Large Scale Central

WiFi Receiver

Electronics Live Steam
#1

I recently ordered some cables and stuff from HobbyKing and noticed they sell an EZC-RC WiFi receiver. This replaces your regular r/c receiver in a loco and operates from your iPhone or Android phone.

As you can tell by the size of the pins, it’s about as big as a regular recvr. Only 4 channels, and no sign of the supplier’s website, so it isn’t clear what future this device has, but they are readily available from several sources. Range is supposed to be about 100m for a plane, 50m (150’) for a car.

The app for your phone is on iTunes but not on Google Play. However, you can download the Android app package using this link (do it on your phone)

http://www.himodel.com/en/info/soft/icPlane.apk.

My Samsung 5 did the download and then asked me if I wanted to install it. It then said my phone was set to not allow installs of apps that didn’t come from Google Play, but I was allowed to override that for one instance. It installed fine. Instruction sheet is at
http://www.himodel.com/en/rc_manuals_url.php?id=408

[Why this stuff is on someone else’s site is worrisome. . . ] There is also a car app with a typical pistol-grip picture but i didn’t think that would help.

Anyway, I plugged in a battery pack and a servo, and my phone found the WiFi network (ezc rc rcvr.) On the back of the rcvr is an 8 digit code key that you enter to connect, and it did. I then fired up the app:

This is how it looks - I was perplexed for a moment or two, then I realized the two circles with white dots are “sticks”. You slide them like ordinary TX sticks. (It can be flipped into mode2 if you want, and the servo movement can be reversed.) The right hand ‘throttle’ stays where you put it, but the other 3 channels (L/R on the rh stick, and all directions on the lh stick) are sprung back to the center. The phone vibrates gently to give you feedback that you moved a ‘stick’. It seemed to work fine and was operational within 10 minutes.

While it is a bit pricier than other receivers, (about $30) you don’t need a transmitter. I’m not sure if it will work for a steam engine if I can’t put it in forward or reverse and have it stay there - but my Spektrum stick TX had that for the first couple of years, until i took it apart and removed the springs. (No chance of doing that on my phone!) I wonder what the battery life will be if I have to keep my finger on the ‘stick’.

My next loco only needs the throttle control, so i will probably try it. Maybe the next generation will be a bit more configurable, and from a reliable source so we can ask for a train version of the app !

#2

Following the comments, and out of curiosity, I loaded the “car” app to see what it did.
Ans: nothing much. Both steering and throttle are self-centered, so the plane app works better for a live steamer.

While checking that, I tried holding my thumb on the direction ‘stick’ and it seemd like it would stay in position as long as my thumb stayed. The vibes as I moved the stick stop when it becomes quiescent

#3

So Theoretically, I could snag a cheap $9 droid phone from Dollar General (or any other used iOS or Droid phone/Tablet) and not have to worry with the old TX units needed for control.

I’m a battery guy and this would help, especially with the Kids locos that all need RC’ing. $30 RX and $9 TX…not too bad (if it’d work)

Thanks for the heads up Pete! it may be something I need to look at

#4

Cale Nelson said:

So Theoretically, I could snag a cheap $9 droid phone from Dollar General (or any other used iOS or Droid phone/Tablet) and not have to worry with the old TX units needed for control.

I’m a battery guy and this would help, especially with the Kids locos that all need RC’ing. $30 RX and $9 TX…not too bad (if it’d work)

Thanks for the heads up Pete! it may be something I need to look at

Cale,

You say you’re a ‘battery guy’ and I take that to mean electric motors and battery power? Not sure you can control a battery/electric using servos. This RX is just like an r/c RX. Whle you can get ESCs (Electronic Speed Controls) designed for r/c cars that plug in like servos [I have one] they do not have reversing.

However, I did see a wonderful reversing servo - it had a DPDT switch taped to the side and the servo arm flipped the switch. That would work for your kids locos.

#5

That looks like something worth trying. Thanks for the info

#6

Pete - Both Tony’s RCS System and Del’s RailBoss use standard servo receivers to control a full featured ESC with direction, lighting and sound control for us sparkie guys - so there is an application here too.

#7

FWIW:

You can indeed purchase ESC’s for brushed motors with FWD/REV functions. Starting at $10.00 or so, they’re aimed at the RC boat/car/truck market. Some don’t offer full power in reverse, for trains you’d likely want an ESC that works equally in either direction.

Michael

#8

Essentially there are two ways to control battery locos with 2.4 GHz Digital Proportional Radios.

Centre OFF which uses just one channel to control both direction and speed.
Low OFF which uses one channel to set the direction and another to control the speed.

Most low cost Centre OFF ESC’s are limited to around 12 volts max and do not have directional lighting outputs or sound triggers built in. Fine if all you want is to control speed and direction.

I know of no low cost ESC’s that can offer the Low OFF method of control. Del makes versions and so do I, and have done for over 26 years now.

Deltang is a newcomer to Large Scale but does offer a value for money, very small combined RX/ESC that can handle 3 amps up to 18 volts. The RX/ESC can be programmed for either Low OFF or Centre OFF control. There are built in directional lighting outputs and sound triggers.

Soon they will also have two servo outputs for controlling front and rear Kadee servo un-couplers.

#9

I had the opportunity today to test the Doodlebug with the wifi rcvr installed at Dr Rivet’s steamup. It worked as advertised - connected to my phone as soon as I turned it on, and allowed me to control the servo. I could even go and check email and return to the app without losing control.

Range was incredible - across the layout, so 200’+. Very satisfactory.