John Clitsome

Had a reply from Steve Todd who acknowledges a problem which several MRC users have reported. His full response was:

"I've recently had several MRC users report problems that sound similar to yours. SteveB sent me some logs and I made a change to the connect timing of EngineDriver that might help.

That change will be in the next EngineDriver Beta. I'll let you know when it's available so you can give it a try.

Do you have "AutoConnect to First WiThrottle Server?" enabled? If so, disable it and see if that helps.

How "new" is your MRC wifi? I cannot duplicate this issue on my MRC Wifi, but I have one of the first units. I wonder if something has changed."

In light of the last paragraph I've emailed MRC 'over the pond' and am awaiting their response.

Given that ED has been downloaded over 10k times there must be a significant number of people getting problems even though a number will be using through JMRI instead.

I'll keep you posted.

J

Had a friend in looking at this and it appears may be a software bug in Engine Driver. I'm in contact with Steve Todd the developer and will update when I get a reply

Hi Nigel

Have had a good looooong look through my phones settings and done numerous searches but can't find anything that does what you referred to. I agree my phone (Motorola G8 Lite Android 10) does have lots of settings - just not the one you referred to or anything that looked like it. Spent a lot of time 'googling' (til I felt well & truly googled myself!) but still no help there. Had another go on the layout and the problem persists. I get a full strength signal for the MRC Network, others in the area are much lower so I would have thought mine would override the others anyway but thats my probably simplistic way of looking at things.

The only signal that comes close to = strength is my Home Network which is in the house - layouts at bottom of garden in shed.

Any other thoughts - seems you know what you're doing- unlike me!

Thanks John

Thanks Nigel - I'd say my phones at the budget end so may not be lucky but will look at it.

John

Thanks Mike.

There are certainly a number of other users being picked up on my phone. I've had a look at the Apps to analyze bands being used but as I can't change the band on the MRC Module I'd be stuck- although I grant you it might explain why I'm having problems connecting.

Thanks for the info.

John

I know I'm picking up on an old thread but can anyone whose got a Prodigy Wi-Fi module tell me whether they get any connection problems.

I got mine in July 2020 (operating with Engine Driver and Android) and it was a bit temperamental then, but for various reasons I haven't touched the layout until yesterday again and I'm just finding it 'unstable'. It can take me a dozen or more attempts to get the link to work - many times I get as far as selecting a loco and then the connection drops. 

With pretty much everybody in lockdown and having already tried to contact G'master thought I'd see if anybody else using this has issues.

I would add that when it's working it's great- the only drawback being that you can't operate Routes, but I just use two tethered handsets for that purpose which sit in cradles on the baseboard edge. 

I'm inclined to think that the module is in some way faulty, and if others say that theirs is alright I'll feel confident in getting a replacement under the 12 month Warranty. I bought it from a local shop but they haven't any others in stock so I'd probably have to wait until G'master are able to respond.

Many thanks in anticipation of someones help.

Keep Well- Keep Safe

Is that some sort of Super Magnadhesion that's keeping the loco on the track!!

Glad to hear it Howard.

My layout has about 50 pts and non have been modified and I've never had any serious problems. Just occassionally the tip of the blades requires a tweak to secure contact and I ensure the spring mechanism is keeping the 'switch' tight.

Must be quite a relief for you after all the trauma!!

Bit of an update for anybody interested.

I contacted Steve Todd, Engine Drivers developer and also Gaugemaster.

1. Steve replied that MRC Wi Fi doesn't support Route setting and after another exchange he replied as follows:

"OK, thanks for the feedback. Hopefully, MRC will be able to add something. 

There are now quite a few hardware implementations of the WiThrottle protocol, each with its own unique limitations. I'm not going to try and maintain such a large cross-reference document, especially since I do not have many of the devices in question.

However, I have added a to-do item to EngineDriver to disable/hide items (like Routes) that are known to be unavailable",

I finalised this with:

"It was generous of you to respond back to me and I understand the problem you might have in keeping track of every companies hardware interfaces and how they would interact with your programme! Like you say we’ll have to see if MRC make any updates available.

I’d like to reiterate though that the simplicity of having 3 throttles in one hand, together with labelled functions and a simple swipe to access points still outways any negative issues."

2. I'm still waiting for a call back from Gaugemaster and if it's anything positive I'll post it.

It looks to me like the stop points are set at the required distances according to the amount of travel required up to a max of 5.5mm.

