This project turns an M5Stack Dial into a handheld model railroad throttle. It talks to JMRI
over WiThrottle, or joins an LCC network directly, with a SparkFun Qwiic Keypad/Numpad (COM-15290) for function, turnout and loco-select keys.
Documentation: https://ngpaladi.github.io/dial-throttle/
| Idle, no loco | Half-step between notches | Ramping to notch 5 | Full speed |
|---|---|---|---|
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| Reverse | E-Stop latched | Battery gauge | Settings menu |
|---|---|---|---|
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 |
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- Notched throttle with momentum on the dial: 4, 8, 12 or 16 notches over speed steps
0..126. - Touchscreen brake, dial-button stop and direction change, and a latched emergency stop.
- WiThrottle for JMRI, or LCC / OpenLCB over GridConnect as a real node.
- Keypad functions, turnouts and loco selection, plus RFID loco selection with an optional MySQL lookup.
- WiFi, server and throttle settings stored in flash and editable on the device.
- Idle power saving for battery use that never cuts the link while the train is moving.
| Qty | Part | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | K130-V11 |
M5Stack Dial |
| 1 | 15290 |
SparkFun Qwiic Keypad, 12 button |
| 1 | 15109 |
Qwiic to I2C Grove cable, 150 mm |
| 1 | LION-1865-34 |
18650 Li-ion cell, 3.7 V 3.4 Ah |
| 1 | BH-18650-PC |
18650 holder, PC pin |
| 1 | 3922 |
Molex Pico Blade 2-pin cable |
| 1 | FE-USB2CC-PM-6IN |
Panel-mount USB-C cable, 6 in |
parts/partslist.csv has the Digi-Key numbers, and the
Parts page explains what each item is for
and what the optional additions are.
With arduino-cli and make:
make flash PORT=/dev/ttyACM0 # build and upload; the first build downloads the ESP32 core
make monitor # serial console at 115200 baud
make help # every targetOr run the guided installer, which fetches arduino-cli for you: ./install.sh on Linux and
macOS, .\install.ps1 or install.bat on Windows.
To use the Arduino IDE, open DialThrottle/DialThrottle.ino and follow the board settings in
Getting started.
A unit with nothing saved opens its settings menu on first boot, so WiFi and the server can be
set on the device. Compile-time defaults are in DialThrottle/config.h.
| Path | Contents |
|---|---|
DialThrottle/ |
Arduino sketch: firmware, config.h, and sketch.yaml with pinned versions |
Makefile |
Build, flash, monitor and docs targets |
install.py |
Guided installer (install.sh, install.ps1 and install.bat wrap it) |
docs/ |
Hugo documentation site |
parts/partslist.csv |
Parts list, rendered on the site's Parts page |
tools/screenshot.py |
Captures the screen over serial |
case/ |
Printable case |
rfid_mysql_schema.sql |
Sample table for RFID lookups |
The site in docs/ is built with Hugo and published to GitHub Pages by
.github/workflows/pages.yml on every push that touches docs/ or parts/.
make serve # dev server with live reload on :1313
make docs # build into docs/publicThe Parts page is generated from parts/partslist.csv, so editing that CSV updates the
documentation. make site-assets restages it, and make docs and make serve do that for you.