RC seems quite an expensive item though some baseline fixes like RC cars are sometimes shown, but they seem to have limits.

[Steve Manners]

Until now I have limited myself to building on Playmobil motor blocks but I only need so many 0-4-0 locos. I have just bought an 0-6-0 Piko motor block from Topslots and noticed they sell a Piko RC unit with key fob control and 8 channels.
The PIKO technical stuff about it on their website is all line diagrams, hard to follow. Has anyone used the PIKO motor block with the Piko RC setup? If so could they post some photos of a practical hook up please?
I don't know why Piko don't show a practical "wire up" for their 2 items there must be a massive market for build onto it yourself RC motor blocks at about £130!

 

[dunnyrail]

Until now I have limited myself to building on Playmobil motor blocks but I only need so many 0-4-0 locos. I have just bought an 0-6-0 Piko motor block from Topslots and noticed they sell a Piko RC unit with key fob control and 8 channels.
The PIKO technical stuff about it on their website is all line diagrams, hard to follow. Has anyone used the PIKO motor block with the Piko RC setup? If so could they post some photos of a practical hook up please?
I don't know why Piko don't show a practical "wire up" for their 2 items there must be a massive market for build onto it yourself RC motor blocks at about £130!

There appear to be quite a few tutorials on YouTube that may help. It may be me but cant find the Piko tech stuff, can you link it please?

 

[Steve Manners]

Hi I got the PIKO technichal info from Piko America. It seems to be the same as the German site but in English. On Youtube I just put in Piko RC and got about 3 videos, none of the exactly what I wanted.
john sent me a simplified wiring diagram via GSC / email. I think it's recommended you add a heat sink so I'll be looking for a way to do that too.

 

[dunnyrail]

Hi I got the PIKO technichal info from Piko America. It seems to be the same as the German site but in English. On Youtube I just put in Piko RC and got about 3 videos, none of the exactly what I wanted.
john sent me a simplified wiring diagram via GSC / email. I think it's recommended you add a heat sink so I'll be looking for a way to do that too.

Ok not really the answer I was looking for but after a lot of searching I discovered that to find the break down you look on the Loco on the US Site, then scroll down to the end of all the waffle then there is an “Instructions/Parts List” to click on. Very useful once you have found it but only the breakdown and parts list, no instructions! Hm.... Still I only wanted the parts lists.

 

[Rhinochugger]

One of the ways to reduce the cost of RC, is to use equipment that uses DSM2 protocol. In this way at an absolutely basic level, if you are simply using one loco at a time, you can use one Transmitter for up to about ten locos.

There are, of course, plenty of more costly, advanced set-ups, and it is all a question of how complex you want your operation to be. I have two basic Deltang Txs, which I use with about six different locos. The locos have different Rx arrangements, some using combined Rx/ESCs (which again, save on overall cost) and some which have separate ESCs.

Again, adding sound features will increase the cost, and I have a few locos fitted with Mylocosound cards and these are separately controlled by the Mylocosound remote TV controller.

So, it's probably worth comparing the Piko equipment with the likes of RC Trains or Fosworks to check the overall cost.

 

[dunnyrail]

One of the ways to reduce the cost of RC, is to use equipment that uses DSM2 protocol. In this way at an absolutely basic level, if you are simply using one loco at a time, you can use one Transmitter for up to about ten locos.

There are, of course, plenty of more costly, advanced set-ups, and it is all a question of how complex you want your operation to be. I have two basic Deltang Txs, which I use with about six different locos. The locos have different Rx arrangements, some using combined Rx/ESCs (which again, save on overall cost) and some which have separate ESCs.

Again, adding sound features will increase the cost, and I have a few locos fitted with Mylocosound cards and these are separately controlled by the Mylocosound remote TV controller.

So, it's probably worth comparing the Piko equipment with the likes of RC Trains or Fosworks to check the overall cost.

When I started with Fosworks it was one RX one Loco, but now that they have a Selecta system with 10 possible Locomotives that has reduced the cost considerably for any future locs that I batterificate. I also have a Deltang Tx with currently 5 locomotives controlled from it again with the Selecta Rotary Switch. Of course the down side is with visitors one has to have more than 1 Tx and the multiple Selacta option can be a bit limiting if the locos that different friends want to drive are on the same Tx, but I can live with that if I go for a other Fosworks Selecta Tx.

 

[Rhinochugger]

When I started with Fosworks it was one RX one Loco, but now that they have a Selecta system with 10 possible Locomotives that has reduced the cost considerably for any future locs that I batterificate. I also have a Deltang Tx with currently 5 locomotives controlled from it again with the Selecta Rotary Switch. Of course the down side is with visitors one has to have more than 1 Tx and the multiple Selacta option can be a bit limiting if the locos that different friends want to drive are on the same Tx, but I can live with that if I go for a other Fosworks Selecta Tx.

That's my point - you don't need to go to the cost of selecta. With DSM2, a single Tx can be paired with up to nine or ten (I forget) Rxs.

Sure, you have to physically stop the first loco, park it up in a siding or whatever, before running the next one, but in pure cost terms, this, as I said, is a way to go basic and cheap.

Obviously it will depend on your railway/railroad, it's complexities, and the way you choose to operate it, but the starting point of the thread was cost.

 

[JimmyB]

That's my point - you don't need to go to the cost of selecta. With DSM2, a single Tx can be paired with up to nine or ten (I forget) Rxs.

Sure, you have to physically stop the first loco, park it up in a siding or whatever, before running the next one, but in pure cost terms, this, as I said, is a way to go basic and cheap.

Obviously it will depend on your railway/railroad, it's complexities, and the way you choose to operate it, but the starting point of the thread was cost.

