Now that I have a non tethered throttle, I don’t know where to store it in non operating times. I see that Walthers has a holder that mounts to the facia. Failing that, what are some suggestions to keep track (no pun) of it?
Put it back in its box but remember to either remove or reverse the battery.
You don’t need to buy a holder. For mine (wired), I soldered a ‘U’ shape of wire to a scrap of PCB and used some CA to stick it to the top of the throttle - a couple of hooks in the fascia and you’re all set!
Go to the dollar store and look for cheap cup holders, cell-phone holders, or computer mouse holders, and use screws to mount them instead of the double-sided tape they come with.
I use some in-automobile cell phone holders that I got for next to nothing at a local dollar store.
Put it back in the box? Why? Who still has the box? And where would you then put the box?
It’s interesting that you assume he has Digitrax? Was there some hidden encription I missed in the original post?
I still don’t understand why those things don’t have an on/off switch? Is common sense that far removed from product design? Oh, I forgot, based on the hard to read display and 32 tiny buttons the answer is surely yes, common sense was not present in th design of that product.
I don’t have Digitrax at home, in fact I don’t use DCC at home, but I do have wireless throttles and do plan to use “throttle pockets” of one sort or another when I get that far - for now I simply turn them off and lay them down, on the layout, on the workbench, etc.
I do use Digitrax on the layouts of 4 different friends. If I was buying DCC, it would be anything except Digitrax. My first choice would be Easy DCC - far and away the most user friendly wireless DCC throttle.
My Aristo Craft Train Engineer wireless radio DC throttles work just fine and have five large easy to feel (no need to look at the darn thing) control buttons - Faster - Slower - East - West - Emergency Stop, all easily used with one hand, and an on/off switch (not to mention they turn themselves off after a set period of inactivity).
But what do I know, I’m just a hick with a pickup, a gun and few DC powered trains.
Sheldon
Sheldon, How did you manage to turn this thread into an anti-Digitrax/ DCCvsDC thread?
David B
Good morning
What I don’t understand is why didn’t they design the darn things with a charging station like a cordless house phone???
when they aren’t being used drop then in the charger and they will always be ready. [%-)]
Lee
My thought exactly - and I’ll extend that to Sheldon’s KISS handheld as well.
(Possibly influenced by having my cordless in its mini-charging station right next to this keyboard…)
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I have NCE, both wireless and tethered. I have a rack of holders mounted on the bathroom door (outside) in the basement where all cabs are stored when not in use. I do remove batteries after an op session but other than that no big deal. I also have the cab holders mounted on the fascia around the railroad, with extra holders so that a cab can be “parked” and left without taking a holder away from a live cab.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I often put a cab04r cab in the holder that I am using while sorting cards, or lining up switches as I detest (and on my railroad) forbid laying a cab down on the layout for any reason.
Bob
I have a strip of self-adhesive Velcro on the back of each throttle, and the other flavor of Velcro strip on selected legs of the layout. I do the same for my Rix re-railer.
By the way, recharging batteries after every use is generally not recommended, as it actually shortens battery life. It’s better to wait until they’re run down pretty far and then do a full recharge. My cell phone is 7 years old now, still on its original battery using this technique.
Not anti DCC or DC vs DCC, but yes anti Digitrax DT400R.
It just seemed rather presumptuous to “assume” the OP has Digitrax, considering there are a number of wireless throttles on the market, DCC and DC.
Sheldon
The Aristo Train Engineer handheld uses 4 AA batteries. Average life, even under fairly constant use is 6-9 months, sometimes longer. Rechargables do not work as their lower voltage does not provide the needed total voltage for the unit to perform correctly.
While a ni-cad and a charging stand would be a good idea, the battery issue is just not a big deal compared to Digitrax throttles which seem to eat 9 volt batteries pretty quick.
