Raspberry has just release information on a hat which has been developed in cooperation with lego. The hat has 4 connectors in the PUP configuration.
Furthermore an technic plate will be released by lego on which to mount a raspberry.

But the best news to me was in the Build HAT Serial protocol documentation...

In appendix B a note is made for Passive ID Codes.

ID 11 is supposed to be reserved for a system future actuator (train point).

Seems we will be getting automated switch point in the near future again....

Info:

Raspberry Pi hat: https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/raspberry-pi-build-hat-lego-education/

Serial Protocol: https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/build-hat/build-hat-serial-protocol.pdf

 

I checked this out this morning and saw this too, it's very exciting. Not just for the HAT for the Pi (so cool that this is an official partnership with Lego!), but the news about the train switch motor. Wonder what it'll look like and how much space it'll take up.

Perhaps the perfect excuse to come out with a LPF2 extension cable? :)

5 hours ago, Mr Hobbles said:

I checked this out this morning and saw this too, it's very exciting. Not just for the HAT for the Pi (so cool that this is an official partnership with Lego!), but the news about the train switch motor. Wonder what it'll look like and how much space it'll take up.

Perhaps the perfect excuse to come out with a LPF2 extension cable? :)

Maybe eventually we will get some attention from LEGO. I think there was a rumour a while back that LEGO is considering something train related with a partner (as LEGO seems to be more open that). And remember: There was also a train related meeting at skaerbaek this year that required an NDA.

I expect a nice surprise for 2022 :-)

14 hours ago, Mr Hobbles said:

but the news about the train switch motor.

What's this you say???

47 minutes ago, zephyr1934 said:

What's this you say???

In the protocol documention (second link) is an entry in the appendix stating ID 11 is for "System future actuator (train points)". So there seems to be something planned.

On 10/19/2021 at 12:40 PM, Kalindor71 said:

Raspberry has just release information on a hat which has been developed in cooperation with lego.

Finally, very good news.

Oh wow
I ordered it

Now where to get that "Maker plate" ?

Edit
Allready found it and it's impossible to buy it

Edited October 21, 20213 yr by JaBaCaDaBra

Interesting - it could be finally the chance to control different features and (directly on the PI) - emulating sounds.

Only drawback - it's big and using a Raspberry Pi Zero would relatively help. But on a bigger scale train (8or 10-wide for L-Gauge and 12/14-wide for G-Gauge) it could be really a nice improvement. 

Battery choice will be a nice challenge, then 

Here's the only set which includes the maker plate: 45681

Very expensive.

16 minutes ago, Toxic43 said:

Here's the only set which includes the maker plate: 45681

Very expensive.

Ha thats a scam
LEGO price is 119 minus VIP is actually 113

I tried to order one...

Sorry for being so ignorant: A hat/HAT for a Raspberry Pi is the equivalent of a shield for an Arduino/compatible? A LEGO compatible breakout board?

Is this what we are talking about?

Thanks,
Thorsten

@Toastie That’s correct! It’s a board that plugs on top of the Raspberry Pi via the GPIO pins and provides 4x LPF2 sockets. The Raspberry Pi foundation worked with LEGO to develop it, and they’ve also released a special LEGO Technic plate that allows the Pi to be easily mounted to other elements.

They’ve published a Python library to use with it, as well as full documentation for the serial protocol - which also leaks the existence of an upcoming train switch motor, as well as two more types of lights! (Not necessarily train related…)

Edited October 21, 20213 yr by Mr Hobbles

15 hours ago, Mr Hobbles said:

....

They’ve published a Python library to use with it, as well as full documentation for the serial protocol ...

Hello

Does you mean by "full documentation" what is there : https://buildhat.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ ?

If not, please tell us the Link, because about the serial communication I could not find at the "readthedocs" Page

In the PDF https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/build-hat/build-hat-serial-protocol.pdf the UART Communication is described very limited.
On Github is a much better documentation https://github.com/pybricks/technical-info/blob/master/uart-protocol.md

But unfortunately Documentation of the Modes of the Sensor(s), Motor(s) and LED-Matrix and the used Data-Frames are only very fragmented to find.

 

In the PDF there is an example of the List Command that reports :

speed PID: 00000BB8 00000064 00002328 00000438
position PID: 00002EE0 000003E8 00013880 00000000

Is this part of the RPI/HAT or from the PU-Motor (Type 0x30) ?

On 2nd would be nice to find out, how this was transmitted on rhe UART from Motor to Hat/Hub

 

What would happen with the HAT when using 9V (6x 1,5V AA Cells) ?

Would that Toast the HAT, or would the H-Bridge-Driver support this ?

 

Jo

37 minutes ago, BrickTronic said:

In the PDF https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/build-hat/build-hat-serial-protocol.pdf the UART Communication is described very limited

Hi @BrickTronic, I was referring to the serial protocol for talking Pi<->HAT. I think for the LFP2 UART protocol you need to look elsewhere, such as the Pybricks repo you posted.

On 10/22/2021 at 4:40 PM, BrickTronic said:

What would happen with the HAT when using 9V (6x 1,5V AA Cells) ?

Would that Toast the HAT, or would the H-Bridge-Driver support this ?

 

Jo

normally such h bridges have a voltage range from something like 6-12v or even 24v i dont know of any drivers that have a max voltage of 7.5v they are either 3v ,5v 12v or 24v. or if you want to go even higher there is 36v 48v or 52v. so no i dont think it would fry the hat the voltage regulator on it  should handle the voltage aswell.