All,
Sorry to be tardy on replying to issues raised in this link. We've been pretty busy with a variety of new projects as well as enhancements to the app. Here's a brief response to the issues and some insights that hopefully will help clarify some things. First, the issues.
Lash Up Smoke State: The state of the smoke setting should be stored and remain until changed. In the event that a PS2 model has a weak battery, or whatever, the engines can get out of sync. A simple tap of smoke on/off on the remote or app syncs things back up. This works fine in in the app based on our testing here.
Lash Up Vol Control: The volume of all engines in a lash up are adjusted using the master volume control on the remote or in the app. We experienced no issues here. That said, and as someone commented, there are engines with very different overall volume levels. This is due to physics mostly but, also, just normal variation from the sound engineers. If you get two engines in a lash up with very different levels, the louder engine can drown out the quieter one. And to confirm, the manual volume pot is completely ignored in command mode. The pot only applies to conventional operation.
With regard to the engine sounds on/off toggle (mute) this only applies to the head engine. This is true in both the remote and the app. To be honest, I'm not sure why. We're going to look into this as I see no reason why we can't mute all the engines in a lash up. We simply turn the volume down.
Record/Playback: Having an engine move slowly after playback may be due to some address conflict or, the engine simply didn't get the speed = zero command. The fact that the sound is off is odd but, if a PS2 engine is shut down and then issued a speed command, it will move without starting up. This is odd and I suspect some corner case. Haven't heard this one before.
As I think Barry may have explained, the recordings take place in the TIU. The TIU isn't smart enough to play back multiple recordings at the same time so, unfortunately, yes, a system limitation is one playback per TIU at a time. You can get multiple playbacks if you use multiple TIUs to do so.
Variable Voltage: The variable voltage control in the app can get overwhelmed if a person slides the control too quickly. It's actually not the app that has the issue. It's all the communication back and forth across the WIU and TIU. All the components cannot keep up and so, they get confused. We are aware of this one and it's on an active list for a fix. All we intend to do is allow the control to move as fast as the system can handle. In the meantime, just use it like the handle of a Z4K and you'll be fine.
The variable control in the app has nothing to do with the waveform. The variable output from the TIU is identical regardless if you are using the remote or the app. The AC waveform from the TIU is phase control and so, varies relative to the voltage output. Again, identical between the remote and app.
Minimum Start Voltage: OK, let's try to dispel this myth that somehow, the remote allows a min track voltage setting below 5VAC. This is a fallacy. The TIU will not output less than 5VAC from the variable channels. The Z4K transformer will not put out less than 5VAC track voltage. The venerable Lionel ZW transformer doesn't put out less than 5VAC. Well, at least it isn't designed to do so. The min of 5VAC track voltage is an 30+ year old quasi standard in O ga railroading. Don't ask me why. I just know our products honor it. This myth about the DCS remote controlling voltage below 5VAC is just numbers on a screen. Not voltage on a track. We will not change the app to display false voltages. The remote should not have been modified either. We just won't spend time and money to correct it.
Engines Missing Watchdog: Regardless of whether a TIU is connected passively or actively (normally) should make no difference with regard to engines receiving watchdogs. Now, that said, in passive mode the TIU must be powered via aux or fixed one. Once the TIU is powered, the watchdogs are sent out for some duration of time. This issue could be the type of power signal applied or timing. Also, you need to make sure you're running the latest version of DCS as we had an issue with watchdog timing that we corrected in the most recent update.
Volume Starts at 100%: This is certainly not a common issue or we would have been inundated with complaints for the past 15 years. The models retain their volume level settings regardless whether using the remote or the app. If an engine isn't remembering the volume setting through power cycles the battery or caps are not holding up the voltage or, maybe some other issue. There is no universal issue here.
Legacy Diesel RPM: In Legacy mode, diesel RPMs do not vary much at all relative to speed. We are aware of this and working on it. That said, the test engines we have respond exactly the same way when run using the Cab2 or the DCS app. In talking with our friends at Lionel, there is a relationship between momentum and diesel rev. So, we tried it. And, I can finally get some variation in our engines using the Cab2 set to medium or high momentum. However, this is a really awkward way to run a model train layout of modest size so, not a great answer. We're working on implementing an approach that will enhance how Legacy engines rev levels respond to speed changes. Dare I say that Legacy operators may prefer what we do. Stay tuned.
59 SMPH Dead Zone: Yep. Legitimate bug. We'll fix it on the next release.
Lash Up Accel/Decel: This seems reasonable to add. We can get it on the list and will try to implement relative to demand.
Engines Not Found: Regardless of the app or remote, having engines not found on the track is most likely a TIU and track signal issue. While the communication path from the TIU to you, the user, is different between the remote and app, since both are telling you the engines aren't on the track, the common denominator is the TIU and track signals. Work on that and I'm guessing you'll see improvement in both your remote and app behavior.
Having said all of that, let me try to make a more general statement that I hope fosters some understanding and patience with our efforts. While it may seem like MTH is larger than we are and has deep resources, this is simply not the case. The entirety of what we do from a technology standpoint channels through a very small group of people. We have many responsibilities that demand our time and attention that are frankly, much less interesting that things we would like to do. A quick example. We are just finalizing development of an tiny LED driver board for all the new products that have LEDs installed. This board is a huge improvement over what we had and offers much greater flexibility, flashing features, etc., but, the same handful of staff are specifying behavior, designing hardware, writing firmware, having samples built up, testing, quoting for production, etc., etc. This is just one example of many similar projects all running in parallel, all the time. So, as much as we would like to focus all of our attention on DCS enhancements and new features, we simply cannot.
Also, please understand that some of the requests made are singular preferences or, just make no sense. So, while someone may be commenting that we aren't listening because we don't change something, I can tell you the DCS app will never attempt to adjust track voltage below 5VAC from a TIU. Now, in DC, that will be different. Another example is someone requesting a warning screen intended to prevent Explorer app users from upgrading be removed because it's annoying. Well, it may be annoying to tap and clear this warning screen twice a year when an update is available but, imagine how annoying it is for a customer with the Explorer hardware to accidentally update their app for $25 only to find out they can't use any of the new features? We, at MTH, have to consider all sides and weigh these factors against the impact relative to the time and resources we have. We want to do everything we can for everyone. But, unfortunately, that isn't at all practical from a business standpoint.
So, please know that we very much intend to continue to improve and enhance the DCS system and continue to take it and all of our products forward with new and exciting features and benefits. We probably need to think about how to better communicate with you guys, the community, our customers, about what we are doing and why we are doing it. I'll give that some thought. In the meantime, I hope I've at least offered some answers and helped with a general understanding of tech development priorities at MTH.
Thanks.
