RailPro > RailPro Specific Help & Discussion
MU locomotive to locomotive range issue with LM-3S-G ?
William Brillinger:
I can sell you a PWR-56 without the power adapter. The price is $75 including shipping in the USA.
Feel free to contact me to order one. my email address is billy@pdc.ca
JRad:
Thanks Bill -
I'll let you know. Not quite ready to go there, I still have modules yet to be installed!
Bruce Shanks:
I too am interested in this issue. I'm dealing with a club layout that will be all dead rail. About 300 x 50 feet. Some mountains made from chicken-wire reinforced concrete. Range and reliability are concerns.
We have 120 VAC outlets scattered around, so could power repeaters, but don't need the 12 VDC power supplies. Presumably a wall wart would be sufficient to power the radio.
From the discussion so far, it appears that the loco modules don't have the transmitter power or receiver sensitivity that the repeaters have. Which leads to the question, how far can the loco get before reliable control is lost? Are we looking at 3 repeaters to cover our 300 foot length?
G8B4Life:
--- Quote from: Bruce Shanks on October 13, 2021, 01:39:55 PM ---...how far can the loco get before reliable control is lost?
--- End quote ---
That's a good question, and not one that I think anyone here has pushed the boundaries of. This is what Rings FAQ has to say about it.
--- Quote ---How far does the Direct Radio signal reach?
You can control locomotives on huge HO scale layouts with outstanding control using Direct Radio. The Direct Radio signal can reach over 100ft in an open environment. When properly setup, you can achieve fast and dependable control that has the feel of being directly wired to your locomotives.
If you want to control your trains from the far side of your layout, we recommend a repeater every 15 ft for areas divided into small rooms. Our power supply has Direct Radio built in and can be used as a repeater. With one PWR-56 in the middle of the layout, you can expect outstanding coverage for a 30 ft x 30 ft layout while transmitting through multiple walls. If the room is open, it may work well for 50 ft x 50 ft or even larger areas with only one repeater. The current program in the handheld controller lets you use up to 4 repeaters for outstanding coverage on huge layouts.
You can run RailPro without a repeater. For example using only a handheld and locomotive equipped with a RailPro module. If you follow your trains (staying within 15-20 feet) you will not need a repeater and you can expect fast and dependable control. However, if transmitting through multiple walls, you might find that at some angles you will loose communication at 40 feet away. By adding repeaters as necessary, you can get fast and dependable control from over 40 feet away through multiple walls.
--- End quote ---
The PWR-56 and HC manuals have sections on repeaters. What it appears though, is that only the HC can use repeaters (LM's can not) and 4 repeaters is the hard limit with the current HC program. My suspicion is that when a HC is using repeaters it's not a broadcast to any repeater that's listening but rather the HC sends out to each specific repeater that it has loaded.
- Tim
Alan:
--- Quote from: Bruce Shanks on October 13, 2021, 01:39:55 PM ---About 300 x 50 feet. Some mountains made from chicken-wire reinforced concrete. Range and reliability are concerns.
--- End quote ---
Well, you won't get 300' range that's for sure. :D
Keep in mind that issues, if they arise, will be because of what the signal passes through on a straight path from HC to LM. Not necessarily what else is in the room. The chicken wire and concrete are a problem only if the train is on one side of the mountain and you are on the other.
One would assume the person controlling the train will be somewhere near the train and most certainly have a clear line-of-sight to the train. This being the case then layout size is rendered moot. If the train is orbiting the layout then HC connection is irrelevant as the LM will retain last command. To take back control wait for the train to pass by you as it makes its very long journey around the 1500 ft2 layout.
Did they really use concrete??? I can't imagine how challenging that would be to do. Concrete is way too runny for chicken wire. Perhaps you meant plaster? Otherwise, call Guinness. They may have set the world record for heaviest model train layout. :P
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version