Make it tiny: PurpleHat Mini (Video

[@robleathley6024]

I really enjoy watching your new videos every second Sunday while having my morning coffee. Wow, the Purple Hat Mini sure is small! Reducing the size of the board for us N-scalers is useful if you want to install it in a small car, such as a caboose. I’ve looked at some of the other M5 products and wondered if they might be useful for other projects. It will be interesting to see what you come up with next.

[@IoTT]

Thank you. I'm currently also playing with the new Rotary knob, wondering if I should put it on the command station or maybe make a throttle with it.

[@drewaldridge8047]

Hi Hans, Thanks so much for the updates. Love how you implemented the faster or slower curve as a choice, and the trim value writing. Looking forward to the new software release. Also really looking forward to what you may be able to do with the mini board as well. With my track powered car, and an ESP32 without the problematic onboard battery, it will solve how many of these M5s I have had die.

[@IoTT]

Thank you. The problem with the stamps is that they need 5V, no other option. So I probably need to find to do a power pickup for 5V/100mA. We'll see.

[@drewaldridge8047]

@@IoTT I have looked for the updated file. I'm guessing its not quite ready yet. Any idea when?

[@IoTT]

@@drewaldridge8047 It has been out there for a few days. Check the announcement post for the hyperlink.

[@davidharris7249]

I was chuffed to see you mention the M5Stamp, as I was going to suggest that as a good option. There are other tiny ESP32 boards, too, such as the the Beetle ESP32 Microcontroller from DFRobot. Keep up the good work!

[@IoTT]

The big advantage of the Stick is the display. This makes it possible to have average users get enough information so that they can connect the Stick to Wifi, see the IP address to connect a browser, etc. The m5 stamp has a lest an RGB LED which can do some of that. I still have to see how to make it work as the IP can be changed by the router. Any idea/concept for a friendly user interface without display?

[@davidharris7249]

@@IoTT You can publish a website with it, then users can just use their phone as a display.

[@IoTT]

@@davidharris7249 Yes, but the problem is how do they know the IP of the page (in STA mode) if it is not displayed anywhere.

[@HumancityJunction]

I am really looking forward to the M5Stack pico! Is there any chance you would add MQTT support to send the speed value to JMRI?

[@IoTT]

Yeah, using a stamp looks interesting. It probably will be the S3 as it has USB. Much easier for the user to upload new software. Lot of stuff to think about. There is little chance i will support MQTT with topics as they do in JMRI. It does not make sense to me as Loconet already has OpCodes. It is easier to just send Loconet over MQTT as i do on the Stick. Now, if you want to bridge, it would be easy enough to write a Loconet to topic converter and run it on NodeRed.

[@HumancityJunction]

@@IoTT I had not heard of LocoNet OpCodes. I will have to look into that and see how they work with JMRI. I have some other projects I am working on with the M5Stick and an M5 Atom and I was planning to use MQTT just because it’s what I know. But maybe the LocoNet OpsCode is a better solution.

[@wms54]

Just finished to assemle a car with IOTT Stick and PurpleHat mini. Unfortunately it does not work. Serial Monitor shows -> Load Trainside Sensor -> Initialize TMAG5273 -> Ooops, no TMAG5273 detected ... Check your hardware! Checking the hardware with I2C with "Wire.begin(0, 26, 400000);" finds i2cAddress = 53 SparkFun_TMAG5273_Arduino_Library.h can read the sensor values. Any idea what to do?

[@wms54]

After change SDA and SLC wire and checking the magnets orientation, my N Size car with PurpleHad mini works fine.

[@norm1124]

Lustig, ich schaue mir gerade die XIAO, resp. Adafruit QT PY Baureihe als Basis für Decoder Hardware an.

[@IoTT]

It's about the same size. For my purpose not suitable as it has no Wifi. But for a decoder certainly an option.