How to setup a Zephyr Xtra, PR3, JMRI and a Droid.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I wanted to write up what I've recently done to get JMRI, my Mac, and my Droid all working together with my Zephyr Xtra. It's pretty straight forward, but as I was figuring it all out, I realized there was no tutorial.

Now there is.

http://conrail1285.com/news.asp?storyid=75

I hope this encourages everyone to go out and try it. After using WiThrottle and my Droid on Eric's layout last night, I have become a HUGE fan.

[davefoxx]

Ed,

I forgot to ask you at the end of the ops session last night.  How did your cell phone battery hold up?

DFF

[seusscaboose]

yeah, really...  one thing that was very undervalued was Ed's ability to essentially "plug and play".  As far as i know, all you really needed was a loconet jack.  after that, you are completely self contained.

it was really cool seeing ya swapping cars out using your droid as a throttle.

EP

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ed,

I forgot to ask you at the end of the ops session last night.  How did your cell phone battery hold up?

DFF

Surprisingly well. I didn't note much real drain at all. Playing Angry Birds beats it up MUCH more. I feel like there's probably a full six hours of Withrottle time in the Droid leaving plenty of battery left for normal phone use.

[Dave V]

Sweet!  I have a PR3, an iPhone, and JMRI on an otherwise unused laptop.  Time to get to work!

[seusscaboose]

Ed's set up is pretty slick, he has a small carrying case with just enough room for a few engines and all the electronics/cable he needs.  Pretty slick and portable.

EP

[Ed Kapuscinski]

$14.99 at Harbor Freight. There's also a wireless router in there for places that don't have a network already.

Eric, now that you saw how it works, are we just going to use yours now?

[dclyde]

There are some notes to the WinThrottle that may be of some use:

First, as long as JMRI works on your layout, you can use WinThrottle.  Any DigiTrax system will work as we have a Super Chief system, JMRI running on an old laptop that my company was going to throw away and a LocoBuffer.  The main point is that if JMRI runs well then it is capable of using the WinThrottle.

Second, you must have a wireless access point that is accessible by both the Droid and the workstation running JMRI.  With that being said, you also need a source for DHCP in order for the workstation and the Droid to obtain TCP/IP address'.  Most access points provide this capability and is enabled by default.

Third, the Droid must be configured to use a wireless network.  By default, the Droid is not configured to connect to a wireless network so this must be accomplished or WinThrottle will not work.

Fourth, the WinThrottle server must be started in JMRI.  Only the newer versions of JMRI support WinThrottle so an upgrade of JMRI may be necessary.

Some notes to it's use:  When WinThrottle connects to the JMRI server, an invisible throttle is created which is used to control the engine(s).  WinThrottle does not yet support MU'ing so you will have to use a different resource to MU.  Once MU'ed, the throttle can control the consist by identifying the base decoder ID.

All-in-all, the system worked great during BANTRAKs initial test when we were at the Bedford, PA show.  The fact that it doesn't depend on the UR91s or UR92s was a bonus for us as there were some serious communication problems with the UR91 and only a choice few of us had the DT402D throttles.  The WinThrottle was a welcomed alternative.

Anyway, I thought I'd add my 2 cents.  Hopefully this information will be helpfull.

Dave Clyde

[John]

works with my iPhone also ..

[seusscaboose]

$14.99 at Harbor Freight. There's also a wireless router in there for places that don't have a network already.

Eric, now that you saw how it works, are we just going to use yours now?

Sure... feel free to Rock out with your Droid out.

[Wardie]

Cool, I just got a new Zephyr Extra so the only thing I need is the PR3 and I will be able to do the same using my old laptop and home network.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Cool, I just got a new Zephyr Extra so the only thing I need is the PR3 and I will be able to do the same using my old laptop and home network.

I've got to say, the PR3 was probably the best model railroading money I've spent in a long time.

[John]

There are 2 versions of the WiThrottle - the lite free version, and the paid version .. $9.99 which has the following features


Features:
- Select road or yard throttle control arrangements
- Dual throttle screen option
- F0 - F28 function controls
- Build and break advanced consists
- Control JMRI routes & turnouts
- Imports roster list and function labels from your JMRI files
- Adjust sensitivity of the throttle slider
- Set for right or left hand use
- Acquire and dispatch addresses wirelessly
- Train idles if interrupted (e.g. phone call)
- Control track power
- Automatic networking

In the not too distant future, you could get some used iphones - droids off of ebay probably cheaper than a new digi throttle ..

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Umm, my Droid version already does most of that stuff.

[delamaize]

Umm, my Droid version already does most of that stuff.

Yeah, but the Lite version on Iphone is pretty stripped down. I had it on my Iphone, never got a chance to actually use it, since I still don't have JMRI or any of the other stuff set up to my circle of track!  ;D I mostly downloaded it to play with it, I figured in the future I would run into someone who was using the system, and I would need a throttle also....