My BlueRail board just showed up (having ordered it, er, Wednesday?) I connected a 9v battery to the power leads, and it instantly showed up in the phone app. There are a bunch of configuration options Ill play with once I get this in a locomotive.
Bob McCown said:
My BlueRail board just showed up (having ordered it, er, Wednesday?) I connected a 9v battery to the power leads, and it instantly showed up in the phone app. There are a bunch of configuration options Ill play with once I get this in a locomotive.
Playing with it a bit more. Sounds come through the phone, and they’re not bad. There are a bunch of settings for sounds you can mess with. The app seems pretty intuitive.
So, you tape the phone to the loco for the sounds? (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
Is he going to make a version where the phone transmits the sounds to the decoder? Seems that should be pretty simple.
Greg
Greg Elmassian said:
So, you tape the phone to the loco for the sounds? (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
Is he going to make a version where the phone transmits the sounds to the decoder? Seems that should be pretty simple.
Greg
On his website he shows a little $10 bluetooth speaker that he sticks in a stock car, and the sound comes out of it. Thinking about this, I have a nifty bluetooth speaker that we use for stereo at home, that would fit in most locomotives.
Greg Elmassian said:
So, you tape the phone to the loco for the sounds? (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
Is he going to make a version where the phone transmits the sounds to the decoder? Seems that should be pretty simple.
Greg
Never underestimate the power of duct tape.
The board has an expansion port which is eventually intended to support on-board sound.
sounds great, have to investigate myself.
Very nice web site and full of information. A great start. Especially like the part about testing stall current.
Also, not only has BEMF, but lets you tune all 3 parameters. Should not be any loco that cannot be tuned to run very well. If he comes out with a high current version, it would probably run those dang Pittman motors that are so finicky. Will be interested to see how he handles free-rolling locos because they have give most BEMF systems fits.
The thing I see as a serious limitation is sound. He uses the LP Bluetooth protocol, which cannot transmit sound (usually). Chuff synchronization will be tough, since it would have to transmit a chuff sensor reading back to the throttle in the current incarnation. Of course you could use an inexpensive sound board in the loco, but then the cost doubles per loco and comes into line with DCC.
But still, the inexpensive bluetooth receiver and motor driver is a great concept and is quite a cost savings especially if you do not count the cost of the smart phone.
Greg
This sure stinks. I have been considering getting a Revo for months now and use it for sound and battery RC control or track power in my diesels.
I had planned on getting a Revo base station to run my other engines that would remain track powered.
Now the big question is what can be used in its place that is not too expensive yet offers nice features like the Revo had?
I guess I will be using my old TE for the foreseeable future.
Well Todd, you are on the right thread, because your question is the majority of the posts now it seems.
There is nothing that fills that niche exactly. Maybe the Bluerail and a $80 sound card like mylocosound.
That’s about the functionality and the sound.
The one thing that is not in Bluerail is consisting, and also the price is a little deceptive, since you need a good smart phone with a large screen, so it’s either a lot more expensive including the phone, or about the same price neglecting the cell phone cost.
You can go either up or down in features and price from there. If you want features like the Revo, you need to go to the AirWire in my opinion and choose the DCC decoder of your choice.
There is definitely nothing as inexpensive as the Revo with all the same features.
Greg
If the Revo was so inexpensive and in theory the go to system for battery R/C, why did it ultimately fail in the market place?
Considering the old TE stuff is obsolete but still available on the used market, I’d bet the Revolution stuff will likewise be available on the used market as well for quite some time. (I seem to recall someone having a trackside unit in the classifieds. Make him an offer! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif))
Seriously, there’s nothing on the market that’s a direct replacement for it, so you either don’t upgrade and wait (and wait) for something to come along, or you grab one of the systems while they’re still in stock at the dealers and go for it. Sure, there’s no longer factory support for it. Guess what–we’re all in that same boat whether we bought the system 7 minutes or 7 years ago. That buys you time for a new system to be developed, and you’ll have upgraded your current technology in the mean time.
No different, really, then buying new-old-stock or used Aristo. The lack of factory support doesn’t mean the stuff doesn’t work. It just means you’re going to have to keep your eyes open on the used market and buy things as they come available. I’d be willing to bet you’re going to find a few folks starting to upgrade their Revolution stuff to Airwire DCC, at which point you’ll likely find folks selling their receivers and sound systems connected to them at fairly good prices. (See above…)
Later,
K
Greg, I am not sure that airwire yet has a 6 amp output for the larger decoders and the specs I read added a resistor on the DCC output for current limiting on he older DCC output which was OK for sound only DCC systems.
Perhaps there is a newer DCC driver available to do this.
Also, like the revo, no readback of values which DCC systems can do.
Airwire and RCS are improving, but not enough yet for me.
Hurry up someone…call Lewis and buy the rights to the system and start producing…looks like a lot of people out there will buy it if it is kept in production, and developed as “Promised” long ago…!!
