THE LCS THREAD - Post LCS Questions, Info and Updates HERE

Gotta' keep you honest Rudy, or you'll run wild.

too right!

Will LCS control SC-2's?

Yes, that part I did get to work tonight with no issues.

Oh good I was worried since ive got like 10 of them

is there a release date for the iCab app.

Nothing official yet.

Previously on this topic it was stated that the SER2 has enough power to control older TPC/ASC units w/o need for an additional serial booster widget.  For my setup, I still needed the serial booster for things to work correctly.  Here is my serial chain prior to LCS installation.  It all worked great:

Legacy serial output ->

DZ-2001 Data Wire Driver (to send tmcc cmds to the DZ-2500 switches)->

Serial Booster ->

TPC 400 ->

TPC 400 ->

TPC 400 ->
TPC 400 ->

ASC ->

ASC ->

ASC ->

ASC

The particular order of the DZ and serial booster mattered too.  The above setup was created by trial and error and once I got things in the above order, it all worked. 

Now enter LCS.  I wanted the WiFi so I had to get the SER2 as well due to my dependency on older serial products.  I tried hooking the SER2 up at the first TPC, removing the DZ unit and the serial booster.  Things did not work.  TPC's failed to respond and eventually stopped working, and the ASCs wouldn't respond consistently:  sometimes they would not respond at all, and sometimes they responded ok, and sometimes the responded to the wrong ID!

I then put the serial booster and DZ widget back in and just put the SER2 at the front of the chain, and things work fine.  I also tried a with and without the DZ to see if that was causing any problems.  Still needed the serial booster in front of the TPCs/ACSs no matter what. 

I'll probably leave it this way since things are currently working.

Cheers,

LCS Question:

I have 4 TPCs controlling power for 4 blocks.  They're now being driven by a SER2.  The TPCs are configured for command mode.  To power up a block with a cab-1/2/1L, I hit <tr> <id> <boost> where <id> is the train id number I've programmed into the TPC.  I haven't been able to get this working with the LCS app. I tried all the devices and modes, I think.  None of them seem to send the right commands. 

Anybody got this working?

thanx!

Just to eliminate the "too many loads" issue, try one TPC, then two if that works, etc. until it quits...if that's it.

This worked with my Legacy Powermaster and might work with your TPC.

1. Select TRAIN then set the TMCC ID.
2. On the speed control slider make sure that it is set to ROAD mode by tapping the ROAD/YARD button.
3. Slide the speed control slider all the way to the right and power should be on.

It isn't a load issue.  I'm just not sure which widget I program into the LCS app.  There is no "TPC" widget.  I've tried the BPC2, ASC2, and the TMCC ones, but so far haven't gotten one to send the correct cmds to the TPCs.

Thanks!

Thanks.  I think if I had the TPCs in conventional mode, I could indeed do this.  But I want them in command mode, and to power them up to full voltage, you enter TR <id> BOOST.  There's no BOOST button for one.  But what I was really hoping for was a device widget in the LCS app that you add to your LCS layout to send explicit TPC commands to your TPCs.

I think they just don't have these (yet) in the LCS App.  That would be a nice addition, at least for my layout which uses 4! 

Stevo

This works with my Legacy Powermaster, but my work with your TPC. 

Select TR using the ENG/TR selector and select the ID.

Make sure that your TR is in road mode and not yard mode on the speed control slider by tapping the yard/road button. 

Then use the slider to powerup the TR buy sliding to full power to the right. 

This looks pretty interesting.  I am not sure how I missed this but I did.  I looked at Lionels website.  A few questions as i see this has real potential.

what exactly does the wi-fi module allow you to do?  how much is it?

If I have all gargarves track does this limit the functionality?

John

I'm considering using the iCab later on to operate my layout. I have my iPhone, the app from iTunes, plenty of Legacy and TMCC locos, but should I update from my TMCC command base to the Legacy command base before I install the system?

Recording problem with sensor track!! Help!!

I have Legacy 1.52 with a new legacy base. No wifi connection. I bought 3 sensor tracks plus the power cable and pdi extensions. All three sensor tracks work for the basic commands when connected up, but I can record only on the first sensor track in the chain. If I attempt to record on the second or third sensor track the record light will stay on for only one to four blinks, then goes off. Not long enough to make a recording. The first track works properly and record light blinks until engine crosses the sensor track and then it makes a recording.

I have swapped the sensor tracks to verify they are OK and that they will record if placed in the first position. The manual says you just press the sensor track record button and everything should work. There should be no issues unless your are trying to do more than one recording at a time.

I have gone back to just a two track sensor setup to try to isolate. No, I have tried first track sensor setting on crossing blow, bell, and non playback or inactive. Those functions work on both the first and second track sensors. First track sensor can record and playback. I also tried putting the first track sensor to sleep and recording on second track sensor. Tried swapping out the track sensors.

Something is keeping the second (position in the chain) track sensor from recording. I will try another cable.

There was a work around for this discussed at the LUG meeting but I forgot to write it down. Can someone post the work around.

