I am an old DC guy and I just set-up my first DCC loco. I installed a WifiTrax WDMI-35 DCC Interface control module and a SoundTraxx DCC decoder in one of my upgraded Mantua Pacific 4-6-2 locos. The loco is powered by a Mabuchi SF-266SA square motor with a Mantua Power Drive gearbox. The WifiTrax Loco Operator App running on my Amazon Fire HD10 tablet along with the WDMI-35 module operate as what I am calling a "micro command station." I'm using a MRC Tech II 2500 power pack set to 14.5 volt DC. During the initial tests, I had motor problems. The motor speed was erratic and it would not stop. By shutting down the App I realized the decoder must have "shifted" into analog mode because the motor just kept running. I suspected a BEMF issue because I had read that some DCC users had to disable the two internal capacitors in the SF-266SA. It must depend on how the decoder uses BEMF. I took the motor apart and cut the capacitor leads as described in the "Repower and Regear Groups io" site and reassembled. That fixed the problems. The combination of the WifiTrax WDMI-35 interface module and the SoundTraxx DCC decoder runs smooth in DCC mode on DC power. It's downright cool and impressive! Even though I do not have a conventional DCC command station, I suspect this WifiTrax/SoundTraxx combination in a loco is going to be okay for me since I only have a few old HO steamers. I haven't had a layout since the 1980s and just restarted in the hobby 3 years ago. I've read CVs and made some minor CV changes already with the APP just to see if I could. It doesn't need a programming track because the App talks directly to the decoder thru Wifi and the WifiTrax module. I've got lots of DCC stuff to learn like tuning the loco with CV programming. So far, its COOL & FUN.
Congratulations, nice job. You didn't really ask a question, so I guess that is why you got no responses.
For some people, and especially me, a large block of text is hard to read. Maybe it is some undescribed form of dyslexia but I get lost in the middle.
A few paragraph spaces, whether they are grammatically called for or not, really help
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
You may want to try a smooth, regulated DC power supply instead of using the MRC to provide track power - more stable under load and there still may be some residual pulsing in the MRC. Clean power to the track, even though they are suppsoed to operate even on DCC powered track, can only help, especially if you convert more locos and run more than just the one.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
MR is a bit behind, plenty of user reviews of it on all the DCC forums and elsewhere. It's nice, for sure - but the price... sort of tosses the idea that if you build something using common components that are used other than just for model railroads, it will bring the cost down right out the window.
The use of WiFi makes it work with just about any DCC system, and it adds a nice in-throttle consisting that brings the ease of swapping ends that NCE has to any other system.
I'm curious if their upcoming simpler throttle will be a potentiometer or encoder - if it is an encoder, I'm sold.
Adding a WiFI access point for just the layout is no big deal. The throttles will never need the latest gee-whiz high speed wireless that you might want for your phone, laptop, or smart TV, so the old router you used for the household network can easily be repurposed to make a network just for the trains - thus no need to let friends who come over know your wifi password. No need for the throttles to live connect to the internet, at least not the TCS ones - they have a utility to run on a PC to do firmware updates - the way it SHOULD be. This whole "Internet of Things" is probably the stupidest idea I heard of since Twitter. There is ZERO benefit to be had by allowing every single appliance, smoke alarm, etc. in your house to have direct internet access. Not to mention it's all a huge security risk. Low range radio like zigbee and z-wave, talking to a central hub which is the ONLY device that uses or needs Internet access - that is the way to go. So if anyone else comes up with a universal WiFi throttle and then makes it download updates directly from the internet - just say no.
I do wish the Proto-Throttle was direct WiFi instead of using zigbee to the interface board, it would be equally universal without the expense of a dedicate interface module. One for NCE, the other WiFi for everyone else. There's now a direct WiFi to cab bus interface, though it is a third party product and it wasn;t available when the Proto Thottle came out - NCE seems to have dropped the ball on that side of things, opting to spend resources to develop a series of light-only decoders compatible with the WS Just Plug connectors. But there is always JMRIU, which gives greater capability than any of these direct WiFi interface modules - and it can even be about as plug and play as you can get with a Raspberry Pi and the software install available that can load JMRI and autodetect which DCC system you have it plugged in to, and start the WiThrottle server. Just plug it in and turn it on, no screen, keyboard, logging in, or special commands needed.