On Sunday morning just gone, I and thirty other guys had the pleasure of listening to a presentation by Davy Dick. Davy is a very prolific electronics designer, forum contributor, and presenter from MERG (Model Electronics Railway Group) in the UK. Davy is from the West of Scotland Area Group and was out here on holidays at the Sunshine Coast. One of the Brisbane MERG members was able to coax him down to Brisbane for a few hours to meet other MERG members and present a talk on train detection methods.
He then stayed around to give advice to the meeting on how best to setup a MERG Area Group in South East Queensland (SEQ). He was a very nice guy to talk to, his accent was not that bad. I even offered him a Scotch Finger biscuit at morning tea, but with a confused look on his face, he politely declined. I had to smirk!
This week I am concentrating on trying to get the Edimax wifi dongle (micro type) working on the Pi, and if I have time perhaps put together one of the many building kits I have stored away, just for something different to do.
So what has been happening since my last post?
I was looking into Mr Mackie's layout comms to determine whether a wireless solution could be found. As most people have access to a smartphone of some description and these have wifi connectivity, I thought what better place to start than with something that is not going to cost you anything.
I set myself some loose parameters in determining what to rule in or out.
1) Is there an app either on Android or iPhone that could be used (sorry I have no idea about Microsoft smartphones)?
2) The app needed to be reasonably priced or free
3) The app had to be able to work in a private wifi LAN (i.e. not connected to the Internet)
4) It had to be easy to setup
5) Smallish storage footprint
The basic intention was to utilise a private wifi LAN to connect the smartphones to so that communication between operators of a layout could occur. For instance at exhibitions, at a large layout operating session, at a club, or anywhere that such 'private' communications would be required.
For my wifi LAN I utilised my Raspberry Pi as a wifi access point (see article elsewhere on how to set this up). Other people could set up there own private wifi LANs by using other devices. The range is purely dependent on your wifi access point's coverage.
After a number of weeks of part-time research I have come to the final recommendation of Android apps to use. Unfortunately I have no iThingy experience in this. There were some apps that could be used for both types of OS, but these needed Internet connectivity as the 'server' was online.
Apps researched
Zello - no good as logon requires access to the 'Zello' server via the Internet
Voxer - same Internet requirements as Zello
Tikl - needs access to Internet server. Needs access to phone or Facebook Contacts
WiFi Walkie Talkie - can unicast or broadcast but you need to know the IP address of each connected device. No 'Contact' or 'Connected/Visible' address book. Difficult to use
Wifi Intercom - needs a 'Contact' list for network but doesn't tell you how to do it. May not broadcast, only point to point.
WiFi Talkie - user interface not visually nice. Difficult to use
Wi-Fi Talkie Lite - immature user interface. No apparent 'Talk' feature
Virtual Walkie Talkie - this was one of the final two contenders.
- This app can be used both on public and private networks.
- For private networks it has the ability of either setting one of the connected devices as the master with an inbuilt server or set up a PC or Linux machine as the server. I tried setting up the Linux server on the Raspberry Pi but I was having problems. Might just be me so I can't comment on this aspect but it wouldn't be a show stopper.
- The user interface resembles a walkie talkie and you can select different channels to converse on. Might be handy for group defined channels i.e. central controller, yard controller, specific loco chat, or at exhibitions for different locations or people?
- It has a small storage footprint of 778k
- It requires Android 1.5 or above to use, so a good chance you could get an older Android device second hand if you do not have one readily available, or you want to carry a small amount for group usage
Android Intercom - this is the other final contender
- Can work in both private and public networks
- Easy to setup, no need to identify a master inbuilt server as it discovers who is on the network
- Requires storage footprint of 1.4M
- requires Android 2.1 and above
- sometime experienced an echo during testing but I wasn't sure what the cause of this was. Could be feedback between devices if to close together or the speed of the network wasn't fast enough, or there where to many concurrent conversations happening which delayed transmissions or repeated transmissions.
- it might just come down to setting some basic rules around correct radio etiquette!
So my recommendations at this point in time would be either Android Intercom or Virtual Walkie Talkie, in no particular order. Just give them a rty and see what works best.
