LionChief Hotspot

Lionel said in their latest video that they’ll be releasing the process for the hotspot once Apple approves and releases the iPhone version of the app. Should be soon. I am hoping eventually we can run a couple of trains at a time with our phones/tablets.

Running simultaneous multiple trains seems to be getting more attention these days. I've been doing this for a while now with BlueRail and LionChiefPlus.  Will keep an eye out for new info on this operating mode.

I'm curious as to what the HotSpot feature does.  I see a new iPhone version of the LionChief app is released announcing... "Universal Remote HotSpot mode is here!"  But I can't seem to find any further information on that feature.

The hotspot lets you turn your LC universal remote into a Bluetooth hotspot so you can control older, non-Bluetooth LionChief engines with your phone or tablet.

Keith Crook 020419 posted:

The hotspot lets you turn your LC universal remote into a Bluetooth hotspot so you can control older, non-Bluetooth LionChief engines with your phone or tablet.

Well that's underwhelming. I was hoping that it would also allow the app to run more than one engine at a time.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It would be nice if it would do what it was intended to do, but when I use it, search finds zero locomotives.

You have to put the Universal Remote in hotspot mode. Hold the three sound buttons down (bell, announcements, and whistle) and then turn on the Universal Remote. The 3 lighted buttons will flash in order repeatedly to signify that the remote is in Hotspot mode. Then open the APP and go to the engine select screen, tap the Universal Remote icon. It'll say "switching to Hotspot Mode" and then it'll go back to the main menu. Go back into the engine select menu and it'll say "connecting to Hotspot". Then tap on the eyeglass and it should find the RF engines.

I still plan to do a video. Just not a lot of free time lately.

I just tried this with a Area 51 RS3 - worked perfectly.  I also found a James & Batman Subway both powered up - let me pick which one to control  Thanks for posting Dave.  I've been watching for the hint how to get it to go since you mentioned it back a couple months ago.

Nice new feature.

Jim

If anyone would like a visual aid we recently did a video on the Universal LC remote with V1.3.  If looking for the hotspot mode it starts around the 8:00 mark 

https://youtu.be/W2JsuRE2lp4

Dave Olson posted:

You have to put the Universal Remote in hotspot mode. Hold the three sound buttons down (bell, announcements, and whistle) and then turn on the Universal Remote. The 3 lighted buttons will flash in order repeatedly to signify that the remote is in Hotspot mode. Then open the APP and go to the engine select screen, tap the Universal Remote icon. It'll say "switching to Hotspot Mode" and then it'll go back to the main menu. Go back into the engine select menu and it'll say "connecting to Hotspot". Then tap on the eyeglass and it should find the RF engines.

I still plan to do a video. Just not a lot of free time lately.

OK, got it running, minor problem!  The smoke is disabled, and I can't turn it on.  It works fine when I run with the universal remote.  The smoke on the options screen is dimmed out.  This is the Phila & Reading #675 Camelback.  How do you enable smoke?

I hope they update the app to be able to disable the key clicks. 

There's a button on the screen to disable key clicks, I didn't even try it.  When it disabled my smoke unit and wouldn't let me enable it, I decided to wait until they fix a few things.

Is that new then?  I don't think the Apple version is out yet. 

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I decided to wait until they fix a few things.

I guess you'll be waiting awhile. There is no smoke control for RF LC+. Its a limitation of the hardware in the engine. That's why the option is grayed out. 

For RF LC engines, the hardware doesn't support volume control at all. RF LC+ only supports master volume.

MartyE posted:

I hope they update the app to be able to disable the key clicks. 

We added it to the Android version. The iOS version is a little behind. Bringing a new developer up to speed to get the changes made.

Thanks Dave. That's a nice change.

Dave Olson posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I decided to wait until they fix a few things.

I guess you'll be waiting awhile. There is no smoke control for RF LC+. Its a limitation of the hardware in the engine. That's why the option is grayed out.

Dave, I wouldn't mind that, but they disable the smoke unit when you run and you can use smoke with the app at all!  There must be something they can do to control smoke or it wouldn't get turned off using the hotspot and app.  I have to wonder why it scrambles the smoke fan so it doesn't work until I power cycle the engine as well?

I got mine to work as well. A couple of notes, though. To turn on the Universal Remote, Dave said to hold the three sound buttons down and then turn on the Remote. The guy in the Wichita Train Club video cited above said to hold down all three of the number buttons plus the shift button and then turn on the remote. It appears that both methods work.

I found that the Universal Remote had to be fairly close to the layout, otherwise funny things started to happen, like the engine beeped every time it changed direction, or the direction change function didn't work, etc. But then, I've found that the regular LC+ remotes don't have a whole lot of range either.

Also, occasionally when the app was turned on and then off, or the remote was turned off and then back on, the engine might not show up on the app again, or it might after going back and forth a few times, or if the picture of the engine shows up and you tap it, it disappears. It may require a repeated taps on the X and the connected chain, and then the disconnected chain if it lights up, back and forth, before the engine shows up and gets connected. And sometimes you can tap on the yellowed-out engine image and the engine disappears rather than going to the color connected image. So a few odd things seem to happen occasionally, but they can be overcome. That said, most of the time it all works fine. 

