Railpro Start-UP W/Pics


H

hamltnblue

Active Member
Hello
In this thread I'll cover the components including any strengths and weaknesses I run across.
I'll also do screen shots of the controller when it comes time. This will probably take a week or 2 as I get time.
 
The first component are the Decoders. I'm used to going to the LHS and sorting through a wall of decoders trying to find the one that fits my loco and also has the correct Prime mover sound set.
After getting answers to several questions from ring, (They answer quickly) I visited an new LHS in New Jersey (Yankee Dabbler)who stocked them. Nothing like holding something new in hand before buying it.
When checking out the decoders a couple of things hit you right away. 1. There are only 2 to choose from, sound or no sound. 2. the 2 decoders are the same size.
Here's the product in the packaging:
IMG_2396_zps17fea745.png

Note that they intend on plugging into a 9 pin NMRA plug so don't include the 9 pin harness. The harness you see is for a second socket which is 6 pins to cover outputs 5/6, Future inputs 1/2 and speaker.
 
What's the ohm requirement on the speakers. Will "normal" speakers for DCC work, or do they sell their own speakers as well? Reason I ask is in the past, IIRC, Loksound required either 28 or 32ohm speakers, and theirs were the only speakers that had that rating. I know that they've changed to 8ohm(?) now, but for they older stuff, you had to use their speaker.

Edit, Never mind! Just as I posted my question, your second post came up and answered my question.
 
Surprisingly when I contacted support they weren't sure if the decoder would fit in the Atlas GP40's I have in both silver and gold.
Here's a pic of one partially installed my GP-40 silver loco. Very easy install with all the room in the world.
IMG_2400_zps6961218a.png


Here's the LM-2S sitting next to the Gold version of the loco. Note it is 30-40 percent shorter than the factory QSI decoder.
IMG_2403_zps44d5b757.png
 
Ohm requirement is 4-16 ohms. If you have 2 speakers in parallel the Ohms will be half. If in series they'll be double.
 
Here's the side view next to a tsunami 1000. Note the LM2S is a little shorter and the thickness is the same.
Also note it doesn't require the large stay alive cap that many sound decoders have.
IMG_2397_zpsd9eef2a9.png

IMG_2398_zpsa83bf5fb.png
 
Here the decoder is on top of the still installed QSI in the Gold loco. Note the width is the same so there won't be an issue installing the shell.
IMG_2404_zpsf247f9ce.png
 
A couple of other notes.
1. If using LED's the outputs will need resistors installed. on this install the atlas loco's have 1k resistors built into the light board so I won't need them.
2. Max voltage is 18 volts.
3. The install sheet advertises that there are 1000 speed steps. (you just don't see them but are mostly used during consisting)
4. When consisting the LM-2's actually communicate with each other and compare their loads and adjust so each loco pulls the same amount. No speed matching necessary.
You can actually run 2 completely different loco's in a consist and they will work with each other. Cant wait to try that.
That is probably all the pics for today.
 
Whao! Where in heck have you been blue? I haven't seen you around here in a long time. You still have a layout? I assume so, since you installed the railpro.

In any case, its nice to see you back sir.
 
Thanks Motley.
I won the lottery for an Illness that I'm fighting. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Had to take a leave of absence from the club but planning on starting back in another month or 2.
Home layout has been gone since my Wife moved the remains of her business to the basement about 2 years ago.
 
hamltnblue said:
Thanks Motley.
I won the lottery for an Illness that I'm fighting. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Had to take a leave of absence from the club but planning on starting back in another month or 2.
Home layout has been gone since my Wife moved the remains of her business to the basement about 2 years ago.
Click to expand...

Oh man that really sucks, sorry to hear that. Hope you feel better and are able to build another layout.
 
Got the first loco working today. More pics will follow.
A couple of weak points in the system at the moment, which should have updates in the future.
1. You cannot store picture, sound or light effects files on your computer. The way the system works is you run a program on the PC that acts like a pass-thru to the controller. You select the files you want to download and then initiate the loading from the HC-controller. The files then pass through the pc and get stored on the HC-2. Sound files take some time to download. From there the controller downloads to the loco's via wireless which makes sense. Once you download to the loco you can delete the files from the controller. storing on the PC should be something they consider for sure.

2. There is no individual control for the different sounds on the loco. Just a master volume which is adjustable on the fly.
3. A couple of menu items still refer to the HC-1 controller.
4. If you want a pic of your loco to download into the controller you must upload it to Ring engineering which is then converted to their format and placed on the site for you to download and use. support says a future release will allow you to convert and use your own pics.

