Mike Wolf posts update on WTIU

If it doesn't work, I don't need it. I am happy to wait until qualified and experienced electronics engineers certify that this complex system of RF and digital electronics has been verified against the risks of EMI/EMC environments that that consumers are likely to have in their homes and clubs.

@Norman R posted:

If it doesn't work, I don't need it. I am happy to wait until qualified and experienced electronics engineers certify that this complex system of RF and digital electronics has been verified against the risks of EMI/EMC environments that that consumers are likely to have in their homes and clubs.

Well Norm, the WTIU is less complex with fewer RF components vs. a TIU / WIU setup. If everyday WiFi products work at your house or your club currently, there's a 99.9% the WTIU will work just as good.

Also with little fanfare, the Android app was updated early last week to version 3.2.2.

I am unhappy that the old remotes won't link with the new version.  I personally don't want to burn up my phone battery while running a train.  In addition, I don't want to carry a laptop during operating sessions.  The old remote was a good size for me to be able to handle comfortably.  Oh well, who cares about me?

I will have some chesse and crackers with my wine.

Chris,

Thanks for posting the update.  

I'm happy to hear any update v silence, and I am sure I will like it when I get it. I'm all in on MTH going forward, or I should say PS 3.0 with Atlas on board, too. I sold the 2 Legacy engines I had and my Cab2 unit. I still have a handful of TMCC engines but will likely sell those as part of a consolidation effort in retirement.

I read the "close to 3 months" timetable and chuckled.  Time for testing (this month) + couple (more than 1) of months for parts + month and 1/2 for shipping to MTH = 3? Key word is "close". Factor in shipping to dealers and finally to buyers for a complete timeline ... eventually it'll get here. I've waited this long, so no problem.

Still, when I go to my next physical and the doctor ask me how much I weigh, I'm going to say, "Close to 200 pounds."

@John C. posted:

I am unhappy that the old remotes won't link with the new version.  I personally don't want to burn up my phone battery while running a train.  In addition, I don't want to carry a laptop during operating sessions.  The old remote was a good size for me to be able to handle comfortably.  Oh well, who cares about me?

I will have some chesse and crackers with my wine.

I agree.  I have 2 tiu's and 2 handhelds and plan on using them until they (I?) die.  Not sure why, but I did preorder a wtiu when they were first announced.  I probably got caught up in the Covid tiu/handheld/Legacy shortage scare.

This is good news. I will be ordering the new WTIU once I have more of my layout done. I still have a few things to do before then. I'm also hoping for another update for the Base 3.

Well I for one hope this is fairly accurate as my TIU has decided to randomly switch from fixed to variable as well as the serial port has gone to the great beyond.  I can't complain though as it is from the first batch of TIUs.

@John C. posted:

I am unhappy that the old remotes won't link with the new version.  I personally don't want to burn up my phone battery while running a train.  In addition, I don't want to carry a laptop during operating sessions.  The old remote was a good size for me to be able to handle comfortably.  Oh well, who cares about me?

I will have some chesse and crackers with my wine.

I am happy with my remote also. I am just so used to it.

This reminds me of the 1998,99ish time frame when a brand new operating system will be released called PROTO 2. I was impatient because i was buying (and MTH was selling) new proto 2 locos with 5 volt boards. I would call in to MTH every few weeks (back when someone would answer the phone) and try to get an answer on when I would see this new system. The rehersed answer from the pleasant lady at MTH was something to the effect of............It"s taking longer because we just want to make sure it is done right and free of any issues.  I don't know about anyone else, but I had multiple issues with my proto2 system. So I am hoping MTH gets this right before it come to customers. I bet MTH will get this right. I guess We just be patient

**** yes I'll buy one. But no, I don't want to use my phone to operate trains. I like the DCS remote I have but I know it won't last forever. Certainly willing to try the new WiFi version though.

I have several spare TIU's in the closet to go with my remotes, I'm going to rid them into the sunset since I have no desire to operate trains with my remote.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I have several spare TIU's in the closet to go with my remotes, I'm going to rid them into the sunset since I have no desire to operate trains with my remote.

You seem to have a stash of many things.  

I try to stash useful things.

Humor time....here's my remotes..

(I lied, I really have 8 remotes, I have 2 ZW's)

I dunno, man.  When is the last time you updated the software version on that thing?  You let that go too long and your controller will no longer respond to input from over the WiFi.

@CALNNC posted:

Humor time....here's my remotes..

(I lied, I really have 8 remotes, I have 2 ZW's)

Shocking !!   Lol

@CALNNC posted:

Humor time....here's my remotes..

