Legacy or Legacy Add-On?

Normally you only need one Legacy base unless your layout fills a football field.

The add on should be all you need.

Pete

If you want to be able to do simple troubleshooting (like figuring out if your remote or base is bad when/if you have a problem), having the extra base can be handy.  A simple swap out can help you figure out what is acting up.

Also if you ever decide to run a 2nd layout, like a Christmas setup, carpet central for temporary testing, new item tryout, etc.

-Dave

Norton posted:

Normally you only need one Legacy base unless your layout fills a football field.

The add on should be all you need.

Actually, you can only use one Legacy base on a layout.  Even if you isolate the outside rails the signals will likely interfere.  That's the reason that Dale Manquen is working on a TMCC amplifier is to solve this issue for large layouts.

Is your question about Lionel 990 and 993 systems?

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Norton posted:

Normally you only need one Legacy base unless your layout fills a football field.

The add on should be all you need.

Actually, you can only use one Legacy base on a layout.  Even if you isolate the outside rails the signals will likely interfere.  That's the reason that Dale Manquen is working on a TMCC amplifier is to solve this issue for large layouts.

I wonder how many folks Dale expects to benefit with his amplifier? We have driven well over 2000 feet of track with a single Legacy Base. Other than NJHirailers, how many here have over 2000 feet of track on their layout?

Pete

The extra base, the 993, is only a charger but it comes with another handheld. If you are wanting two handhelds, then buy the 990 to get an extra base for a spare. The 993 base, as a charger only, is handy for charging the handhelds and runs cooler that way, but an extra 990 base is a better idea.

cjack posted:

The extra base, the 993, is only a charger but it comes with another handheld. If you are wanting two handhelds, then buy the 990 to get an extra base for a spare. The 993 base, as a charger only, is handy for charging the handhelds and runs cooler that way, but an extra 990 base is a better idea.

And this was sort of what I was really asking. I have a normal sized layout (33 x 16) and think I only need 1 Legacy system but 2-3 remotes. Unlike MTH, Lionel doesn't just sell just remotes. It sells "expansion" sets (remote and charging base).  

I would then buy the extra 990, having a spare base then. And also at some point you could get the 993 and have the cooler charger and 3 handhelds. That's what I did. I waited for some used or sigificantly discounted ones to show up since Lionel fixes them in perpetuity. You probably don't want a version 1.0 though since it has to go to Lionel right off the bat since it cannot be upgraded at home. At some point Lionel asked me if the one that was broken was one they fixed before. I said they all look the same! So I put a number on the handhelds inside the battery compartment and on the base underneath with a silver paint marking pen so I could keep track or them.

What about the wifi module to add to your legacy. Then you can have as many remotes as you have iPhones or iPads 

Jeff gibs posted:

What about the wifi module to add to your legacy. Then you can have as many remotes as you have iPhones or iPads 

Probably a good backup, but actually not my favorite handheld. First of all it doesn't fit into my hand like a handheld. Second, I kind of like the buttons. Third the cell phone costs $700 if one of the kids gets excited and drops it. I can't decide if I have just not grown up with a cell in my hand...but then I didn't grow up with a remote in my hand either...it just feels better to me. Turning the click on the cell helps tho...

cjack posted:

I would then buy the extra 990, having a spare base then. And also at some point you could get the 993 and have the cooler charger and 3 handhelds. That's what I did. I waited for some used or sigificantly discounted ones to show up since Lionel fixes them in perpetuity. You probably don't want a version 1.0 though since it has to go to Lionel right off the bat since it cannot be upgraded at home. At some point Lionel asked me if the one that was broken was one they fixed before. I said they all look the same! So I put a number on the handhelds inside the battery compartment and on the base underneath with a silver paint marking pen so I could keep track or them.

Ya, that's what I was thinking. So long as I don't attempt to hook up the second 990 to the layout, I'll be able to have a second remote and charger and maybe at a discount. 

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Norton posted:

Normally you only need one Legacy base unless your layout fills a football field.

The add on should be all you need.

Actually, you can only use one Legacy base on a layout.  Even if you isolate the outside rails the signals will likely interfere.  That's the reason that Dale Manquen is working on a TMCC amplifier is to solve this issue for large layouts.

I will second that. We tried to run a small isolated area in TMCC while running the rest of the layout in conventional. Any TMCC engines that were running conventional on the main area went nuts.

Will Dale's amplifier solve that?

tr18 posted:

I will second that. We tried to run a small isolated area in TMCC while running the rest of the layout in conventional. Any TMCC engines that were running conventional on the main area went nuts.

Will Dale's amplifier solve that?

I would expect an amplifier to exacerbate this not minimize it.

Pete

Norton posted:

tr18 posted:

I will second that. We tried to run a small isolated area in TMCC while running the rest of the layout in conventional. Any TMCC engines that were running conventional on the main area went nuts.

Will Dale's amplifier solve that?

I would expect an amplifier to exacerbate this not minimize it.

Pete

I thought so as well. Maybe I was reading something into Gunrunnerjohn's comment that wasn't there.

I think John was suggesting if you use two Legacy Bases their signal will interfere with each other and confuse the engines. We have used two Command Bases together and this was not a problem.

Pete

Norton posted:

I think John was suggesting if you use two Legacy Bases their signal will interfere with each other and confuse the engines. We have used two Command Bases together and this was not a problem.

Pete

Yes that's it. You can only use one Legacy base on a layout. If you need more signal strength, you have to amplify the signal and that is what Dale's amplifier will do for you.

Norton posted:

We have used two Command Bases together and this was not a problem.

Pete

I suspect you were lucky to get away with it, I tried this when the discussion came up, and having different bases feeding two parallel loops about 50 feet in length, the signals were a mess!  Yes, they were totally isolated from each other.

I guess we were "lucky" on multiple occasions. This was standard practice when the layouts were larger than 400 linear feet. We stopped doing it when we acquired Legacy.

Pete

400 feet of track isn't that much track, I can't imagine why one base wasn't sufficient.