through DR4088. I have an Arduino that controls Tomytec moving N-scale buses. I like to interface the Arduino to the DR5000 to get some feedback from the buses visible on my iTrain- screen.
Three simple questions about the ArLoco:
1) Can I use the DR5000 Loconet port to interface to an ArLoco- Arduino?
2) I studied the manual. The ArLoco wiring diagrams are confusing to me as the ArLoco print seems completely stand-alone. How is are external contacts wired to the Arduino and subsequently to the ArLoco (or the other way round)?
3) in my case the Arduino UNO also has to execute my own code and control stop solenoids for the buses. Is there ample Uno CPU time left over to execute my code?

Reply
1. Nico Teering says:
  
  30/11/2020 at 10:09
  
  1) Yes
  2) The ArLoco print is a real Arduino shield. So it must be placed on top of an Arduino UNO or MEGA.
  3) Yes. But do you want to add your own code to the ArLoco sketch or write another sketch?
  
  Nico
  
  Reply
Vibhas Chandorkar says:

23/12/2020 at 02:27

Hi,
I just need a hardware interface between the Arduino and the Loconet to send signals from the Arduino to the Digitrax Controller via the Loconet jack. Would this work for that ? I know I can build one, but I was looking for a lazy shortcut, that’s all.
Thanks
Vibhas

Reply
1. Nico Teering says:
  
  23/12/2020 at 10:22
  
  Hi Vibhas,
  
  What LocoNet signals do you want to send?
  The ArLoco shield is primarily intended for use with the ArLoco program.
  The ArLoco program is designed for train detection; it reacts on a level change at the sensor input.
  But you can always create your own sketch to fulfill your personal needs.
  
  Nico
  
  Reply
Vibhas Chandorkar says:

23/12/2020 at 13:43

Loco control signals – start, stop, direction, light control, whistle control etc. Not for accessories or decoders.

Basically I want to use the Arduino to control train movement. I can use a motor shield, but I am afraid that it wont take enough current for more than a couple of locos. So I am thinking that I will use the Arduino to programmatically send Loconet signals to the Command Station (just as a the hand-held throttle would) and utilize the Command Station and Booster’s capability to handle higher current. For that I would need to interface the Arduino to the Command Station / Loconet and hence I am looking for an adapter.

Reply
1. Nico Teering says:
  
  23/12/2020 at 14:15
  
  Hi Vibhas,
  
  For such application the ArLoco shield is NOT what you need.
  
  Nico
  
  Reply
Nicolas says:

22/01/2021 at 19:26

The manual state that input 1 is impulse only, does it mean that one ARLOCO Shield on UNO and 2 OKKIE gives me only 15 inputs and not 16?

Reply
1. Nico Teering says:
  
  23/01/2021 at 10:19
  
  Hi Nicolas. That is correct.
  
  Nico
  
  Reply