I haven't had a chance to test in an operating session and also with JMRI Engine Driver running on the same device to see if this is an easy thing to switch between or if it becomes a pain in the @rse!
One good thing in my opinion is that it allows walking around without constantly plugging in. If you are using PC headsets you can get an adapter cable that brings the two ends together into one so that this can be plugged into a smartphone if the usual smartphone ear buds/microphone are not available. The other possible thing you could do would be to utilise a bluetooth earpiece (with microphone) that is paired with the smartphone in question. Thus no cable dangling around your person, just pure wireless connectivity.
So I think I will leave this for now and maybe test at the next running session at Mr Mackie's to see if it is a valid solution or not.
The other things I actually did on the weekend were I ran the VR Walker railmotor on the club layout and it went very smoothly. I also started to do some work on the Bray MPD side of the layout as this has not started apart from the track being laid. I have yet to finish the Kensington Hill side of the layout but I need a change for the moment.
I haven't got anywhere near the 73 Class!
Well hopefully that has filled in the gap since the last post?
Well not much happened in the way of modelling over the Xmas-NY fortnight I had on leave. The family had other ideas and a few chores to do around the house while I had the time.
I ordered and received three books from Amazon on kit and scratchbuilding (loco, rollingstock and country buildings), two of which were written by George Dent from Model Rail magazine fame, so there is a start for the new year! Yet to read them though.
The one priority job I have vowed to finish first though is the completion of the 73 class loco which has been sitting on the workbench looking pretty but not much else! I reckon if I can't get the wiring sorted and placed correctly then this may be a 'bridge to far'.
I'm also going to seriously look into JMRI panel control as well integration with the Raspberry Pi.
So better not put too much on the modelling new year's resolutions list just in case I don't get there.
Auscision duly replied to my email advising that I should of returned the unit to the place of purchase for a replacement, as was their policy. Pretty silly when you think about it. Mike at DCC Sound found the factory fault and fixed it for me for no cost. Under Auscision's policy, I should of advised Mike to stop work. Pack it up. I pay for postage to South Australia back to Orient Express Models, then have them check to see if it was a factory fault. And then, if it was and if they had another one of the same model in stock send that one back to Mike for continuance with the decoder install. If they didn't have the same model in stock, they would have had to get one in from Auscision, who would have had to pay postage to Orient. Does this sound logical? I don't.
I can't fault the customer service of Mike at DCC Sound. Similarly Orient Express have been good to me in the past. But Auscision's customer service has a lot to be desired!
So the railmotor arrived last week. I have only been able to test it briefly on the programming track as I have stuff all over one side of my layout in temporary storage. I might be able to shift some of it around and get it operating over the Xmas break. I could only hear one of the speakers working, so not sure if the other one has a problem, kicks in at higher speeds, or something else. Anyway the more important thing was that the decoder didn't blow!
Well that's it for this week.
I wish all my blog readers a very Merry Christmas and safe 2014.
Since the last post Mike Walters at DCC Sound advised me that ESU (Loksound) had advised that it was the sound amp on the chip that blew. He suggested a number of possibilities but the best thing would be to send the model and decoder back to him and he would look into what had caused the problem to start with. No point getting the replacement if it was to blow again due to a factory problem with the model's wiring. I thought the postage to Victoria would be a small price to pay to get someone who knew about decoder installs into this model to make sure everything was OK. So I mailed the model and decoder. A few days later Mike was in touch. He advised he found a short in the speaker wire circuitry from the moor board. It looks like the wire insulation had melted a bit more due to a possible factory resolder which caused two wires to touch when the body shell was on. He said he would fix this, as well as give me a second speaker for 2nd class for my troubles. The decoder couldn't be replaced under warranty but under repair. He still gives me a new decoder but I had to pay $42 for the repair, which he sends back to Germany and gets fixed and returned to his stock. I thought a great deal all up. He also suggested advising Auscision of this situation to see if they will come to the party to recompense me for the repair postage. I've duly sent an email to Auscision and wait their reply.
Apart from this no modelling on other stuff.
