2 layers40.2 × 67.8 mm
Point controller switches
penguintutor/modelrailway-point-controller
Model railway point controller
30 parts1GPL-3.0
2 layers116 × 97 mm
Point controller
penguintutor/modelrailway-point-controller1Model railway point controller
- Size
- 116 × 97 mm
- Copper layers
- 2
- Thickness
- 1.6 mm
- Parts
- 61
- Nets
- 64
- Pads
- 232
- Tracks, vias
- 341, 23
- Pours
- 3
- Routed
- Yes
- KiCad
- KiCad 7 (file 20221018)
- Created
- 30 Apr 2024
- Updated
- 30 Jan 2026
Overview
Point controller is an open-source printed circuit board by penguintutor, from the penguintutor/modelrailway-point-controller repository on GitHub, published under the GPL-3.0 licence. It is a 2-layer board of 116 × 97 mm with 61 parts on 64 nets, routed with 341 tracks and 23 vias.
It is built around the L7805 and IRLB8721PBF. Its parts include 15 resistors, 14 diodes, 11 transistors, 9 connectors and 5 capacitors. It belongs with the RP2040 boards of this library.
Main components
2
L7805
TO-220ST0℃~+125℃@(Tj) 1 1.2A 20V 2V@(1A) 42uV 500uA 5V 73dB@(120Hz) Fixed Positive Short Circuit Protection TO-220ST Voltage Regulators - Linear, Low Drop Out (LDO) Regulators ROHSOSENVoltage Regulators - Linear, Low Drop Out (LDO) Regulators
IRLB8721PBF
TO-220AB-55℃~+175℃ 1 N-channel 1.077nF 110pF 13nC@4.5V 16mΩ@4.5V 2.35V 30V 360pF 62A 65W N-Channel ±20V TO-220AB MOSFETs ROHSInfineon TechnologiesMOSFETs
README
README.mdModel railway point controller
The model railway point controller provides a way to control up to 4 points using a Raspberry Pi Pico W. It includes a MOSFET based capacitor discharge unit on the PCB and MOSFET controllers for each of the point motors.
It includes a second control board connected by I2C which can be connected to physical LEDs and switches to provide a way to control the points. The points can also be controlled using a web interface which can also be used in conjunction with GUI software to provide a touch screen interface.
Installation
This version needs to be installed on a Raspberry Pi Pico W with the appropriate network enabled MicroPython. MicroPython can be installed through the Thonny editor.
To install the program, copy all the files in the pico-src directory to the top-level of the Raspberry Pi Pico. For the network connection you also need to create a file called secrets.py with details of your SSID and PASSWORD. The example below shows the formatting for the secrets.py file.
SSID="NetworkSSID"
PASSWORD="WiFiPassword"Configuration
The program can be run in two modes.
- Access Point Mode (AP mode) - In this mode the Pico will act as a Wireless Access Point which you can connect to using another WiFi enabled device.
- Client Mode - In this mode you can connect to an existing wireless network
Note that in client mode it is currently blocking and will not operate until it has successfully connected to the network.
The mode is set by editing the entry "mode" in the pico-lights.py file.
mode="ap" # Use as an access point mode="client" # Use as a Wi-Fi client
Running on startup
For the code to run automatically on start-up save the pico-point-controller.py file on your Pico as main.py.
