RailPro > RailPro Specific Help & Discussion
LM-4S-G Erratic behavior/Intermittent "Cannot Connect"
Gibs:
Greg
You really didn't get one bit of what I was saying........no surprise there.
Testing issues is a case of elimination. Always start with the easiest and most likely suspect. In this case using a battery to TEST a difference in Power type (Track V's On Board) was/is quick and easy to do and cheap.
Instead hes gone and brought an expensive new Power supply (his choice) that's checking....TRACK POWER only. In the end a battery was still used........I wonder why.
And what has he learnt at the end of the day, well its was more expensive to get a new power supply AND a battery to find out it has power issues ......... from track power as well as battery ......... Silly me.
Jordan
I'm wondering if the Module has an internal CB with an auto reset feature (that's slow to reset) and its this that keeps playing up. I'd suspect it to be a firmware issue if it is and may be a bug from the last update. This sorta thing does happen often with updates, breaks one thing while fixing something else.
Its Ring Ring Time....again.
PS: Was it just that one loco, the last one that played up, or are all the other RP equipped Loco's still doing the same as well.
jordanhd87:
Gibs, it is all 5 of my Railpro locomotives that are having connectivity issues. Sometimes one will act up, and the others will test OK. Sometimes a different one will act up, and the previous one will test OK.
Anyways more info after further testing - out of a last ditch effort I have disconnected all of the cooling fans in 3 of the 5 locomotives to take out the possibility of EMI from the fans. They now connect to the handheld every single time. If I use my old bench supply, it still fails connection sometimes. If I use the USAT supply (even at the reduced 19-20 volt setting), it connects every single time on all three of these locomotives. It seems there may have been a dual fold issue - RP being sensitive to certain power supply outputs and well as EMI from cooling fans. I just hope the overheat issues are indeed fixed with v1.05 and I won't need the fans in the summertime. Anyways, they are now passing the test on the bench so I will disconect the fans from the other two and then outside I will go for the next round of tests (when the weather clears up).
The fans causing that much EMI does boggle my mind a bit, only because I know Robby at RLD puts a fan on everyone single one of his installs and he has not encountered this issue yet.
Gibs:
NOW you tell me you have fans installed....lol. Best cause of RFI is a non suppressed electric motor - its after all one great big spinning magnetic field making thingy (technical term there).
"So why doesn't the on board Loco motor cause issues", because the power supplied to the drive motor is pulsed, Cooling Fan's, eh not so much. The usual cheap and cheerful fix would be to install an RF Choke onto ONE side of the power feed to the suspect electrical motor (fan). You can also use a condenser from an automobile Alternator (same thing really).
Not gonna say its a slam dunk fix, but again its quick, cheap and easy to do.
As to WHY the Module is having an issue with RF, well its also a very small low powered non shielded RF Tx. You could try shielding it, but there is no Antenna so........
If you did want to play around with that just use some alfoil, but then that would negate getting cool air from a cooling fan onto the module, so no RFI to begin with, bit like the Egg V Chicken. lol
jordanhd87:
Gibs - check my first post, I mentioned that I had brushless fans installed. That's OK though, I put a lot of details in that post (and subsequent posts), it's tough to keep up with them all!
Anyways, it seems I'm headed the right direction. Next tests will involve going outside. I will test on my existing power supply first, and if I have issues then I will test on the USAT power supply. Due to all of the headaches around this, Ring should mention "DO NOT INSTALL fans" in their install instructions. I even mentioned to Tim that I had them installed and while he didn't think it was the issue, he did recommend disconnecting them because he didn't think they were needed due to the software update.
Gibs:
*Fingers Crossed*
Lets just hope its something this simple and stupid. (I'd believe stupid).
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