As you point out the Tx binds and remembers a number of Rxs, and the Rx switched on then connects to the Tx.

 

[PhilP]

No, you have that the wrong way round :

A (basic) transmitter tells the receiver it's UID when the two are bound..

You can bind as many Rx as you like to the transmitter..

The receivers have a certain amount of memory set aside for binding information, and can be bound to a number of Transmitters. - How many, depends on the software and memory allocated in the receiver.

PhilP

 

[Rhinochugger]

No, you have that the wrong way round :

Would that be a volte face ?

 

[Gizzy]

Until now I have limited myself to building on Playmobil motor blocks but I only need so many 0-4-0 locos. I have just bought an 0-6-0 Piko motor block from Topslots and noticed they sell a Piko RC unit with key fob control and 8 channels.
The PIKO technical stuff about it on their website is all line diagrams, hard to follow. Has anyone used the PIKO motor block with the Piko RC setup? If so could they post some photos of a practical hook up please?
I don't know why Piko don't show a practical "wire up" for their 2 items there must be a massive market for build onto it yourself RC motor blocks at about £130!

I fitted the Piko Remote to a Piko Clean machine.

Piko 35040 R/C Pocket Remote Upgrade to Piko 38501 GE 25T 'Clean Machine'

I, or rather Mizzy, owns one of the Piko 'Clean Machine' battery powered locos. It's ideal for layouts with continuous circuits, but our layout is a 'out and back' to a terminus one. The control is a simple forward/off/reverse switch under the cab, with no speed control. Piko later brought...

www.gscalecentral.net

The RC pcbs replaced the existing ones inside the cab. The instructions were included in the RC kit.

I guess as you brought a chassis only then you would have to find a space or place somewhere to put the pcbs....

 

[AustrianNG]

I installed the Piko RC in a Stainz.
It wasn't too difficult. If you zoom in on the pics, it should be plain enough.

I would warn you though - the frequency that it transmits on gets interrupted by WIFI and the loco stops without warning.

The 2 white wires are direct track power to the smoke unit.

 

[Rhinochugger]

I would warn you though - the frequency that it transmits on gets interrupted by WIFI and the loco stops without warning.

That's one of the advantages of the DSM2 protocol - the devices have to be 'paired', but once paired, connection cannot be interrupted even if the signal is lost for a time.

This is what provides for the 'cruise control' effect that we were debating in another thread. The cruise control is, in fact, a useful by-product of the pairing arrangement. With a long, uninterrupted circuit, I use it a lot as it means that I can switch the Tx off and save the battery, while the train runs round and round for an hour or two

 

[AustrianNG]

That's one of the advantages of the DSM2 protocol - the devices have to be 'paired', but once paired, connection cannot be interrupted even if the signal is lost for a time.

This is what provides for the 'cruise control' effect that we were debating in another thread. The cruise control is, in fact, a useful by-product of the pairing arrangement. With a long, uninterrupted circuit, I use it a lot as it means that I can switch the Tx off and save the battery, while the train runs round and round for an hour or two

Indeed. I have another battery powered Stainz with the more conventional RC unit which never gets interrupted - plus as a Billy Bonus, if I turn the controller off, the loco continues at the same speed.

 

[Rhinochugger]

Indeed. I have another battery powered Stainz with the more conventional RC unit which never gets interrupted - plus as a Billy Bonus, if I turn the controller off, the loco continues at the same speed.

Yep, that's the cruise control - there was a healthy debate on another thread as to whether the cruise control was in the Rx or the ESC, and I think the truth is that it depends on the equipment you are using.

 

[Tony Walsham]

If you are using a separate Rx and ESC, first of all you need an Rx that does not have a failsafe built in.
Many low end 2.4 GHz Rx's have them fitted and they cannot be disabled.
Better quality Rx's have it switchable. In or out. Some are even settable for what happens when the Rx signal is lost.
My RCS basic 2.4 GHz Rx's are supplied by Xenon to me disabled.
The failsafe remains disabled even when they are loaded with my servo programmable operating program.
If the servo signal to the ESC is still the same, the ESC will respond and still keep going at whatever speed it was set to before the Rx servo signal was lost.
In which case it is not necessary to use an ESC with built in "cruise". Any ESC will work.

 

[dunnyrail]

No, you have that the wrong way round :

A (basic) transmitter tells the receiver it's UID when the two are bound..

You can bind as many Rx as you like to the transmitter..

The receivers have a certain amount of memory set aside for binding information, and can be bound to a number of Transmitters. - How many, depends on the software and memory allocated in the receiver.

PhilP

So Incan have every one of my Locomotives Rx bound to the same TX, but I can really only drive one at a time during Timetable Operating Sessions, the others must be turned off thus no sound? Not quite what I want as a loco should be hissing or burbling when stationary.

 

[PhilP]

So Incan have every one of my Locomotives Rx bound to the same TX, but I can really only drive one at a time during Timetable Operating Sessions, the others must be turned off thus no sound? Not quite what I want as a loco should be hissing or burbling when stationary.

Correct.
But your requirements are not for a basic, cheap system.

 

[Rhinochugger]

So Incan have every one of my Locomotives Rx bound to the same TX, but I can really only drive one at a time during Timetable Operating Sessions, the others must be turned off thus no sound? Not quite what I want as a loco should be hissing or burbling when stationary.

Correct.
But your requirements are not for a basic, cheap system.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say - Selecta is fine for you, for your railway, and the way that you operate your railway, and will be fine for people with similar needs

 

[JimmyB]

So all my Tx/Rx are deltang type, and I have a Selecta Tx, however I do find trying to run 2 locos at the same time quite difficult on my single track railway, but I can "park" 1 loco and leave the sound running, and then drive off a different loco.