RailMan

The official Remote of Dragon Railway. with its advanced features and intuitive interface, this should set a new standard for locomotive control and Dragon railway ecosystem.

Features:

• Espnow, Wifi, BLE connectivity
• 4096 resolution Knob
• SK6812 RGB leds
• Inbuilt Li-ion Battery charger
• Number keypad and Navigation buttons
• On/off power circuit with MCU control
• 1.8 inch LCD display

Prototype tests:

Schematic:

- Button Matrix and Neopixels

The number pad and the navigation buttons are connected in two sets of matrix connections. This was done to reduce the number of pins required. Each button has a neopixel for backlight.

The button neopixels and knob neopixels also have separate data lines and power lines.

- High resolution knob

AS5600 (12-bit) magnetic encoder is connected using I2C configuration. This should give smooth control compared to the mechanical encoders.

- Power distribution

The neopixels and LCD have individual power control with high side switches, allowing power cutoff in hardware. The vibration motor is also driver by a high side switch

- Charging and Safety

Reverse polarity protection and Overcharge protection is implemented using this simple circuit with some P-Mosfets. 

Undervoltage protection is provided by the ESP32-S3 itself, it shuts down when voltage drops below 2.8~3V. As seen in this circuit below, the LDO will be disabled thereby powering down the whole circuit.

3D model render:

• This project's PCB and PCBA service was sponsored by the OSHWLAB Stars campaign.
• Prototype was completed in April 2025.

Project origins:

An initial prototype was developed in early 2023. But the project was later dropped due to lack of demand.

Now we have decided to develop this project since dragon railway has gained some popularity and many members are interested in making their own 3D printed remote.

Noteworthy improvements:

• The mechanical encoder is now replaced with a high resolution magnetic encoder.
• Monochrome oled display is replaced with a full color 1.8 inch TFT LCD display.
• Added RGB for each button for better visuals.
• Changed the ESP32-dev board to integrated ESP32-S3-Mini module.