Bruce - what a cool project and great write up!! I'm impressed and appreciative of the knowledge and work you put unto this.
Look at those little speed controllers, they claim to be 4000 watts! Is for real
I have a follow - on question: I'm interested in building a microprocessor based train control system, including throttle control. Most circuits you see published for AC throttle control with microprocessor involve a triac and the processor watching voltage for zero cross, and managing the cycle timing in software. I'd rather do that in hardware as this device and ordinary light dimmers do, and replace the voltage control pot with a transistor driven by a 3-5v analog output from the microcontroller. That way the processor could control several throttles and handle input an output functions. But I can't find a circuit for it! I'm more of a software geek than a hardware geek so I'm still casting about for a solution. Any suggestions?
Thanks dude,
Bruce
