LoDi Rector
1. The LoDi Rector and his connections
The LoDi-Rektor is an interface that is required to generate the necessary locomotive data formats.
At the moment the LoDi Rector supports DCC, M3 and Motorola in all versions.
The limit here is only the model railway control software. It is connected via a modern, future-oriented and driverless interface.
Thus it is completely independent of the installed operating system.
But you should have the latest Java version installed.
To the connections at the LoDi Rector:
2. LEDs and buttons of the LoDi-Rector
The LoDi-Rektor has several LEDs and buttons, which should help you to recognize the status of the device and to understand faults quickly.
3. Connection of the power supply unit to the LoDi-Rector
We deliver the LoDi Rector with a high-quality USB power supply unit. You are of course also welcome to use your own USB power supply unit, but this should provide at least 1 ampere.
4. The LoDi-Rektor connection to the network
Our devices all work with a modern network interface.
This offers you a lot of advantages when handling the devices. With the help of this network interface you can easily integrate several interfaces into your system.
There are almost no limits to your imagination.
You can implement large to very large systems with this technology, but small systems also benefit from this technology.
Thanks to network technology, it is no longer a problem to control your system with your laptop or tablet. Today's wireless routers are absolutely capable of transmitting these connections quickly enough.
There is little to consider when integrating the LoDi interface into your network.
However, it is always easier to integrate the LoDi interface into an existing network than to install a network card in the computer.
If you need help with integration, feel free to contact us via the contact ,
or you can contact our users in the forum who will be happy to help you.
As you can see in the picture above, we pay very close attention to the color typology of the network cables.
Yellow is the international standard for computer networks.
You are of course welcome to use other colors, but we adhere to these standards.
In the example shown, you can now see that the computer is connected to a switch or router.
Of course, you can also connect the computer via WiFi.
The LoDi-Shift-Commander is also attached to the switch or router.
The cable going to the left could be your internet line or other devices connected to your network.
If the ports on the switch or router are not sufficient for you, you can simply connect a new switch to the existing switch. The switch's link channels automatically route the data to the correct device, all you have to do is connect the cables.
Please make sure that you do not build a loop, a loop would be a circle, so to speak, with which you can paralyze your network.
Once you have connected the LoDi interface correctly, you can start configuring the network address
(the so-called IP address) via our LoDi-ProgrammerFX .
5. The LoDi-Rektor connection to the µCon bus
As already mentioned above, the LoDi Rector has a µCon bus. This was originally developed as a pure booster bus in the µCon system at that time.
The µCon bus offers many advantages, especially for the booster, as we can implement long network cable lengths via the µCon bus, lengths of up to 1500 meters are possible.
Boosters have the same signal at every point, there is no time offset in the track protocol.
The µCon bus is the perfect choice, especially for large installations.
In addition, we get a lot of information via the µCon bus, such as:
- Power consumption of the individual outputs on the booster
- Booster status
- Voltage indicator
- Temperature monitoring
- Free addressing of the connected µCon-Bus components
You can now see the connection of a LoDi booster to the LoDi Rector. The µCon bus requires a terminating plug, which is included with every LoDi Rector.
Our system is fully compatible with other µCon-Bus components. The LoDi-Rector automatically recognizes the connected components, whether it is a LoDi-Booster , µCon-Booster or Railspeed.
The Railspeed from LSdigital can be fully operated on the LoDi Rector. It does not matter at which point on the bus it is attached.
6. Conventional boosters on the LoDi Rector
If you have boosters and are satisfied with them and only want to connect the LoDi Rector as a control center or generator, you are of course welcome to do so.
In the past, customers have also asked us again and again what they should do with their old boosters.
We say join them in!
Perhaps you still have a track section that is not integrated into the layout, or you want to switch points and signals via DCC, M3 or Motorola. The possibilities are all given here.
If the connected booster now reports a short circuit on E, this will be displayed in our tool.
7. LoDi Rector as a booster interface via CDE
The LoDi-Rektor can be used as a control center, generator or booster interface.
What does a booster interface mean?
Many model railway controls support the possibility of recognizing where a short circuit is. There are options here via feedback modules in the model railway control software to give an impulse that the particular booster circuit has a short circuit.
The LoDi rector himself, on the other hand, collects the data from the booster and then sends it to the model railway software.
You can now evaluate more data here:
- Individual boosters are displayed with their address
- Power consumption and voltage can be displayed
- Booster temperature
- Booster status On / Off short circuit
The LoDi-Rektor has a switchable CDE input or output. You can use the
LoDi-Programmer determine how the output is configured. To configure the CD E port, click here .
Here you can see the connection of a conventional digital center from Lenz with a CD E output. But you should only connect C and D. If E is also connected, the LoDi rector also forwards a short circuit to the control center, which then sets the entire track current to stop again.
All digital centers with CD E output can be connected to the LoDi-Rektor! ! !
The CD (E) cable should not be longer than 2 meters!
8. LoDi-Rektor as a booster interface over conventional control centers
The market is full of digital centers, as a customer you really don't have a big overview here. In principle, all control centers do one thing in the same way, they should take over the control of your trains and / or turnouts. There are all types of digital centers, from high-end to small USB sticks.
But there are actually central units on the market that do not have a CD E connection.
Do they have to stay outside then?
NO! Any central unit can really be connected to the LoDi-Rector, it only has to speak DCC or Motorola.
Of course, the question arises, why should a digital center be connected to the LoDi Rector if he is one himself? Quite simply, you know your system, you are satisfied with it, but you would like to have the advantages of RailCom and a booster logic.
Perhaps you have gotten so used to your handheld controller that you don't want to do without it.
At each digital center you have a track exit to which you can connect your track.
It is of course not possible to connect the track exit directly to the LoDi Rector.
For this, 2 resistors with 2.2kΩ each must be inserted into the line, as can be seen in the picture below.
This means that almost all control centers can be connected to the LoDi Rector.
9. Technical data
Dimensions:
Length 8.9 cm
Width 10 cm
Height 3.5 cm
Weight:
89 grams
The USB-C connection can be supplied with all common USB-C cables or power supplies.
The maximum load of the USB power supply unit can be up to 3 amps.