Finally, Dave in his instructions said: "Then open the APP and go to the engine select screen, tap the Universal Remote icon. It'll say 'switching to Hotspot Mode' and then it'll go back to the main menu. Go back into the engine select menu and it'll say 'connecting to Hotspot'. Then tap on the eyeglass and it should find the RF engines."   My app didn't do any of those things - there was nothing that said "switching to Hotspot Mode," or then going back to main menu (not sure what that is), and there was no engine select menu. The screen image the OP showed in his post, with the Bluetooth logo, eyeglass, and Universal Remote icon, never appeared. On my app, the image of the engine just showed up, I tapped on it and then on the connected chain icon, and it started to work.

We do have the updated Universal Remote manual on the Service website. You can see it here: Universal Remote Manual

It includes instructions on how to use the hotspot feature for both the Android and iOS versions of the APP on page 18.

breezinup posted:

Finally, Dave in his instructions said: "Then open the APP and go to the engine select screen, tap the Universal Remote icon. It'll say 'switching to Hotspot Mode' and then it'll go back to the main menu. Go back into the engine select menu and it'll say 'connecting to Hotspot'. Then tap on the eyeglass and it should find the RF engines."   My app didn't do any of those things - there was nothing that said "switching to Hotspot Mode," or then going back to main menu (not sure what that is), and there was no engine select menu. The screen image the OP showed in his post, with the Bluetooth logo, eyeglass, and Universal Remote icon, never appeared. On my app, the image of the engine just showed up, I tapped on it and then on the connected chain icon, and it started to work.

Sorry for the confusion. Those instructions were for the Android version only as I was trying to help Gunrunnerjohn to get his to work and I know he uses Android. For iOS, it is much more simple. The iOS APP simply picks up the hotspot connection automatically and then displays the RF engines in the engine carousel next to any Bluetooth engines that are also broadcasting. This was unfortunately not possible with Android, and that is why it has the two different modes.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Dave, I wouldn't mind that, but they disable the smoke unit when you run and you can use smoke with the app at all!  There must be something they can do to control smoke or it wouldn't get turned off using the hotspot and app.  I have to wonder why it scrambles the smoke fan so it doesn't work until I power cycle the engine as well?

I was able to replicate this this morning. It's an issue with the Android APP. For some reason it is disabling the fan motor (the element still works). The smoke works fine in hotspot mode using the iOS APP. I've already reported the issue to our Android developer.

zhubl posted:

If anyone would like a visual aid we recently did a video on the Universal LC remote with V1.3.  If looking for the hotspot mode it starts around the 8:00 mark 

https://youtu.be/W2JsuRE2lp4

This was a very nicely done video! The intended way to enter hotspot mode with the remote is holding the three sound buttons down. I found it very humorous that you were able to discover another way to do it. For such a simple remote, there's so much going on in code that there always seems to be little Easter Eggs to find!

Thanks for the update Dave, at least I'm not imagining things.  However, that does beg the question, how does the app disable the smoke motor if the LC+ board doesn't offer the capability to handle the smoke.

As it turns out, the board does not have control over the element, but it does have control over the fan motor.

That seems to jive with what I observed.  I blew down the stack when it was slowly running by and smoke poured out the bottom, so obviously the heater was still going strong.  I'm glad it was easy to reproduce, should be pretty easy for the developer to kill that one.

One question on the element heat.  If the board doesn't control the element, how does it shut it off when you stop?  When stopped, the LC+ turns off the heater.

Hi @Dave Olson

Were you ever able to replicate the issue with the updater app I was having that I showed you at the warehouse sale whereas the text was blanked out and I couldn't "continue"?  Running iOS 13.3 on an iphone 10?  I am able to proceed using an iPhone 5s iOS10.3.3.

ANyone else having this issue besides me?

gunrunnerjohn posted:

One question on the element heat.  If the board doesn't control the element, how does it shut it off when you stop?  When stopped, the LC+ turns off the heater.

Magic.

MartyE posted:

Hi @Dave Olson

Were you ever able to replicate the issue with the updater app I was having that I showed you at the warehouse sale whereas the text was blanked out and I couldn't "continue"?  Running iOS 13.3 on an iphone 10?  I am able to proceed using an iPhone 5s iOS10.3.3.

ANyone else having this issue besides me?

Yes. Not having an iOS developer hasn't helped.

Dave Olson posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

One question on the element heat.  If the board doesn't control the element, how does it shut it off when you stop?  When stopped, the LC+ turns off the heater.

Magic.

MartyE posted:

Hi @Dave Olson

Were you ever able to replicate the issue with the updater app I was having that I showed you at the warehouse sale whereas the text was blanked out and I couldn't "continue"?  Running iOS 13.3 on an iphone 10?  I am able to proceed using an iPhone 5s iOS10.3.3.

ANyone else having this issue besides me?

Yes. Not having an iOS developer hasn't helped.

Thanks.  I'll hold onto the old iPhone for now.

Dave Olson posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

One question on the element heat.  If the board doesn't control the element, how does it shut it off when you stop?  When stopped, the LC+ turns off the heater.

Magic.

Love it. My very favorite explanation for how things work.  

Dave Olson posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

One question on the element heat.  If the board doesn't control the element, how does it shut it off when you stop?  When stopped, the LC+ turns off the heater.

Magic.

I knew I recognized you from somewhere, didn't place you without the wand!