When I have a group over to operate we're experiencing a serious slow down in response time to throttle commands on my duplex digitrax system. Also, my wi-fi router is located about 8 feet away from digitrax DCS100 and DCB150. Anyone else ever experience this? We'll soon be conducting an experiment to see if we can duplicate the problem but it takes about seven operators with phones on to force it to happen.
Anyone else experience this other than at Albers.
Are you only having a problem with Digitrax throttles or is the problem with the Wi-fi interface?
What interface are you using between the Loconet and computer/network?
I've been using wireless Digitrax for about twelve years or so.
About two years ago I upgraded everything to Duplex, sending several of my throttles to Digitrax for duplex upgrades and replacing the two UR-91s with UR-92s.
I got a LOT of the blinking white LED "communication lost" signals from my throttles. I was pretty frustrated, to say the least.
I moved both the UR-92 up to the ceiling. That helped but didn't cure everything.
Then I bought a third UR-92. Again, it helped a little but didn't give me the "range" I was hoping for.
Paul Cutler responded to one of my threads and mentioned upgrading the throttle and UR firmware. THAT made a big improvement. Still, I get some areas where I have to do some yoga and tai chi moves with the throttle in order for it to communicate with the UR-92.
If I'm using a wi-fi throttle through JMRI, a Digitrax PR-3 and an Android tablet running "Engine Driver" I don't have any problems. My wi-fi router is on the next floor up and at the other end of the house. However, I'm usually the only operator on the tablet.
http://jmri.sourceforge.net/help/en/package/jmri/jmrit/withrottle/UserInterface.shtml
If you are having an operating session with lots of water filled bodies between your Digitrax throttles and recievers, you may have to move your UR-92 up higher and as some have suggested, mount them upside-down to make the ground-plane work better.
Hope that helps, Ed
Interesting. I was just reading a similiar issue in the MRH forums involving Digitrax and cell phones. You might want to check it out.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
That was me over there on MRH.
Problem is only with Digitrax duplex throttles. I have three UR92's, two in ceiling and one low on floor. My firmware is up to date. When I'm operating alone there are no problems and probably none with two or three people in the room. But when I have several operators working (five throttles) that's when things S-L-O-W down.
Sounds to me like those humanoid protoplasms are occluding line-of-sight, or even absorbing the frequency. I suppose, too, that the cell phones's signals could be encroaching somehow?
selectorSounds to me like those humanoid protoplasms are occluding line-of-sight, or even absorbing the frequency.
I agree.
I have a yard that is located less than six feet away from a UR-92. When I'm working this yard the UR-92 is behind me and about three feet above me mounted on a wood ceiling beam. I have to hold the throttle over my shoulder in order for the signals to be recieved otherwise all I get is the blinking white LED.
I am very dense. 2.4 GHz can not pass through me.
Very frustrating at times.
Regards, Ed
We've had a lot of frustations with the digitrax wireless throttles at the club. They are just not powerful enough. The problems disappeared when we installed the WiFi LNWI digitrax interface that allows you to operate trains via a cell phone. I strongly recommend the product.
Simon
There is a channel scanner app that you can use to set the Digitrax wireless to use a channel that is not heavily used - they wifi and the duplex radio (and a LOT of things) share the 2.4GHz band, but there are multiple channels within it to avoid such conflicts. The duplex wireless can use a couple of channels that aren;t used by the 2.4GHz wifi and should happily coexist. All of my wireless computers and gadgetes (phone, tablets) support 5.8GHz wifi so I theoretically could disable 2.4 in my router.
We have no real problems on the club layout, in fact at many shows we go to, we HAVE to use the duplex radios, because any nearby NCE club will kill the old simplex radios. The only time there was a problem - we usually have a microwave as part of out setup for people to heat food or coffee, and the left side of a microwave oven (the side opposite the control panel - I suppose a few still have the controls on the left, so it would be the right side of those) is where the most radiation leakage occurs. At - yup, 2.4GHz. Someone set the microwave up with the left side facing right at the UR92 pole. I said, that's not goonna work. Everyone was running fine until someone stuck a cup of coffee in the microowave to heat it up. Boom, all control lost until the microwave stopped. After that it got moved.
Or you could just unplug the router during op sessions and have people turn off their cell phones. Or at least the wifi oon them - the actual cell carrier frequencies shouldn't interfere with 2.4GHz, it's the wifi part.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Perhaps one of these discussions might help:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/t/204283.aspx
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/p/251098/2802647.aspx
I have also heard mention of a ground plane helping.
Ed
WiFi was great when no one had it. Now everyone has WiFi and it isn't so great anymore.
The 2.4GHz band's channels which are interleaved and overlap. It is fine when only a few people are using it, but when you have 5 base stations with several devices, you run out of channels quickly and bandwidth suffers too. The 5Ghz band doesn't have overlapping channels, but most devices out there opt for the cheaper 2.4G interface.
Since WiFi is in the ISM band, there will be all manner of transmitters competing for spectrum with your WiFi devices.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/why-wifi-stinksand-how-to-fix-it shows the channel allotment and explains some of the issues.