Sheldon
That applies to Ni-Cad batteries. They develop a “memory” to the shortened time between charges and after some time they will only go that far before running out of power. You can usually erase this memory by discharging them flat and recharging them 2 or 3 times in a row. Lithium batteries however do not develop a memory and can be recharged at any point in the discharge cycle. They have a longer life and a longer discharge cycle than Ni-Cad batteries and are better than Ni-cads in many ways, the lack of memory being foremost. They’re starting to take over from Ni-Cads, appearing in more and more equipment. There are even severe use Lithium batteries for use in equipment that draws a lot of current, like cameras, and may be better for throttles. BTW, it’s good for all rechargeable batteries, no matter what type, to be discharged completely then recharged once in a while. It refreshes them.
Our club uses little “buttons” that are designed for cell phones that were made to adhere to the back of a cell phone and snap into a belt clip. They are squared off mushroom shaped and have about 1/8 inch clearance between the top of the button and the back of the device. all of the fascia around the layout extend at least 1/2 inch above the scenery which provides a perfect lip to hang the button on. Also attached cheap wooden drawer pulls to the back side of clip boards that hold switch lists so they alson can be hung on the fascia by the drawer pull. Nothing get set on the layout that way.
Earl
That’s what I did. I got 6 of them for two bucks a piece. They look good and they do the job.
My throttles are all wireless. I have recently addedd Digitrax duplex to my system. I do not store the batteries in the throttles, so I have my older DT100R and DT300R throttles set up for use as teathered throttles. I also have two DT402D and a UT4D. These go first when operating. To use the simplex throttles as wireless; unplug and add a batttery.
The photo is one of my staging yards. If I am just working on the layout and don’t need the DT402D I just fire up the system and use a teathered throttle. This is very handy when I am programing a sound loco and want to make frequent adjustements. I have a programing track on the workbench and use a PC and Decoder Pro. While my programing track can be also used as a test track. I like to test functions on the layout.
At the risk of continuing the flame war Sheldon felt the need to ignite, I love my Digitrax throttles. I think they are well designed. While the need to turn the battery over when you are done probably should be addressed, it’s not like it’s difficult or time consuming to do. I have absolutely no complaints about the button size or placement. Even my grandchildren have no trouble using them.
Back to the original post. I use throttle pockets attached to the fascia.
While the battery thing is not difficult, a number of people have complained, on a number of forums, about battery door wear/tear/breakage.
As to the operational features/user interface of the DT400R, to each his own.
Since I don’t use sound, most of the buttons would be useless. I find remembering all the “steps” to aquire, release, consist, etc, not fun or easy. And the worst thing of all is those who have their turnouts controlled by the darn thing, 4-5 buttons to push for one turnout where I have only one, even for routes through complex interlockings.
Nor do I care for the endless wheel throttle knobs or the tiny display with computer like icons (never liked the icon thing on computers either). I want to, and do with TE, operate my trains without having to look at the throttle, but rather watch the train.
Again, not anti DCC, just my view on a product that I have used extensively on other peoples layouts. I always request a UT4R if there is one to be had.
Should a future layout ever require DCC, something like the Easy DCC wireless throttle is more to my liking.
And, I still think it was presumptuous to assume the OP had Digitrax, and I still want to know where to but the box after I return the throttle to it?
Sheldon
‘Steps’ to aquire a loco are EXACTLY THE SAME as all other brands.Turnout control is also just as cumbersome with the others. To the point where I don’t really know why anyone actually does it. I have stationary decoders on my turnouts but NOT to operate them from the throttle - it’s a pain. The decoders are so it can be operated by a dispatcher panel - virtual with JMRI but someday I’d like to build a replcia CTC machine. Function access is only 1 part of the number of buttons on the DT40x - you have 0-9, 10 buttons for numeric entry - no way to reduce that. It;s TWO throttles so there are two direction buttons. It’s full function - you can run trains AND program with it, so there have to be buttons for that. A more fair comparison to Easy DCC would be the UT4, since Easy DCC can;t do any programming or consisting from the throttles - another button on the DT400. By that comparison, the UT4 actually has FEWER buttons than the Easy DCC T9000.
Bruce has posted here plenty - pretty sure he has Digitrax, and I can’t be the only one who remembers things like this. I don’t have wireless and I have yet to install the fascia so for now I loop the cord over one of the diagonal leg braces. Probably not the best but the cord has neither stretched nor broken in several years across 2 different layouts. Since I always run plugged in I have no need to ever mess with a battery.
–Randy