I also opened the unit to check for the type of built in batteries. The unit contains 3 standard Rayovac Platinum AA rechargeable batteries and are removable. They are Nimh so do not have memory problems.
The electronics in side look well done using modern SMT components.
 
hamltnblue -

Congrats on getting Railpro, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I've had it for quite a while now and have been really pleased. I have a bit of experience with the in's and out's of the system. On that note, a few of the things you mentioned above are not quite correct or would benefit from some clarification. I'll go by the numbers you posted:

1. All the files are meant to be stored on your controller. There is no reason to store anything on your PC, ever. If you have the HC-2 controller, the storage capacity was something like doubled over the previous generation HC-1. Once you download a sound file to your controller there should almost never be a reason to remove it. Once the sound library gets to the point where a very large number of sounds are available, then it may be necessary to delete some files from the controller to save some space. Basically just download the files to the controller, and leave them there in order to quickly transfer the files to additional locomotives.

2. There is individual control for each sound. Go to the "Settings" button for the locomotive, click on "Button Setup" on the bottom. On this screen you will be able to change individual settings for each function button for the locomotive (there are currently 16 usable function button slots). Scroll through until you arrive at the function you want to modify. To change the volume of individual sounds, there will be a volume slider you click on and adjust as you want. The same can be done for lighting to control dim, etc. Be sure to save your changes before running the locomotive, as a power interruption will revert all your changes if they are not saved. See pages 16-18 of the manual for more on user-defined buttons and how to change them.

3. Those items will likely be addressed in a future update. The HC-1 and HC-2 are essentially the same though. All the functions are the same. The difference is that HC-2 has much greater storage capacity, much shorter battery charging time, a much more powerful processor, and is cheaper. The HC-1 is no longer sold, although it is still supported.

4. This is true, and I've also heard that they are planning to allow users to do their own pictures in the future. In the meantime, they have other things that are keeping them very busy. They've been doing a lot with sounds and trying to flesh out the sound library more. In the past few months they've released the EMD 567 and GEVO prime mover files, and just today they released the Alco 539T prime mover and a dynamic brake sound. I know that they are working on horns at the moment as well. It all takes time.

Good to know about the batteries. I have not opened mine at all, nor do I plan to. However, should I ever need to it sounds like the batteries can be replaced by myself. Looking forward to pictures of what you've done so far.

-Kevin
 
Thanks Kevin. I always felt my bells were too loud and my horn not loud enough. Good to know that I can adjust each sound individually.

Mel

having fun with RailPro
 
Actually only a few sounds are adjustable, unlike products like tsunami where you can adjust everything down to the whine of the turbo.
There are reasons to store files on the computer. 1. To have them on hand and not rely on the web to get them. If your loco roster is large you can find the controller filled up with files in no time. I don't know how many it can store at a time.
2. If railpro were to disappear or had internet issues you would have them and not have to worry or rely on them.

The quickly transfer files to locomotives is pretty funny. There's nothing quick about the downloads but they get the job done. If you have several loco's you'll be busy waiting. Seems like running on an old 1200 baud modem.
the issues are minor and so Far I find it to be a well built product.
 
Some more pics.
Here is the HC-2 with the hood opened. Very clean and high quality. The processor and memory are on the underside so I didn't mess with it at the moment. I assume it is probably using an ARM processor or similar.
Also note the Rayovac rechargeable batteries.
HC2Batteries_zpsb7ec4449.png

HC2opened2_zps61f8673b.png
 
Here is the underside of the speed control. Note they did not use a potentiometer but a solid state device. The center of the barrel is magnetic which controls the semiconductor.
This setup is excellent and remove the worry of worn-out or broken pots seen in other products.
LocoSpeedControl2_zps2e71b423.png
 
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Last are the screen pics.
Before downloading loco files to the HC-2 you have to install and run the pass-thru software called the internet access program shown here.
railproInternetAccess_zpsd8ab1423.png


The website is basic and easy to navigate.
There is a section for pictures, sounds and lighting effects.
The sound selection doesn't look very large but it covers just about any diesel model.
If you run steam the selection is very limited and almost non existent at the moment. Ring does add to the list on occasion and steam is on their list for sure.

The lighting effects are great and offer lots of options.
For instance I gave a GP40-2 with hood light. Simply download the Mars Light file and in a quick time it was running great.

RailproPics_zpsda39bc76.png

RailproSounds_zps14ca4934.png

Screenshot8_zpsdcba265c.png
 
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Here are HC-2 screens.
When you start up you get the main screen.
MainPage_zps706fde06.png


The find product is where you search for loco's, accessories or repeaters and bring them into the HC-2.

The tools selection allows you to download files to the controller and then to the locos.
Toolspage_zpsd26e0d2e.png

DownloadPage_zps72adf800.png


You select the loco you want to download to. Note a new loco defaults to the Ring loco pic
CopyFilepage_zps8e0f2b6e.png

CopytoLoco_zps4d1e78f0.png
 
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