Poor Man's Throttle

Ditch expensive throttles. Control your model trains wirelessly with your phone—smooth speed, strong starts, and simple DIY hardware.

Wireless Model Train Control — Built for Hobbyists,

**Poor Man’s Throttleturns your smartphone into a wireless throttle for model trains.

Designed formodel railroad hobbyists, makers, and DIY builders**, the app allows you to control a locomotive using inexpensive electronics instead of costly commercial control systems.

With simple ESP32-based hardware, your phone becomes asmooth, responsive wireless throttle**.

Smooth Motor Control

Many traditional DC transformers struggle with low-speed operation. Locomotives often:

• hum at low speeds • start with weak torque • move in jerky steps

Poor Man’s Throttle solves this by usingPWM motor control (Pulse Width Modulation)instead of simply lowering voltage.

This allows locomotives to:

• start smoothly • run at extremely slow speeds • maintain strong torque • eliminate most transformer hum

Wireless Smartphone Control

Control your locomotive directly from your phone.

Features include:

• Speed control • Forward direction • Reverse direction • Stop • Additional command support

Because control is wireless, you canwalk around your layout while operating trains**, just like with professional wireless throttle systems.

A Major Upgrade for Traditional DC Layouts

Poor Man’s Throttle works especially well with classic DC transformers.

Instead of using the transformer to regulate speed, the transformer is set tofull powerwhile Poor Man’s Throttle performs the motor control using PWM.

This approach provides:

• smoother slow-speed operation • higher starting torque • reduced transformer noise • modern wireless control for classic layouts

Perfect for Dead-Rail Builders

The system also works extremely well withdead-rail locomotivespowered by onboard batteries.

Builders commonly use:

• cordless tool batteries (DeWalt, Milwaukee, Ryobi, etc.) • lithium battery packs • LiPo or lithium-ion cells • NiMH packs • other hobby batteries

This flexibility allows hobbyists to useinexpensive, widely available power sources**.

A DIY System That Costs Around $20

A typical Poor Man’s Throttle hardware build costs about:

• ESP32 development board • IBT-2 motor driver • 5V logic power module

Total hardware cost is oftenaround $20 per locomotive**.

Many builders already have some of these parts available.

Built for the Model Railroad Community

Poor Man’s Throttle was created to makewireless train control accessible to everyone**.

Instead of expensive proprietary systems, this project focuses on:

• simple hardware • open DIY building • affordable components • sharing knowledge with the hobby community

The goal is simple:

Give model railroaders a powerful wireless throttle they can build themselves.

Who This App Is For

This app is ideal for:

• model railroad hobbyists • dead-rail builders • DC layout operators • electronics makers and tinkerers • DIY train control enthusiasts

Bothbeginner buildersandadvanced hobbyistscan use the system.

Learn More

Hardware build guides, documentation, and project information are available through the Poor Man’s Throttle project resources. https://github.com/jamocle/PoorMansThrottle-DIY/blob/main/README.md

Build your own throttle. Control your trains wirelessly. Keep the hobby affordable.