I want to go wireless soon.I use a NCE power cab now.I was going to put in some extra stations for my controller.But with my layout wireless seems it would be much easier to get around my narrow lanes and follow the trains/All my turnouts are hand throws so being close to them is a mus for switching.And does wireless work well.Also are their any other brands that do better at wireless.I do like how NCE works and understand it.Thanks Bob
Bob,
I feel like you do.
I have the NCE PH-Pro 5 amp system and two tethered throttles. I have 14 UTP panels strung around my layout, and it is a pain moving the cable from panel to panel. I am going to send my throttles back to NCE, one at a time, foir conversion to wireless and buy the wireless base station and antenna.
Rich
Wireless is the way to go. But you should still have several panels spread around the layout so you can plug in a controller in case of a dead battery or losing control or losing radio reception for another reason.
Since the Power Cab throttle has the power booster built into the hand held, how can you make it wireless and still get the power to the track? Presumably you would need to invest in a Smartbooster, the radio base station and have the throttle converted to radio to be able to accomplish this?
I have no experience with NCE but can tell you that wireless on my digitrax works flawlessly. I can’t imagine with the quality of NCE’s product that it would be any different for them.
I really can’t imagine running any other way, the freedom is so nice. I also have the duplex setup (don’t know if this is available in NCE) which allows me to send and receive signal to the controller which brought it to a whole other level. I never plug in and I can quickly make changes with one throttle.
I have Digitrax duplex wireless and recommend it highly. That said, NCE is a quality brand and if you are happy and comfortable with it why change?
I will leave it to someone who has NCE wireless to tell you what is involved. Once you go wireless you will never go back.
The only downside I have found to wireless is that I occasionally notice that Thomas the Tank Engine is running rapidly around the layout and the 4 year old grandson has nothing in his hand. So the search is on… Someday I will convince him not to lay the controller down and walk away from it while his train is running. [banghead]
I’ve used wireless systems from several manufacturers, including NCE, and they all worked really well. After using wireless I would never go back to tethered.
I think that there is a way to add wireless to your Power Cab but that would introduce certain limitations for adding other devices to your system.
I have an N scale with tethered trottles and an HO with wireless , there is no comparison, Wireless is so cool , I have yet to trip over the wireless.
I had the ph pro wireless and loved it. If doing so I would recommend the booster as well.
The others including digitrax are just as good but not better for wireless. I curently use the duplex wireless.
Good Luck
HB,
What is the “duplex wireless”?
How come you have up on the Ph-Pro wireless? I have the PH-Pro 5 amp system, and I am getting ready to go wireless with the RB02 wireless base station.
Rich
Thanks I will probably just get a whole new NGE setup instead of tyring to use the Power Cab,I can allways sell it or use it for a programming track.Now what to get.Bob
NCE wireless is Duplex (2 way) and has been forever. The only reason it is even mentioned is that the long standing Digitrax radio was simplex (one way) and required that the throttle be plugged in to acquire a locomotive. This was always the source of much criticism by NCE users, and much shrugging by Digitrax users. Anyway, last year Digitrax released the much anticipated Duplex version of their wireless. Myself and many other Digitrax users have been happily using the new Duplex since it came out. NCE always had it. Today you can get either system with Digitrax and the coexist with each other. None of which is really relevant to the OP’s question.
Just to confirm. If the OP has a Power Cab and want wireless they MUST get a Smartbooster first, and can then add the wireless base station and get the Power Cab throttle converted to radio.
So you are looking at about $250 for the base station and the Smartbooster and about $90 for the radio upgrade for the throttle. You might think about contacting Bruce Petraca for the throttle upgrade. He was the former owner of Litchfield Station and has a very good reputation for DCC. He also happens to be an authorized radio installer for NCE. See the link below.
Thanks Simon.i was looking at the Diditrax SEBXD set up.It is $459.$100 CHEAPER THAN THE NCE.Plus it has auto reverse.I am sure I could get use to the Digitrax system.I mainly just programm my locos and that is it.As long as I can do that and sometime change a CV I would be happy.Plus the Diditrax has autoreverse buildt in.Is the SEBXD system a good deal.Thanks Bob
I switched to the Digitrax Duplex mostly because of the dual throttle control on the DT402, and also the club uses Digitrax. If you have the PH-Pro 5 amp I’d suggest you just upgrade it as you plan.
Fender,
The SEB xtra is a decent system for sure, but you need to know a couple of things about it. First, yes it can be used as an auto-reverser or as a booster. If you were to get it, you would be using it as the primary booster, so IMO the fact that it can be used in auto-reverse mode would be redundant. You would still need a separate auto reverse device like an AR-1 or any of the many that are available from other manufacturers. So add that in if you are working out overall costs.
The other thing to know is that the SEB does not have the ability to read back CV’s. Now this may not be an issue for you, and there are many that have the SEB and don’t care that it does not have CV read back. Personally, I like it, because it lets me check that what I have written has been accepted. I also tend to use the JMRI program via a PC interface, and like to read CV’s a page at a time.
Now you can get around this shortcoming of the SEB by getting a PR-3 PC interface that can provide both the CV read back and the computer connection. But again this is additional cost you need to add to the cost of the system.
Also, when pricing these things, make sure that the power supply is accounted for in the cost of the unit. The larger starter system like the SEB, the SuperChief and the Powerhouse Pro do NOT include the power supply in the base price and this needs to be added.
I just want to make sure you are comparing prices on complete systems.
I was speaking to NCE about upgrading handsets and I believe that I was told that the PowerCab could be converted to radio operation. Thinking about that, maybe that conversion was when one used the PowerCab on someone else’s PowerPro system.
That said, I’m not sure why a smart booster would be required. Why cannot the radio base station be plugged into the other “normal” jack on the front of the panel? Then you could get one of the smaller handset radio throttles to walk around with? The PowerCab would remain plugged in and could be used for programming when required.
Or am I missing something?
Maxman, I think you are correct in principal, but I also think you might fall foul of the Cab limitation of the base system. As I understand it the radio base counts as a Cab and presumably the radio throttle would count as a Cab. It would be worth checking with NCE to see if this is a viable scenario.
Hmmmm, you might be correct. I think I’ll try to call NCE tomorrow and ask, right after I call Digitrax and ask them why I can’t program one of their old decoders in ops mode.
I will say that when I recently purchased my radio base station and hand-held, I just plugged the base station into one of the front jacks and I don’t remember any instruction that said anything about it being considered a cab. At least there was nothing that said I had to assign it a cab number. I did have to assign the hand-held a cab number. But I have the PowerPro, not the PowerCab, so I might be comparing apples with potatoes.
I just looked at the instructions for the NCE RB-02 radio base station and they show it plugged into one side of the utp jack. The other jack is shown as going either to the PowerPro or the PowerCab. See the hookup diagram here: http://www.ncedcc.com/images/stories/manuals/rbo2_rpt.pdf
Still probably worthwhile to call NCE to confirm.
You’re the one posting on the JMRI forum? The DH121 is REEAALLY old, and predates Ops Mode programming.
I really hope you have that only because you’ve been using DCC for a long time and didn’t recently buy such an outdate piece of hardwarey.
–Randy