TIU/WIU WiFi Problems

Dave,

I usually have had no problem running my trains using my Galaxy S7 smart phone on Android and Chrome.

What's Chrome got to do with anything?

Sometimes my phone just doesn't see the WIUs even though a nearby iphone will see them just fine.

When your Android phone can't see the WIUs, is it still connected to the LAN network? This sounds much more like an Android or router issue than a DCS App issue. I use both Android and iOS (Apple) devices with the app and they work very reliably with my 4 WIUs.

How many WIUs are on the layout and how are they connected? Are they in Home or MTH mode, and are they in Super TIU or normal mode.

Thanks for responding.  Chrome is the browser for Android.  It is still connected to the main wifi router.  I can still 'surf the net'.  It just doesn't see the 5 TIUs.  The TIUs are configured as Super TIUs.  I agree that the problem doesn't appear to be at the TIU or WIU level since others can see them on their iphones and my remote sees them.  It is a puzzlement.

Dave,

How many WIUs are on the layout and how are they connected? Are they in Home or MTH mode?

Barry,  I'm at the Scottsdale Stillman-McCormick RR Park.  We have 5 WIUs connected to 5 TIUs.  I'll have to ask tomorrow (Tues) how they are connected.

Dave

The 5 WIUs are in home mode and connected to the router through ethernet cables.  They do send out a radio signal however so we can check status using wifi settings on our phones.  I'm at the park now and have not have connection to my phone all morning.  One of our technical guys was with me and was able to control a train with his phone.

Dave,

It's most likely that the problem is with your phone vs. the club network. Does your phone have the TIUs in Super TIU mode?

I appreciate you patience with me Barry.  I installed the app in October and it had been working beautifully most of the time.  Yes, I  setup Super TIU first thing in October.  I can't check on that now since I get the 'error' message that the app can't find the WIU/TIU.

I agree that the problem seems to be some kind of disconnect within my phone between the wifi signal (which my phone sees) and the app (which doesn't see it).  Having said that, I can't imagine what is interfering with the signal and why it was fine last Thursay morning and quit working while we were eating lunch.

Would reinstalling the app do anything and can I reinstall it without having to repay for it?  I'm open to try anything.

Dave

Dave,

Would reinstalling the app do anything and can I reinstall it without having to repay for it?  I'm open to try anything.

Reinstalling the app could help, however, there are no guarantees. If you choose to do so, you'll have toddler the app from your phone and then re-ddownload  it. There should be no additional charge and you should not have to pay for it a second time.

When you delete the app, you'll have to reload your app's contest. I suggest that you proceed as follows:

1. Export the contents of the app.
2. Ensure that the phone sees the network.
3. Reset the app from the More.../App Settings screen.
4. Refresh the app.
5. Attempt to see the TIUs from the More.../Advanced Features/System Settings/TIU Settings.
6. If you can see the TIUs, import the file that you previously exported and go to step 7 below. If you cannot see the TIUs, go to step 8 below.
7. If you can still see the TIUs and run engines, you're done. If not, continue at step 8 below.
8. Delete the app from the phone.
9. Re-downlaod and install the app. If it doesn't automatically reinstall the version for which you paid, upgrade to your paid version.
10. Connect the app to the network.
11. Refresh the app.
12. Attempt to see the TIUs from the More.../Advanced Features/System Settings/TIU Settings.
13. If you can see the TIUs, import the file that you previously exported.
14. If you can still see the TIUs and run engines, you're done. If you cannot, repeat steps 1-5 below and, if you can see the TIUs, manually rebuild the contents of the app.

I have the TIU and the WIU with Legacy.  I have 2 MTH engines amd received my 3rd engine today (brand new Railking PS 3.0) I spent 3 hours trying to get the DCS app to recognize the engine. Finally I removed the other 2 engines from the track and was able to add the new engine. The fix I believe is to remove all engines except the one you are adding to the app. Reason being I had reset the app and was trying to re-add the other engines but could not get it to work unless all other MTH engines were off the track.

I called MTH and they concurred that this was a good way to get the job done.  

Any thoughts?

My problems have pretty much gone away.  We do occasionally have to reset out TIUs and then reset the WIUs using X10, which all are tied to.  On those occasions when there is a problem, resetting the TIUs and WIUs solves the problems.  Thanks to all who have tried to help me with this.  I do greatly enjoy using the phone app.  I often run 3 trains on one track, all MTH, and things just work.

Dave Benton posted:

My problems have pretty much gone away.  We do occasionally have to reset out TIUs and then reset the WIUs using X10, which all are tied to.  On those occasions when there is a problem, resetting the TIUs and WIUs solves the problems.  Thanks to all who have tried to help me with this.  I do greatly enjoy using the phone app.  I often run 3 trains on one track, all MTH, and things just work.

for some reason, when my old phone starts acting up with the app, a reset fixes it. I believe there's some software issue that gets triggered in a certain instance and causes this issue.

 On my other devices, I have not had to reset the app yet. So I believe it's something with the older phone's software interacting with the app.

Edit: I have never reset any of my TIUs that I remember? 

What are the steps for resetting a TIU and a WIU?

Hi @Dave Benton - the issue is likely related to the "port" of the Wifi DCS App on Android - I've done some baseline testing with a number of Android devices, network configurations, etc (see this thread: https://ogrforum.com/...n-t-find-tius?page=1).  I consistently see iPhone/iOS devices work with no issue, but in contrast it's pretty much a crapshoot on Android devices. @H1000 has seen similar behavior between Android and iOS devices.

I've reported my findings to MTH but have never heard back.

The most reliable method for me is I have hardwired (using a CAT5e) cable to my home network while also setting the WIU to "MTH" Wifi (rather than "Home").  I first try to connect via my Google Pixel on my home wireless network (which can route to the WIU since the WIU is wired to my home network), which 90% of the time, I see the "No WIU/TIU Found" issue you describe.  I then switch to using an old Android phone (LG G4 running Android 6 - Marshmallow) I leave in my train room which I connect to the WIU Wifi Network (MTH_DCS-XXXX) which tends to work more consistently (I'd say 80% of the time). In the event neither of the above work, I either power off and power on the WIU or I just switch to using the handheld remote.

This is all to say that the user experience of the WIU with the DCS WiFi app on Android needs some work.  I hope that whomever MTH contracts to for their app development performs more QA in the future.  I'm not planning on going to York this April, but in the event that I do go, my plan is to go by the booth and see if I can replicate the issue in the booth itself.

Good luck!

Bill Bish, the TIUs are connected by cat5 cable.  We have a big red button at the controls to reset the TIUs.  The WIUs are connected through X10 switches and are reset using an X10 on/off switch box.  If you have read through from the first few posts, you will see I am at a very large layout broken into 5 blocks controlled by five separate TIUs.  Part of some of our problems experienced over time at our layout is that we have over 70 members who use our facilities and on occasion 'fix' things that require some diligence to unfix.  All in all though, our layout is great and I'd invite any readers to come to Scottsdale and bring an engine to run on our layout (with a member at your side).  We are open 7 days a week with no charge to visit.

Mattrain, please continue pushing the issue.  All the interfacing is very complicated.  Finding the anomaly will take time and effort.

Good Luck.

I should add, we are at www.pandprr.com.