Wi-Fi DCS App on iPhone Gets Pegged

Set the max speed to something lower like 100. The + symbol and the 120 mark are so close together it's easy to fat finger it. Not a problem if you lockout the highest speed ranges.

I have had to lower all my engines maximum speed to keep this from happening.

Scott Smith

It would be a good idea to do something similar when you get the WIFI set up.The speed increase + sign and the 120 mph settings are very close. I found it all too easy to hit the 120 when aiming for the + sign. I now set my engines for 60 mph max speed to avert surprises.

Ed

Does that app have different speed steps you could try?  Example:  DCC apps have a choice of 28 or 128 speed steps.

John

Not sure what a speed step is. The WIFI app has a speedometer image. You can tap on the speed you want the engine to accelerate to or you can tap on the + or - speed symbol to take it to the desired speed under your control. It's really pretty easy and fun except when things get screwed up. In my case, that has usually been because of operator error.

Ed

@ekaz posted:

Not sure what a speed step is. The WIFI app has a speedometer image. You can tap on the speed you want the engine to accelerate to or you can tap on the + or - speed symbol to take it to the desired speed under your control.

A speed step is the number of incremental increases between all the way from (-) Full OFF to (+) Full Throttle each time you tap the + or - key.

28 would give you bigger jumps than 128.

John

This has happened to me a few times.  I'm now extra vigilant when clicking the plus button to increase speed.

If I'm understanding this correctly, then you would have 120 speed steps between 0 and 120 mph. You can get there by tapping the + sign 120 times!

Ed

One would hope they eventually add a confirmation if the speed diff is extreme. ie - ((max_speed - cur_speed) > x) where x is a value like 70 or so. Would help prevent sending your engine to warp speed straight into the depths of the floor.

@ekaz posted:

If I'm understanding this correctly, then you would have 120 (128) speed steps between 0 and 120 mph. You can get there by tapping the + sign 120 times!

Ed

Yes, or hold the key down in which case it will ramp up faster.  I doubt you have the option or you would know it.  Most DCC apps and controllers have it.

John

Thank you for illustrating why I keep my DCS remotes and eschew the smart device app!

The speed step discussion leaves me thinking “huh?” and bypasses the best advice offered.

As H1000, Scott and Ed noted above; set the maximum speed for your locomotives at something considerably lower than 120.

The absolute first thing I do after loading a new engine into my iPhone is set the maximum speed to 55. It’s incredibly easy and takes at most 10-15 seconds to accomplish.

Curt

A couple of times when using the MTH Wi-Fi DCS app on my iPhone to control Lionel trains, the meter has inexplicably pegged at 200 mph. In both instances, I was able to quickly kill power and save the engines from damage (before flying off the train table.) Needless to say, I permanently stopped using the app and MTH Wi-Fi box.

Being an Mechanical Engineer, we tend to skip instructions or dig deep into advanced or simple settings.  But we always learn from out mistakes or learn from others.  I have found the maximum speed limit setting (for each engine) and have also unhiddened the emergency stop button; which really has no business of being hidden as a default setting.  Thanks to all.

It's awfully easy to say you can just tinker with the settings to fix an obvious shortcoming in the software, but you really shouldn't have to protect yourself against this issue in the first place.

Well perhaps in the next app release they can default the max speed to 100 and restore the e-stop button. Until then, customizing these features is easy enough to do and takes more effort to complain about than it does to change them.

@H1000 posted:

Well perhaps in the next app release they can default the max speed to 100 and restore the e-stop button. Until then, customizing these features is easy enough to do and takes more effort to complain about than it does to change them.

The phone app has NO estop button!!?? Bummer. How many us have had to use that on the hand held remote over the years!? What were they thinking? No one would make any mistakes? Geesh. I will keep my remote. Greg

It has one it's turned off by default when you install the app. All you have to do disable the 'hide e-stop button' setting.