So for your movement of 2mm and with a 5.5mm switch, the distance of the stop point is 3.5mm. So the total distance between the two stoppoints is 9mm

Well I took the plunge, got a decent Android phone (Moto G8) which has a large enough screen to have 3 throttles and functions visable and I can still get it in my pocket when out!

Been playing with the MRC WiFi unit and Engine Driver. Taking a bit of getting used to but have resolved most issues. Overall it looks very good and flexible.

I can add and name locos, and add points and identify them by name also. Where I've come to a halt is on Route setting. Engine Driver is supposed to allow this and the Prodigy holds the details but I can't find anything on screen to let me set up Routes.

If anybodys got any ideas I'd be grateful. 

Thanks, John

Thanks Nigel. I'm a simple phone/text man. I have no interest in social media per se, nor even on the go internet, so I'm only looking at this because:

a) my old nokia is all but falling apart -literally!

b) a wi-fi system gets rid of the cabling which even in my own relatively small home layout environment has problems.

I can live with just identifying locos by Nos - it's what I have now anyway and as long as I've got accessory & route functionality as well I'm happy at that. A £100 phone (needed anyway) +£100 WiFi kit + free software seems a decent package.

Nevertheless I thank you for the additional information so that I know what my options are - exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks to all contibutors. John

Thanks Nigel.

Don't know why I didn't find it before but just been looking at ED website with videos and screenshots. Looks pretty impressive.

Your comments re developments is interesting - I think I'm veering that way.

Thanks John

Ah! That sounds promising. I'm looking for 4 as max but generally 2-3 would suffice. Obviously there will be constraints with space on a screen to make them useable anyway.

Thanks Ian, I'll have a look at Digi trains.

Do I take it that you only get one throttle on Engine Driver?

Hi all,

I'm one of those who are quite late to embrace new technology and have so far resisted upgrading my old Nokia phone. Unfortunately the time has come and I've seen the option that with these smartphones I could set up a wifi connection on Prodigy Advance2 system with the WiFi module. That will give freedom from cabling if nothing else.

Before plunging can anyone extol the virtues of Engine Drivers Android system over the WiThrottle iOS system.

I believe both can run multiple locos at a time but which ones will display multiple throttles and how many. That seems quite useful to avoid toggling.

I appreciate going with Apple probably means a more expensive phone and that of course will be a decision for me to take. Just wondering about the relative software.

Look forward to hearing from you tech savvy folk!

Youchoos sell 2 and 4 pin versions

Blimey! With all this going on it's no wondr sometimes a loco seems to have a mind of it's own

33 minutes ago, kev said:

My old avo 8 gives a good reading on DCC set to AC but the digital meter is all over the place 

 Ditto here. A mate of mine who worked in industry explained these things to me when I couldn't understand the readings from a newly purchased multimeter.

He still had an old Avo and that gave a good reading. I now just use the DMM for taking comparative readings - usually shows around 2.33 and thats enough generally to know that all is well- at least as well as I need it to be.

I think these old Avo's still come up on Ebay, but I was warned that unless they've been calibrated you might not be getting good results and no doubt getting one calibrated would cost a bit.

I sympathise with you.

One thing I've found useful when searching for problems is to go one step at a time and check all works ok before moving onto the next.

Since you've already, or are going to disconnect, all your wiring just go one point at a time and check for problems. That way you'll know that when a fault occurs it's the last thing you did that caused the problem. Hope that helps.

and one with some lighting

and in situ - still some work to do.

I use these for all my points. No problems at all. 

Don't forget to cut the little linking wire if using on solenoids.

Run on a separate 16V supply- I use the Route setting system and will throw several in quick sequence.

1. Remember that most multimeters wont give a true DCC reading. On mine the 16v supply reads as about 3.2 on the handheld multimeter - good enough if I know what to expect and for comparison purposes. Fortunately I have access to an Avometer which reads the correct figures as well - you can pick these up in the second-hand market for a reasonable price - new ones of course are silly money for our purposes.

2. I run the Prodigy A2 system and all the things said I have experienced. Read back can be quite temperamental and sometimes certain decoders just won't play nicely! One other consideration is put the loco directly onto Prog Track and not through any rolling road system which may be limiting the signal. Nevertheless just persevere and check all connections!