(I lied, I really have 8 remotes, I have 2 ZW's)

Must be fun carrying that around the layout.

@Frank Mulligan posted:

I agree.  I have 2 tiu's and 2 handhelds and plan on using them until they (I?) die.  Not sure why, but I did preorder a wtiu when they were first announced.  I probably got caught up in the Covid tiu/handheld/Legacy shortage scare.

Frank, you may have just described why I placed a pre-order on a WTIU.  On the other hand, I do have trouble operating the thumbwheel on any of my 3 remotes.  The thumbwheels themselves are fine, it is just that my arthritic thumbs don't cooperate as I would like.    I do like tactile knobs and buttons over using a smooth screen like a smart phone.  However, I got to try out a TIU / WIU setup at a show, and I could control speed so much better than with a remote.  I can keep the TIU and remotes as spares in case the WTIU gives me trouble at a (very long from now I hope) future date. 

Like every smart company, the prototype product hits the street and a year or two later, revision A comes out with a new wireless remote option that's not compatible with the two year old protoype.  Five years after that, Revision B is introduced with the Neuralink brain implant train control.  Except, they can't be made in China anymore because of the intelligence gathering.

@MartyE posted:

Must be fun carrying that around the layout.

Nah, I just stand in one spot and use binoculars, almost like real rail fanning.

After 43 years in the IT world I don’t want to be tied to hardware. Things change too fast. Plus my eyes can’t see the tiny screen anymore.

@ChiTown Steve posted:

After 43 years in the IT world I don’t want to be tied to hardware. Things change too fast. Plus my eyes can’t see the tiny screen anymore.

Hmm...  Does that include the hardware like transformers and locomotives?

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Hmm...  Does that include the hardware like transformers and locomotives?

Not really. I’ve never had to program a transformer. With engines maybe but I can pretty easily swap out electronics to get what I want. Costs money but I’m not stuck with how it came.

I was disappointed when I bought my first car. There was no way to hook up my horses to it!

You whippershnappers with yer fancy horses!  Dinosaurs were good enough for millions of years!

Is anyone buying or have bought an iPad or iPad mini to control their trains on the tracks instead of iPhones? I'm going to be purchasing one soon to run my Lionchief 2.0 locomotive and also for when base3 and the WTIU finally show up.

Been debating on dabbling in Blunami as well on a locomotive to see what that does. I watched some videos on it and it seems pretty cool with all the different sounds you can instantly load onto the locomotive. Granted its DC but hey, whats one more transformer

Consider a cheap Fire Tablet. I had trouble with ipads etc, especially with constant updates to the iOS. Have had zero issues with both of my Fire Tablets running Lionel bluetooth or DCS app

Mike

@LT1Poncho posted:

Consider a cheap Fire Tablet. I had trouble with ipads etc, especially with constant updates to the iOS. Have had zero issues with both of my Fire Tablets running Lionel bluetooth or DCS app

Mike

Oh I didn't even think of a fire tablet! Excellent call, thank you. Probably much cheaper than an iPad. I tried my sons iPad but it was too old and wouldn't find the Lionel app.

I mentioned earlier I plan to get a WTIU and was hoping a fire tablet would work with the app, since I want a bigger screen than the phone also, but don’t want to buy an iPad or other more expensive tablet.  Thank you for asking, Paul.  Thank you for the suggestion, Mike.

@Mark Boyce posted:

I mentioned earlier I plan to get a WTIU and was hoping a fire tablet would work with the app, since I want a bigger screen than the phone also, but don’t want to buy an iPad or other more expensive tablet.  Thank you for asking, Paul.  Thank you for the suggestion, Mike.

@pault posted:

Oh I didn't even think of a fire tablet! Excellent call, thank you. Probably much cheaper than an iPad. I tried my sons iPad but it was too old and wouldn't find the Lionel app.

Another vote for a Fire tablet.  The 7" model is inexpensive - I think a refurbished one is $49, but watch for sales and you might find one for less.  They're horribly slow for most uses, but serve well as DCS remotes.

Since the Android version of the DCS app comes from the Google store, you have to jump through some hoops to load it onto the Fire, but you only have to do it once.  Somewhere on the forum there's a thread about doing this.  If you can't find it, email me and I'll send the instructions.