Greetings all.  I hope one of you can help me.  I just got the new WiFi unit and Ser2.  I hooked them up and can't get my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 to connect to the WiFi unit when using BlueTrain.  Whenever I start up the app it says that it can't find the Legacy WiFi device.  I am using both Legacy and TMCC and have it hooked up according to the manual.  At first I couldn't get the red PDI light to go out, but then after reading the instructions again, realized that the power supply for LCS has to be plugged in after the bases are powered up.  The green LED for the WIFi just blinks continuously.  After I hit OK to go to the demo mode in BlueTrain, I bring up the settings for BlueTrain.  I have the connection type set to Legacy Wifi, Legacy Type is set to client, and then the Client address is set to legacy:50001.  My guess is that the address is wrong.  Where do I find the address for the WIFI device?  When I try to select the field where the address is entered, I can type something different, but I don't know what to put there.  There also doesn't appear to be a way to accept whatever you type into that field, i.e. no enter, select, continue, etc.  All I can do from the settings page is hit my back button.  I did connect the Ser2 also and when entering commands from the Cab2, everything does go through.  Both LED's on the Ser2 blink.  I do have the base switch set to Base and the other switch is set to Access point since I don't have a wireless network in my apartment.  I don't have any Apple devices to try things out.

Did you go into your wifi setting for your Galaxy device and select the LCS wifi from the list of available networks?  I don't have bluetrain so not sure about the other settings.

I didn't even think of turning my WiFi on the phone.  I did that and the phone found the following network: Lionel LCS-20A5.  My phone connects to that network, but when I typed that into the Client Address for BlueTrain, it didn't take it.  Not sure what I'm supposed to type into that field.  Thanks for the suggestion.  I'm one step closer.

I finally got my sensor track setup working by swapping the cable between the first and second sensor track. I checked the cable with the ommeter and it is good. Upon further inspection the problem was a bent connector on the sensor track that caused it to not work with that cable. These sensor track connectors are soldered to a pcb with no other support. Be gentle with the connectors and do not rely on keying. You can see which way they go in. They are not robust like a usb connection. After inserting the connectors do bend the cables 90 deg to use the notch in the sensor track. The cables are too thick and may pull the connector loose. Keep them parallel under the track for some distance from the connector.

Correction:

After inserting the connectors do NOT bend the cables 90 deg to use the notch in the sensor track

The workaround I came up with was to add a log loader to your screen and give it the ENG ID of your TPC. To turn the block on activate the Chain on the log loader. This will give the Boost command to the TPC. I haven't found a way to give an AUX1, 0 command to kill the power.

Forgive me if this is a common question, but I searched and could not find an answer. 

I have the simplest setup, just trying to use a Sensor Track with Power Adapter, no LCS Wi-Fi or other more advanced hookups yet.

I hooked up the sensor track and power supply as instructions state(with cable hooked to Legacy base as well, of course).

When powering up, the red record light maybe flickers very briefly, and the green program light is on continuously.  The green light eventually cycles (maybe 10-15 seconds after power is applied), then stays on continuously.

When I try to do the first thing regarding holding the program button down to program the track with an accessory number, the green light never flashes as the manual states it should.  So I am stuck at the very beginning after the hookup of the cables here.

I tried both PDI connections under the sensor track, I get the same behavior with both.

Any thoughts?  I am suspecting I got a bad Sensor track, but figured I would ask here before getting another one to play with and/or exchanging this one.

Thanks.

-Dave

Have other people used the lcs iPad app and noticed when you set the speed on one engine and then change to a different engine the speed does not always reset to 0. 

Example scenario:

i use my iPad and navigate to ID 90 and power to full power speed step 200 because it is my zwL throttle. Then I change to engine ID 11 on my iPad and the speed is still locked at 200. When I adjust the throttle to start the engine it has to decrease from 200 down to speed desired. 

It it is not desirable on a small O-36 layout. Obviously a work around is to move to an id that won't cause am engine to rocket off the layout but wondering if others have experienced or if lionel knows and can bug fix?

i cannot consistently reproduce the issue but it has happened more than once. Any one else seen this problem?

I haven't seen the problem, but having written similar app code to control multiple engines, I think it is likely that the LCS iPad app is not consistently querying the current speed of the "switched to" engine ID and adjusting the throttle accordingly.  Having had to address this issue myself, I can tell you there are a variety of "edge cases" to consider in making sure the throttle gets reset properly.  I would suggest filing a support case with Lionel once you are able to recreate the problem at will.  If you can describe exactly how to make it happen consistently, I'm sure it can be fixed.

//Scott

Thanks for the reply. I've been trying to figure out the taps to make it happen consistently since it happens to be mr often, but haven't narrowed it down. I trst software for a job, so I know it is difficult to fix a problem without knowing what causes It. 

In in playing some more it appears to be related to moving to full throttle and then changing engine IDS. I'll try reaching out to lionel. 

I'm running the latest version. No update available. 

Does the wifi module have to be the first thing in the LCS system & how far apart does it have to be from the internet modem/wifi equipment?

Thank You

Ken M

"It is recommended that the LCS WiFi module occupy the first connection in the LCS chain of LCS products."

That is what I thought

Ken M