Start here
If you've landed here knowing you want DCC but not much else, this is the order things are best tackled in. Each step links to the fuller write-up.
1. Work out whether DCC-EX is for you
DCC-EX is an open-source DCC command station that runs on cheap, off-the-shelf microcontroller hardware. It does the same job as a commercial command station for a fraction of the money, at the cost of assembling and flashing it yourself. If you'd rather buy a sealed box that just works, that's a perfectly reasonable choice — but you'll pay several times more for it.
What DCC-EX is, and how it compares →
2. Choose your hardware before you buy anything
This is the step most worth slowing down on. The microcontroller barely matters; the motor shield does. Get this wrong and you'll be buying twice — the current rating and the thermal behaviour under load are what separate a board that runs all afternoon from one that shuts down every twenty minutes.
Command station hardware compared →
3. Get one locomotive moving
Before any software, before any automation: flash the command station, wire it to a test track, and drive one loco with the built-in web throttle. Everything after this is easier to debug when you already know the track and decoder work.
4. Programme your decoders
Address, speed curve, momentum, lighting. Most of it is a handful of CVs, and most of the pain comes from two or three settings that behave differently from how they read.
5. Add control software, if you want it
Rocrail gives you a track plan, routes and automation. It's a big step up in capability and a big step up in setup effort, so it's worth doing only once the basics are solid.
6. Make it survive your network
A WiFi command station that changes IP address after a router reboot is the single most common "it just stopped working" fault. Worth fixing once, properly.
Finding and fixing the address →
Steps 1 to 3 are worth doing in sequence. After that, 4, 5 and 6 can be done in any order as you need them — there's no benefit to setting up automation software before you've got something worth automating.
All six topics
- Getting started — What DCC-EX actually is, what you need to buy, and how it stacks up against commercial systems.
- Command station hardware — Motor shields, microcontrollers and power supplies — what works, what burns out, and why.
- Rocrail integration — Wiring Rocrail to DCC-EX over TCP, running it as a service, and reaching it from anywhere.
- Decoder programming — CV tables, speed steps, and the settings that catch people out.
- Network troubleshooting — Finding a command station that has moved, and keeping it findable.
- Points and accessories — Servo-driven turnouts, and the accessory hardware that hangs off a command station.
- 3D-printed accessories — Mounts, enclosures and layout hardware printed on a Bambu P1P.