Mark, I saw Poncho stated he could get a Fire tablet to work with DCS.  When I had my Fire tablet it did not have the capability to run DCS and at the time there was no available DCS download for its OS. Fire is supposed to be a version of Android, so should work. "Although Amazon does not make it easy to buy through the Play Store. Amazon Fire devices have a built-in setting that blocks the download of apps from sources other than the Amazon App Store. Before downloading Google Play, you'll need to disable that setting. " 

I went to a cheap Samsung Galaxy Tablet which works fine.  Be careful on the wireless OS and hardware generation you are using. The older versions are not all that compatible with the newer versions. I had all kinds of problems with connectivity between different versions.     Jeff

My fire was probably 10 years old when I tried to go DCS. However I was unaware of the need to disable the setting.  At the time the 7 inch Samsung TAB was $60 so similarly priced and more functional IMO - easy choice.

Thank you Mallard and Jeff!

I think I’ll wait until I have the WTIU and try it on the phone, then see what’s out there that would work, Fire, Galaxy, etc.  Yes I definitely want to use a tablet, but not anything expensive since this would be about all I would use it for.

@ScoutingDad posted:

Mark, I saw Poncho stated he could get a Fire tablet to work with DCS.  When I had my Fire tablet it did not have the capability to run DCS and at the time there was no available DCS download for its OS. Fire is supposed to be a version of Android, so should work. "Although Amazon does not make it easy to buy through the Play Store. Amazon Fire devices have a built-in setting that blocks the download of apps from sources other than the Amazon App Store. Before downloading Google Play, you'll need to disable that setting. "

I went to a cheap Samsung Galaxy Tablet which works fine.  Be careful on the wireless OS and hardware generation you are using. The older versions are not all that compatible with the newer versions. I had all kinds of problems with connectivity between different versions.     Jeff

My fire was probably 10 years old when I tried to go DCS. However I was unaware of the need to disable the setting.  At the time the 7 inch Samsung TAB was $60 so similarly priced and more functional IMO - easy choice.

You are correct in that the older fire tablets did have issues with the DCS app. I have a version 7, about 3 years old, and a version 8 that is brand new. I run both of my layouts with these tablets and have had no issue with the newer versions. I had to download the google play store on the tablet prior to going after either the DCS app or the current lionel app. In my experience these apps play better with android than apple iOS. I think you are wise to look into either fire or galaxy as @ScoutingDad has suggested.

Mike

@LT1Poncho posted:

Consider a cheap Fire Tablet. I had trouble with ipads etc, especially with constant updates to the iOS. Have had zero issues with both of my Fire Tablets running Lionel bluetooth or DCS app

Mike

I was given a Fire Tablet around the holidays.  I tried loading in both the MTH and Lionel apps.  After jumping through several hoops to get the apps installed, neither would work well at all.  The Lionel app connected via Bluetooth to the engines, but the response time to accept commands from the app was horrendous.  

On the flip side, I have had nothing but good luck with my iPhone and the apps on iOS.  They always work.

If anyone has a good resource on how to get the Fire Tablet to work well with these apps, please let me know as I would love to get this to work.

@pault posted:

Is anyone buying or have bought an iPad or iPad mini to control their trains on the tracks instead of iPhones? I'm going to be purchasing one soon to run my Lionchief 2.0 locomotive and also for when base3 and the WTIU finally show up.

Been debating on dabbling in Blunami as well on a locomotive to see what that does. I watched some videos on it and it seems pretty cool with all the different sounds you can instantly load onto the locomotive. Granted its DC but hey, whats one more transformer

Pretty certain that blunami can not work smoke units... and an engine without smoke is a no go on our trainboard. Please let me know. Gary

@The TrainBoard posted:

Pretty certain that blunami can not work smoke units... and an engine without smoke is a no go on our trainboard. Please let me know. Gary

Blunami has very limited support for smoke. You can configure an output to operate a smoke unit via a relay.  There is no support for synchronized chuffing or whistle steam.

Also, be wary of the 4 amp current limit on the motor output. Long consists and grades can find that limit quickly.

@pault posted:

Is anyone buying or have bought an iPad or iPad mini to control their trains on the tracks instead of iPhones? I'm going to be purchasing one soon to run my Lionchief 2.0 locomotive and also for when base3 and the WTIU finally show up.

Been debating on dabbling in Blunami as well on a locomotive to see what that does. I watched some videos on it and it seems pretty cool with all the different sounds you can instantly load onto the locomotive. Granted its DC but hey, whats one more transformer

I currently use an iPad plus an older, not using anymore, iPhone.  It was an iPhone 7 which was no longer meeting my daily phone needs due to lack of storage. I stripped all the data and apps off of it, upgraded it to the current IOS and installed the DCS app.  I just leave it plugged in near the layout.  Hoping it will last until the next time I have to upgrade my phone.