I kinda goofed in terms of what I wanted to say. Brain isn't working well.
I meant to say you can Matrix the solenoids using High and Low side drivers. Just google "high side driver" and "low side driver" and even "solenoid drivers".
You can also Matrix the switches. It doesn;t matter if it's one switch out of 88 (like the one example) or the keypad of 000A and 000B, they still get the job done. "C" might be clear. and "D" might be erase 1 digit. True, you may need a small display too, but that should be cheap too.
A 4x20-line serial module might work just fine.
e.g. you type 001 and it displays the name of the switch and the state. then you type A or B to change the state. Maybe E is reserved for Toggle and "F" is "leave as display" or it just times out.
Without doing selection, I'll just give you this https://www.nxp.com/products/interf...us-portfolio/i2c-general-purpose-i-o:MC_41850 to look at.
I2C is known as Inter IC Communications. It can be made long if necessary. You can't just hang any number of the same devices off the I2C bus. The addresses are assigned by Phillips. Some IC's have multiple available addresses. If you need more expanders, you need to expand the I2C bus.
My point is, you can make it cost-effective for 50 switches or 100 solenoids. I really don't think you want 50 switches?
I wanted to try to get you to understand one concept before moving on to another.
Concept 1 which is the most important is controlling 50 switches. You can matrix them and create the pulse in software.
Concept 2 is the state of the switch: A) FRAM or B) A physical switch
Concept 3: is how to activate said switch: A) A simple display and a keypad or B) Single switches like you envision
(50 switches are expensive vs a $10.00 USD keypad)
Concept 4: Display the State of the switch. Basically I have no idea what your planning here.
50 LED's?; Red/green? LEDS that the train sees? And to be weird: Some sort of positive train control where if the switch is wrong the train stops.
I like throwing stuff out no matter how silly it is, At this point we are brainstorming, so anything goes.
I meant to say you can Matrix the solenoids using High and Low side drivers. Just google "high side driver" and "low side driver" and even "solenoid drivers".
You can also Matrix the switches. It doesn;t matter if it's one switch out of 88 (like the one example) or the keypad of 000A and 000B, they still get the job done. "C" might be clear. and "D" might be erase 1 digit. True, you may need a small display too, but that should be cheap too.
A 4x20-line serial module might work just fine.
e.g. you type 001 and it displays the name of the switch and the state. then you type A or B to change the state. Maybe E is reserved for Toggle and "F" is "leave as display" or it just times out.
Without doing selection, I'll just give you this https://www.nxp.com/products/interf...us-portfolio/i2c-general-purpose-i-o:MC_41850 to look at.
I2C is known as Inter IC Communications. It can be made long if necessary. You can't just hang any number of the same devices off the I2C bus. The addresses are assigned by Phillips. Some IC's have multiple available addresses. If you need more expanders, you need to expand the I2C bus.
My point is, you can make it cost-effective for 50 switches or 100 solenoids. I really don't think you want 50 switches?
I wanted to try to get you to understand one concept before moving on to another.
Concept 1 which is the most important is controlling 50 switches. You can matrix them and create the pulse in software.
Concept 2 is the state of the switch: A) FRAM or B) A physical switch
Concept 3: is how to activate said switch: A) A simple display and a keypad or B) Single switches like you envision
(50 switches are expensive vs a $10.00 USD keypad)
Concept 4: Display the State of the switch. Basically I have no idea what your planning here.
50 LED's?; Red/green? LEDS that the train sees? And to be weird: Some sort of positive train control where if the switch is wrong the train stops.
I like throwing stuff out no matter how silly it is, At this point we are brainstorming, so anything goes.