Wireless DC cabs

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Does anybody know of any Wireless DC cabs?

where or who i can get them from?

i am looking to spend under $150

thanks

your help is appreciated,

AK

2

Your price range might be a little unrealistic unless you are prepared to make your own. For the past couple of years at Trainfest, Caboose Industries (yes, the ground throw people) have shown a wireless throttle system for DC. But each year the guy running it is not the tech guy and I have some technical questions that I need answered before I invest. Maybe I will be luckier this year

It is mentioned and pictured on their website

http://www.cabooseind.com//pr3.html

Dave Nelson

3

Aristo Craft used to make one . I used to have it around 02 or so, bought it from a freind but I don’t know how long he had it. Don’t think it was all that expensive or I wouldn’t have had it. I sold it on down the line when I went to DCC.

4

Ouch, that is a little expensive!!! But it’s still a one time buy and you don’t have to buy or install decoders. I’d have to play with it first hand before buying though. Thanks for posting the l link Dave.

5

In the Walthers catalog, there’s a company called Crest which makes a product called the Train Engineer. Here’s a link to the basic system (one reciever, one controller) for $101:

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/227-55480

Here’s the whole Walthers page:

http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=&scale=&manu=Crest&item=&keywords=Train+Engineer&words=restrict&instock=Q&split=30&Submit=Search

6

Those are now made by Crest. The 10-amp version retails for $200, but I’m sure they can be found elsewhere for less. http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/227-55470

7

If you are talking about HO here, my advise is simple DON’T!

I bought the HO Train Engineer from Aristocrap aka: Crest when I got got back into the hobby several years ago. It is pure junk! Period! The “decoders” that go into the locos are more expensive than most similar DCC decoders. They claim they fit into “most” HO locomotives. Yeah, right! If you are running giant sized modern diesels or Challengers and Big Boys, maybe. Otherwise be prepared to make some major modifications. You have a 5 foot long antenna that catches on everything in the room. I wasted about about $600 on that crap before I came to my senses and got DCC. DCC works and does so much more. If you are going to spend that much money, go with a DCC system! BTW, you will probably find that your power source won’t work with it. Mine didn’t, so plan on spending another $100 or so for one of their DC power sources… And the list goes on…

Now if you are talking G scale, outdoors, they make some decent stuff.

8

Throttle Up/ Leap Frog combined to make one. They cost $450 each.

I sold mine to fellow member Bill Morse of the Columbia Gorge Model RR Club

503/777-2979

He might be willing to sell one of his (he has two).

State-Of-The-Art DC throttles with variable Momentum & decay. Thottle Up was the DC Diivision of Soundtraxx which now is 100 % DCC…

9

The Aristo Craft I had , had a wireless controller that controlled the power pack and not the individual locomotives. One I had to use a conventional block system and all for control. Basically just a wireless walk around. Worked on 27 MH I think.

10

The aristocraft throttles work pretty well. The ones I have used have very short antenaes and no decoders, etc go into the locos. The reason I don’t own them is because I don’t like the pushbutton controls. They are fine for mainline running but for yard work and switching, I much prefer a knob control. I now just use walkaround GML throttles with memory. If I ever see a wireless with a knob, I will consider it.