Lots of DCC vs RailPro Questions from Mustdecide

[Alan]

Speed Matching.
That's what sold me on RailPro, the utter simplicity of consisting any locomotives. No more of those confounded CV's.

Amen, brother.

[KPack]

....and you're willing to spend hours trying to speed match each and every loco to each other then you need DCC.

Lol.  This is true.  But really more like dozens of hours.  It's bringing back nightmares just thinking about it.

-Kevin

[William Brillinger]

Ring sells a 5A power supply

The PWR-56 is the only supply Ring offers at this time. It is also a repeater.
The 5A supply was discontinued some time ago.

[William Brillinger]

Being able to use the HC while it is recharging would be the best, even it it wasn't actually recharging during the time it is plugged in and just running off wall power. 

The original HC2 cannot be charged when being used at all. That is in my opinion the worst part about the RailPro environment.

Ring is still putting the finishing touches on the Revised HC2 which eliminates the round charging connector among other things. And I asked Tim Ring yesterday:

...will the new HC2 be charged via the same port that it is programmed on?
...and if so, will it charge while programming?

Here's is the response I got:

In the first release it will not charge while the USB port is in use.  It will only charge when the USB cable it is plugged into a supplied power adapter.

The new HC-2 hardware is capable of being charged through USB while USB port is in use with a program update that we may offer in the future.

I realize that this leaves the question of charging while programming modules or running trains out, so I will ask for further details about that and report back to this page!

[Alan]

The PWR-56 is the only supply Ring offers at this time. It is also a repeater.
The 5A supply was discontinued some time ago.

What's 1 amp amongst friends? 

[G8B4Life]

The new HC-2 hardware is capable of being charged through USB while USB port is in use with a program update that we may offer in the future.

The way I read that bit if cryptic info is that yes is it capable of charging while in use, which should mean programing and running trains but we do need clarification so thanks for taking this up with Ring Bill. The "may offer in the future" part is always the bit that worries me though. It usually means "one day we might get around to considering it but it's not something we consider necessary anytime soon", even though it's one of the feature's we've asked for the most.

- Tim

[William Brillinger]

I was referring to the the PWR-75

PWR-75 SPECS: (discontinued)
Output Voltage: 14.2 volts regulated DC
Output Current: 5.3 Amps

PWR-56 SPECS:
Output Voltage: 14.2 volts regulated DC
Output Current: 4 Amps

[William Brillinger]

Can the New HC2 be used to control trains and program modules while charging?

Tim Says:
Not on the initial release but with the new hardware and a newer program that is possible.

[nodcc4me]

What's really lacking is charging ability while downloading. That really drains the batteries quickly. Hopefully, when USB charging becomes a reality that problem will be resolved.

[William Brillinger]

Hopefully, when USB charging becomes a reality that problem will be resolved.

Hopefully when the CI becomes reality that problem will be resolved!