Vincent,
It’s not the battery. I would remove the speaker in your fuel tank which right underneath their board. Also, airwire splits 8 - 900mhz frequencies into the 853mhz band width, which is their “low power” idea for saving the AA batteries in the transmitter? Not sure why? But, if you someone turned on this option, that also could be why your getting 20ft. range?
But, I would remove the speaker and/or change the TX to the highest frequency and test again.
Vincent D’Agostino said:
Thanks everyone for the replies.
As far as the battery goes, I am simply repeating what was said to me by the people manning the AirWire booth at this years ECLSTS.
No, I don’t remember their names, rank and serial number… just repeating what I was told
Let me just say that (like with my beloved New England Patriots) It is more probable then not that I myself am the cause of my poor reception range. I am sure once I get a chance to open the locomotive I will probably find the antenna laying flat on the chassis or tangled up in some of the wires.
After all, this was my first attempt at a install… I was generally happy that I installed it and it worked!
The battery is installed over the rear truck as it was shown that way in the instructions.
I don’t believe it is getting interference from any other device as I have tried the locomotive on (3) different layouts with the same results.
Hopefully this weekend I get a chance to open it up and look around at it and see what is up.
Just remember…the folks who told you this were the same ones who told everyone that they could control 999 trains from their transmitter…and folks believed them…until we pointed out (at first) it was 8 trains in a display hall max, all scales, including wireless CVP dcc for those small scales…and then folks went to those same guys and asked…no, 999…but HOW MANY TRAINS AT ONCE?.
Ummmm…Ohhh…Geeez…Ahhhhhhh…eight
Rockwall Canyon RR has given itself radio rights to three of these AW frequencies in New Hampshire (via squatters rights). Railroad police have been instructed to monitor the airwaves. Free beverages will be denied to offenders.
Hi Jeff, I am glad I was using the RailLinx system as we are above AW frequencies. Is that why I was able to keep my drinks and a brownie?(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Don
The way we confirmed this many years ago was to actually hold a battery pack in one hand, accelerate the loco slowly, and you could feel the slight vibration in the battery. Wasn’t the battery, rather the freq of the PW.
20 feet, huh? I should dig out an old RCS 27MC unit…you could easily triple your range…
TOC
Vincent, I have probably done about 50 Airwire conversions through the years. When I test a new one I walk about 175’ down my driveway where I can still see the loco. I should still be able to run it from there. I did have one conversion some time ago that only had about 50’ range. Went through all the usual checks. Still bad. Swapped out the decoder and all was ok. Called CVP and sent the old one to them. The receiver portion on the decoder turned out to be defective. It’s a long shot for sure but it does happen. You have 16 frequencies to choose from. Have you tried another one yet?
So after having a fantastic dinner of about 100 steamed little necks (sure is nice living near the ocean and knowing a lot of people that go clamming!)
I figured I would get my lazy butt down stairs and open up the GP38 and see what was going on, sure enough my recollection of how I thought I had the antenna placed and what it actually looked like when I pulled the shell off were… well lets say they were way off!
While I had the shell off I figured I would go back through my install and neaten up everything the best I could. After just a few minutes of tinkering around I ended up with a much better install then I had. I was going to sleeve the antenna with a plastic antenna whip but I didn’t have any left over from my R/C racing days that I could easily find, but I did manage to get the antenna to point straight up from the board and NOT get interfered with any other wires while closing it back up.
Did a quick test in the basement and could already tell it was much better then before so I ran upstairs to grab my shoes and headed out to the track.
From standing in my normal operating spot I could easily get the loco to respond to any command I gave it no matter where it was on the layout (was not able to do that before). Then I went up on our deck (2nd floor level) and again operated the train flawless from that location, which is very good news because this is where Penny & I usually can be found during the summer while the trains are running.
Last test I did was go clear across my back yard and had the train at its furthest point on the layout that I could still see (approx. 100-110’) and again it was still receiving commands… or at least forward & reverse, I was too far away to hear if the horn was still sounding.
So as I expected it turned out to be something I had done, there is no issue with the battery (never thought there was), no issue with a damaged board… just a poor *ss install job by someone who didn’t have a clue what he was doing, I’m fired!
Oh well, at least I now have a MUCH better understanding of what to do… and not to do on my next install!
Ah c’mon Vinny. Hire him back now. It won’t happen again. He promised. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Vin when are we going to have a meet at your house i love little necks! O and good job on the install.
have fun
richard
Vincent you do not know haw many times I have fired David. Before anyone gets upset, I mean me.He can be a real bonehead sometimes. But then he does come up with a gem every once in a while. Besides, he is the only one who truly understands me. Vincent, I think you will find Vincent is that sort of guy for you.
Happens to the best of us. Its never happened to me, mind you, but then, I’m not among the best of us. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Richard Beverly said:
Vin when are we going to have a meet at your house i love little necks! O and good job on the install.
have fun
richard
I can get fresh little necks just about everyday, straight from the bay to our table! Usually every Wednesday in the summer is little neck night at our house.
When I get my track all leveled (hopefully this weekend) if you and your wife want to take a drive out some weekend I will make sure we have some here!
Glad to here you got that ironed out. Now for your lumber Jack.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