I sure like my REVO system. I am looking for another Xmitter/controller to have as a backup
. Haven’t seen any on Evilbay lately though.
I use the older non sound boards in my locos with various sound cards.
I bought nine revo receivers at ECLSTS a few years ago at a bargain price, so Ill stick with Revo for as long as I can.
Bill
I currently operate eight revo locos. (still have four receivers as backups)
Yeah Dan, don’t think AirWire has the universal solution, the Convertr is 2.5 amp continuous… but the Tam Valley dead rail system will do 5 amps and the receiver that powers the DCC decoder is $90, so right now a better way to go than AirWire in my opinion.
Also remember you can pick ANY DCC control system, NCE, Digitrax, etc, with their throttles and the only proprietary parts are the dead rail transmitter, and the dead rail receivers in each loco.
Now you have a system that gives you even more choices in throttles, and decoders in the locos. Since you don’t need any track power, your DCC system can be low power and low voltage… boom, you can buy something inexpensive that was designed for HO.
Greg
Tony Walsham said:
If the Revo was so inexpensive and in theory the go to system for battery R/C, why did it ultimately fail in the market place?
Remember the old saying, “build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door”? I don’t know what things were like back when that saying was minted, but nowadays inventing a better anything is just the first step and no guarantee of success.
No matter what you create, no matter how great it is or what need it meets, you still need the right financing, the right manufacturing, the right distribution system, the right marketing and advertising, etc. And even if you have all your ducks in a row and the greatest product in the world, you still might fail because, generally speaking, people are irrational and often don’t choose the best product.
Greg Elmassian said:
Yeah Dan, don’t think AirWire has the universal solution, the Convertr is 2.5 amp continuous… but the Tam Valley dead rail system will do 5 amps and the receiver that powers the DCC decoder is $90, so right now a better way to go than AirWire in my opinion.
Also remember you can pick ANY DCC control system, NCE, Digitrax, etc, with their throttles and the only proprietary parts are the dead rail transmitter, and the dead rail receivers in each loco.
Now you have a system that gives you even more choices in throttles, and decoders in the locos. Since you don’t need any track power, your DCC system can be low power and low voltage… boom, you can buy something inexpensive that was designed for HO.
Greg
Greg,
Interesting idea. I took a look at the Tam Valley Page and it sounds pretty nifty (although I have not yet bought their book). One of the things I liked about the Revolution was NOT having to worry about CV - it was all driven by a menu system. Are there any DCC systems that operate in a similar way?
Greg, never mind. I was looking at the wrong section of your web site. I am reading the DCC section now.
Ray Dunakin said:
Tony Walsham said:
If the Revo was so inexpensive and in theory the go to system for battery R/C, why did it ultimately fail in the market place?
Remember the old saying, “build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door”? I don’t know what things were like back when that saying was minted, but nowadays inventing a better anything is just the first step and no guarantee of success.
No matter what you create, no matter how great it is or what need it meets, you still need the right financing, the right manufacturing, the right distribution system, the right marketing and advertising, etc. And even if you have all your ducks in a row and the greatest product in the world, you still might fail because, generally speaking, people are irrational and often don’t choose the best product.
That is so true Ray and in this case add in affordability and ease of install and ease of use. There are many fine alternatives to the Revo on the market but the costs are more especially when you figure in adding the sound board which the Revo already had. Yes the sounds were generic but for many of us that was good enough.
For newer Aristo locos the Revo was a plug and play and for others like USAT engines there were add ons to make them P&P.
The ease of use on the Revo was very attractive VS a complicated DCC system and the new cell phone app controls that people are trying. I like to keep things simple on my RR.
It seemed that many people did use the Revo and most had good experiences with it. Engines have even been showing up in the used market that have revo installed. It is a shame that the Revo is being discontinued because it filled a niche for many average modellers but being a niche within a niche market is a tough thing to carry on and be profitable.
Tony Walsham said:
If the Revo was so inexpensive and in theory the go to system for battery R/C, why did it ultimately fail in the market place?
I’ll speak about my own experience.
First, what I have: I own two Revo transmitters, and six receivers. Three of those are sound.
I bought a system when they first came out, because they were of a modern design, had great range, and backed by a large company. When they announced the sound receivers, I jumped on, because they promised “These are generic sounds, but they’ll be programmable soon”. Soon turned out to be “By this date”. That date went by with the excuse of “we dont have the hardware quite right, definitely by this date” Well, that date went by with a “We dont have good sound files, but we will soon, stay tuned”. Around that point I stopped buying receivers, despite needing several more, and put any kind of locomotive upgrading on hold. Three York shows promised “By the end of the summer”, and then the last one was “beginning of this summer”. For me that shows an incredible contempt for your client base. Somewhere around the “we dont have good sound files” I stopped buying, despite needing a couple more TX and several more RX.