Aristo Revolution system your thoughts and experience

[beavercreek]

There is, by the way, a very interesting thread on an open source WiFi implementation project on the German Spassbahn Forum (if you can read German):

http://www.spassbahn.de/forum/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=9 < Link To http://www.spassbahn.de/f...=Thread&threadID=9

Very long, very technical, but possibly the future.

I saw the implementation of using an iPhone to control a dcc loco using wifi. It still was using track power and a command station. It would not be too much of a quantum leap to put a wifi receiver in a loco (provided there was enough power as they are very power hingry) and be able to control it directly with track or battery. I am sure that wifi chips will developed that need a low power source.
Wi-Fi security on our layouts may become an issue!
Imagine your loco being hacked into my an unscrpulous neighbour and hin sending it headlong through the buffers

 

[bunnyrabbit03]

Yes, I run my layout via WiFi and Lenz DCC (you can use iPhone, iPad, Android Phone, laptop etc.), so this is (simply) a more comfortable and cheaper way to run your DCC layout.

For the spassbahn.de project that I mentioned before it does not matter if your power comes from the rail or from batteries, you always connect via WiFi to the receiver in the loco. There is no need for a base station and as people will have increasingly smart phones anyway, there would be no need to buy expensive and/or proprietary controllers (be it Aristocraft, Massoth, LGB etc.).

 

[beavercreek]

Very very interesting....


Tony was posting about his idea in the control section of the forum. It would be very very cheap and also able to run any manufacturer's locos Using electronic bits that are available now....only thing would be to be able to miniaturise them a bit more........

I would love to hear more about the iPad/ipod control of the DCC can this work with Massoth?

 

[Tony]

Ive done a quick video but that will take time to up load here are all the extra bits inside my Mikado to make it run on Battery and Revo

The battery pack 21.6v 3300 Ma is proberly overkill but ive had over 3 hours running with no sign of quiting its fitted to the tender with the socket and switch accessable though the water tank filled flap...
You then have the Revo chip and its mounting block with fuse's....and the black and white leads which go to the link button (this is on the wall of the cab) you press this button along with the link button on your controler to link them together (there is a button on the chip) but the extension button is handy if you chip is hidden away
You then have a Dallee sound card which plugs into the Revo and a smoke switch this is needed for powering lights and smoke as the Revo only works in milly amps
I tried to link 2 controlers to one loco and couldnt get it to work.... i tried linking the second while the first was linked and the new one overrid the first then i tried linking them both at the same time but one linked ok but was overrided by the second so i dont know how it can be done but surely its not important ....why would you want 2 people controling the same loco

Video to follow

tony

 

[bunnyrabbit03]

Very very interesting....


Tony was posting about his idea in the control section of the forum. It would be very very cheap and also able to run any manufacturer's locos Using electronic bits that are available now....only thing would be to be able to miniaturise them a bit more........

I would love to hear more about the iPad/ipod control of the DCC can this work with Massoth?

Yes, it does work with Massoth. You simply plug your PC into your Dimax base station and via software such as Rocrail (www.rocrail.net), which is open source and free, you can then control your layout via a WiFi device through your PC. The PC acts as a server in this case, so it always has to be on. There are several wireless clients for Rocrail, depending on your wireless device (iPod, iPhone, Android phone etc.).

If your base station is in the garden and your PC in the house, you would need a USB/Ethernet converter to turn the USB port on the newer Dimax base station into an ethernet port and then connect it to a WLAN router, which in turn connects to your WiFi network and through that to your PC in the house. Lenz produces an USB/Ethernet interface that simply plugs into their XPressNet port, hence there it is more straightforward.

Touchcab (www.touchcab.com), by contrast, connects directly to your base station and therefore does not need a PC as a server, but only runs on iPods/iPads/iPhones and currently only works with Lenz and ESU.

Ultimately, systems such as this are cheaper, because you do not have to buy, for example, a Massoth Navigator and wireless receiver. You buy the base station and then run it with whatever wireless device you want. Being WiFi, the range is also easier (and cheaper) to extent and Rocrail, for example, enables you to build virtual layouts etc. that are then displayed on your screen.

 

[beavercreek]

Ultimately, systems such as this are cheaper, because you do not have to buy, for example, a Massoth Navigator and wireless receiver. You buy the base station and then run it with whatever wireless device you want. Being WiFi, the range is also easier (and cheaper) to extent and Rocrail, for example, enables you to build virtual layouts etc. that are then displayed on your screen.

And if you use the new massoth DC300 board (when available) it will do away with the need for the command station but what would be the implication for trying to use wifi? I expect at the moment you would need to have a trailing car with power supply (if running battery) for the hungry wifi device or have it powered from the track. At some time wifi devices may be included as add-ons for DCC chips and also be less power hungry.

Saw Cliff's layout that he had created for the North Essex G Scale Society meet today at Roxwell. He is using computer or pad to control his Lenz equipment. Very successfully and it will only be a small step to completely wifi into each individual loco with no command station at all.

 

[bunnyrabbit03]

Hi Mike,

The Massoth board - the way I understand the set-up - will require a Massoth Navigator to work, so there is the expense of buying that.

You are right of course, it is only a matter of time until a WiFi solution becomes available at a reasonable price that is likely to replace DCC as we know it today.