Using without the I2C control board
The board can be used in WiFi only mode, which does not use the I2C based switch and LED board. For that use the file pico-point-controller.wifionly.py instead of pico-point-controller.py (or save as main.py for auto-run)
More Information
For more details see www.penguintutor.com/points
Parts
61| Qty | Value | Footprint | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 1N4003 | Diode_THT:D_DO-41_SOD81_P10.16mm_Horizontal | D3, D7, D8, D9, D10, D11, D12, D13, D14 |
| 9 | IRLB8721PBF | Package_TO_SOT_THT:TO-220-3_Vertical | Q1, Q4, Q5, Q6, Q7, Q8, Q9, Q10, Q11 |
| 8 | 470R | Resistor_THT:R_Axial_DIN0411_L9.9mm_D3.6mm_P15.24mm_Horizontal | R8, R9, R10, R11, R12, R13, R14, R15 |
| 4 | MountingHole | MountingHole:MountingHole_3.2mm_M3 | H1, H2, H3, H4 |
| 2 | 10K | Resistor_THT:R_Axial_DIN0411_L9.9mm_D3.6mm_P15.24mm_Horizontal | R5, R7 |
| 2 | 1N5820 | Diode_THT:D_DO-201AD_P15.24mm_Horizontal | D1, D2 |
| 2 | 2200μF+ | Custom_footprints:CP_Radial_D16.0mm_P7.50mm_P5.00mm | C2, C3 |
| 2 | 2N7000 | Package_TO_SOT_THT:TO-92_Inline | Q2, Q3 |
| 2 | 4K7 | Resistor_THT:R_Axial_DIN0411_L9.9mm_D3.6mm_P15.24mm_Horizontal | R4, R6 |
| 1 | 100nF | Capacitor_THT:C_Rect_L11.5mm_W7.5mm_P10.00mm_MKT | C5 |
| 1 | 1K0 | Resistor_THT:R_Axial_DIN0411_L9.9mm_D3.6mm_P15.24mm_Horizontal | R2 |
| 1 | 1N5817 | Diode_THT:D_DO-41_SOD81_P10.16mm_Horizontal | D5 |
| 1 | 2200μF | Capacitor_THT:CP_Radial_D14.0mm_P5.00mm | C1 |
| 1 | 22R | Resistor_THT:R_Axial_DIN0411_L9.9mm_D3.6mm_P15.24mm_Horizontal | R1 |
| 1 | 2K2 | Resistor_THT:R_Axial_DIN0411_L9.9mm_D3.6mm_P15.24mm_Horizontal | R3 |
| 1 | 330nF | Capacitor_THT:C_Rect_L7.0mm_W2.0mm_P5.00mm | C4 |
| 1 | 5V output | Connector_Phoenix_MC:PhoenixContact_MC_1,5_2-G-3.5_1x02_P3.50mm_Horizontal | J5 |
| 1 | Enable 5V | Connector_PinHeader_2.54mm:PinHeader_1x02_P2.54mm_Vertical | JP1 |
| 1 | I2C Exp | Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x04_P2.54mm_Vertical | J4 |
| 1 | I2C out | Connector_Phoenix_MC:PhoenixContact_MC_1,5_4-G-3.5_1x04_P3.50mm_Horizontal | J3 |
| 1 | L7805 | Package_TO_SOT_THT:TO-220-3_Vertical | U1 |
| 1 | LED | LED_THT:LED_D5.0mm | D4 |
| 1 | NeoPixel | LED_THT:LED_D5.0mm-4_RGB_Wide_Pins | D6 |
| 1 | Pico | Pico:RPi_Pico_SMD_TH | U2 |
| 1 | Point 1 | Connector_Phoenix_MC:PhoenixContact_MC_1,5_3-G-3.5_1x03_P3.50mm_Horizontal | J7 |
| 1 | Point 2 | Connector_Phoenix_MC:PhoenixContact_MC_1,5_3-G-3.5_1x03_P3.50mm_Horizontal | J6 |
| 1 | Point 3 | Connector_Phoenix_MC:PhoenixContact_MC_1,5_3-G-3.5_1x03_P3.50mm_Horizontal | J9 |
| 1 | Point 4 | Connector_Phoenix_MC:PhoenixContact_MC_1,5_3-G-3.5_1x03_P3.50mm_Horizontal | J8 |
| 1 | Power in | TerminalBlock_Phoenix:TerminalBlock_Phoenix_MKDS-1,5-2_1x02_P5.00mm_Horizontal | J1 |
| 1 | Power out | Connector_Phoenix_MC:PhoenixContact_MC_1,5_2-G-3.5_1x02_P3.50mm_Horizontal | J2 |
Questions
How big is the Point controller PCB?
It measures 116 × 97 mm and has 2 copper layers, 1.6 mm thick.
What parts does the Point controller use?
61 parts, built around the L7805 and IRLB8721PBF. The full list of its parts is on this page, with links to each part's symbol and footprint where PCBKit's library has them.
Where can I download the Point controller KiCad files?
From the penguintutor/modelrailway-point-controller repository on GitHub, at the commit this page was made from: the board is electronics/point-controller/point-controller.kicad_pcb and its schematic electronics/point-controller-switches/point-controller-switches.kicad_sch. PCBKit opens the board in the browser, with nothing to install.
Can I use the Point controller design in my own project?
Its repository publishes it under the GPL-3.0 licence: you may reuse it on that licence's terms (keep the author's notice, and for a copyleft licence share your changes alike).
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