Hi All,
i just bought a new Digitrax Evolution Express Duplex starter kit, which includes the UR93 module. This should be very easy to install. You plug it into LocoNet and the system will do the rest. However, in my case, I plugged everything in, but the UR 93 is just not working. The red and green status lights are just rapidly blinking. My DT602D throttle doesn’t recognize the UR93 and the LEDs are supposed to light steady. What am I doing wrong, Has anybody seen this?
Thanks so much!!
You did plug the PS14 wall wart power supply in to the UR93, right? It needs power to operate, it cannot just get power over the Loconet.
–Randy
Would the status lights come on at all if the unit has no power? I don’t think they are powered off the communication bus the way some Ethernet devices are.
When I “converted” to duplex throttles and UR-92s I had a terrible time trying to get better reception with the duplex 2.4 Ghz wavelength.
I had to buy two more UR-92s for a total of three and still I don’t have very good coverage even after moving them toward the ceiling.
My new DT602 has a signal strength meter and I have never seen it go above 15%!
So I’m interested in this UR-93 with “more than double” the signal strength. I hate to invest another hundred dollars if there’s no real improvement.
On a side note, I recently picked up this handy cable tester which will check Loconet cables and CAT 5/6 cables.
Tester_RJ by Edmund, on Flickr
I hope you resolve your problem. What is the function of the two, black buttons next to the LEDs? I don’t see any mention of them in the instructions and the troubleshooting section doesn’t seem to mention them?
Cheers, Ed
The older UR91 and UR92 certainly do - and don;t work properly because they get power, but not enough. Doubtful the UR93 is any different, and will pull power, not from the signal lines, but the Railsync lines. Throttles will work this way, but even then, with more than a few, you need to provide additional power to the plus panels. The radio transceivers draw too much power to be fed over the thin phone wire and will be erratic at best.
–Randy
Any recent news?
I’m curious about the performance of the UR93 which seems to be in short supply right now. Digitrax only began making the UR93 as a separate product in early August.
Cheers, Ed
Digitrax support has no instructions on advanced troubleshooting, or notes on configuration ‘anomalies’. This might be the first…
Here is the PDF instruction sheet for the UR93 from them (I presume this isn’t a UR93E but they have documentation for that too if needed)
I understand from this that the rapid blinking denotes ‘unconnected by wire’ and if it is plugged in correctly and power-cycled as indicated, I think there is either a cable-integrity issue or some part of the connection or internal drivers is corrupted or bad. A check might be to swap out known-good cables, then inspect the plug in the unit to make sure the spring conductors are not misaligned or damaged. I’d be tempted to test the particular unit and its power supply in a different system to verify that the unit does respond when ‘plugged to play’ as the instructions indicate.
i found the reason for the flashing red and green lights on the ur93. It is in need of factory reset. The way you do this is to 1) connect your wireless throttle to the ur93 2) press the red ops button. 3). Go to your wireless throttle, choose switch 040, and close the switch. This performs a factory reset. Your buttons will go back to a solid red color for ops, and a heartbeat green color for the id. Unplug the power from the ur93, then plug it back in. Once you unplug your wireless th rottle from the ur93, you will see your connection bars at the top. This will allow your dt602d, or any other device connected to the ur93 to work properly. There is NO DOCUMENTATION on this. I went to the documentation on the LNWI LocoNet WiFi Interface, and noticed it looked almost exactly like the ur93. This is where I got the instructions. HAPPY RAILROADING.
The UR93, like the DT600, uses a different radio module than the DT500 and earlier, and UR92, which has a higher power transmitter. If your construction is 2.4GHz opaque, it won’t help much, but it should help. I’m not sure what the walsl of my house are made of, it’s not plaster and lathe, it’s too new for that, but it’s much thicker than modern wallboard - like double thick, and it’s not two layers. It really attenuates my wireless router Outside the house is worse - it’s brick, and not just a brick veneer. Even with a drop ceiling, I have better signal in the basement than in some rooms upstairs - it’s only going through ordinary wood flooring, hardwood over plywood subfloor.
–Randy