At the Club Modelling Comp weekend just gone I didn't win anything this year but Lachlan got the President's Award again for his Alaska Rail Road diorama entry.
Until next time.
The day after the last post the Loksound decoder arrived from dccsound. I had to wait until the weekend before I could go anywhere near the shed. Saturday arrived as did some constant rain. Perfect weather for shed time if only the missus hadn't gone out for the morning for a hairdresser appointment (I think it is a devilish plan to have some child free time!). Anyway the boys kept me busy keeping them entertained. By midmorning it was time to take them somewhere. So off we went to the local games arcade down at the shops. We spent about an hour and a half of quality Dad time on the computer games, pin ball machines, and other distractions. And it only cost me $20!
The afternoon arrived and so did the missus. So having spent quality time with the boys in the morning, it was now my turn to have 'me' time. As it was still showery, the grass was too wet to cut, so the shed and my recent purchases beckoned. I put the railmotor on Lachlan's DC layout for a couple of hours of running in between some other things like lunch and a nanna nap! It did look good. Now it was time to put the decoder in. This model certainly was designed better than the 73, as plenty of pre-positioning for DCC. The 21 pin drop in decoder had no problems. The speaker install was the most time consuming. Now for a test of the sound. Sounded great. As all this was done on the central motor carriage it was time to attach the end carriages. This done, I turned the power back on then the decoder. The speaker started sounding a bleeping sound. Then I detected the faint wiff of doom....I mean fried electronics. That wasn't good. I looked a bit further and couldn't find the problem. The 'alarm' might have been a short circuit alarm, but I couldn't see anything obvious. I turned the power back on watching the decoder at the same time. FLASH and POP a microsecond later and the decoder looked stuffed. Oh no, not again!
Well I made contact with dccsound and Mike was very accomodating. I have sent a photo of the decoder and he will check it out. A warranty replacement could be coming my way. Time will tell.
I also soldered up the replacement sugar cube speaker to the 73 and cranked it up. No crackling. Hooray! Now I just have to finish the conversion!
This afternoon I went around to one of Lachlan's friend's house as he was over for a birthday party. The dad of the friend is also into modelling but I hadn't seen his layout for about 12 months. He warned me not much had happened landscape wise as he had decided to convert to DCC and re-position some track. He has purchased an ESU ECos system which is very nice. Everything in the one little unit, including wireless to smartphone! Pretty much like JMRI and others all in the one unit. Perfect for a lone modeller. He also showed me his replacement DCC turntable (Walthers Cornerstone 90') operating. Very nice and smooth operation compared to the old analogue models.
Well that is about it for this week.
It has been a tad crazy of late and time of modelling has been a low priority unfortunately! Re the Zimo decoder, I haven't got anywhere near wiring up the LEDs. About a week after the last post I was pottering around with the speaker and found a crack in the case. Maybe that was the cause of the crackling noise. So I removed the area around the crack and glued back on a piece of 0.5mm styrene to firm up the sound box. Nope - the crackling was still there. So possibly my other suspicion is the cause, namely initially when I went to solder the speaker leads on I hadn't restrained the speaker onto something that wouldn't move and as such the speaker's magnetic was firmly attracted to the soldering iron. So it stayed for longer than it should of soaking up heat while I busily searched for a pair of pliers or tweezers to remove it.
I decided to purchase another speaker to see. While on the phone to Orient Express on Friday I noticed on their webpage they were stocking Auscision VR Walker railmotors, so I had one of those put on the order as well as an early Chrissie present to myself. I then promptly went over to www.dccsound.com (an Aussie company) to order a Loksound decoder with the VR walker sound file on it.
So I was very surprised yesterday (Monday) to have received the order from Orient Express. The railmotor looks very nice.
So sometime this week I will have to go out to the shed and at least wire up the new speaker and maybe run in the railmotor on Lachlan's DC layout while waiting on the decoder to come in.
On the subject of Lachlan, I found some time on the weekend to help him finish his diorama for the Club modelling competition in December. He also wanted to do something on his layout so I showed him how to make graves and headstones for his churchyard.
Until next post. Happy modelling.
