I will have to say I'm pretty new at all this and just got back into playing with trains. My layout is only 5x10 but has 9 switches. So far I have 2 Bluethooth engines (lionchief and a Lionchief Plus). I also have 2 additional engines that are Lionchief Plus 2.0. I also have some old postwar engines. My favorite was given to me in 1959 at the ripe old age of 6.
I've been running all these newer trains with Bluetooth remotes and the CAB3 app (Bluetooth side).
So I got to looking at the Base3 for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to see the TMCC features of the Lionchief Plus 2.0 engines. Second, I wanted to use the LCS app to control my switches.
So I ordered a Base3 and started watching YouTube videos while waiting on it to get here. It arrived today by FedEx. It was factory sealed but when I opened the box up there was no quick start guide or any other paperwork. Not a big deal since I'd watched some videos but still should have been in the box.
I took the Base3 in my office and went straight for Wi-Fi and the WPS worked great. Easily connected. Next I carried it to the train room and hook the single wire up and power her up. I programmed the 2 Bluetooth engines in first and all sent well. Then I flipped the Bluetooth switch off on my 2 Lionchief Plus 2.0 engines. I got a little confused on what the RUN/Prog switch in the engine was for but once I understood that and set the ID to what I wanted all went well and they are up and running. I like the extra few features you get with these engines running under TMCC. Some more chatter and other adjustments.
All in all the ENG portion of the app is usable. There are lots of things that don't work and some that I don't like the way they work. My main gripe is the direction button. It just says "DIR" on it and doesn't change to tell you what direction you are going. Other that that the basics are all there.
Now comes the switches. That was my main reason for getting the Base3. That portion of the app is terrible!! Needs lots of work. It's incomplete and what's there is buggy. Real buggy. Hangs up a lot. The good news is that the LCS app works great for the switches. So I used the CAB3 app to set up the switches and the LCS app on an ipad mini to control the switches. I just built this layout over the last couple of months and all the track and switches are new.
So to my surprise, 4 out my 9 switches won't work with command control. They are defective. I'd have never know if I had not tried the Base3. Two of them won't go into programming mode and two will but won't pair up with the system. They just blink away. I'm bought all this from a local hobby shop so I am hopeful they will exchange them. We'll see.
So, there you go. That's my report. I'm hopping the system gets better over time. I'm not sure who you report bugs to. I would like to pass on the ones I know about to someone at Lionel. Once I get my other 4 switches replaced I think I'll get a lot of enjoyment out of the system. I probably could have just built a control panel but I like playing with this stuff.
So, who else out there has tried the CC portion of the switches? I'm just surprised I had such a large failure rate.
Thanks for reading.
Bob
