Signal strength

renegade800 · February 17, 2012, 08:39:38 PM

Why do I keep losing signal strength for my Dynamis controller. I can be a foot away from the box with good strength and then lose all signal without moving. Do florescent lights affect it? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Ric

gilly · February 17, 2012, 09:09:23 PM

I too am having the same problem, did you find out any solutions, I understand from sending previous things back to Bachmann that they are running 8 weeks for service, thats no fun.........

NarrowMinded · February 17, 2012, 10:22:41 PM

three things

1. make sure you put good brand new batteries in the controller

2. make sure the outlet you are plugging the wall pack into is putting out at least 110vac

3. some florescent lights have an affect I switched to cool white.

NM-Jeff

darthraven · February 17, 2012, 10:27:47 PM

What frequency does the controller work on?

Jim Banner · February 17, 2012, 11:24:05 PM

Quote from: darthraven on February 17, 2012, 10:27:47 PM
What frequency does the controller work on?

Around 300 to 400 teraherz. This is in the near infrared portion of the spectrum.

Jim

darthraven · February 19, 2012, 08:07:48 AM

I have read that a wireless router can cause this. Though they work on RF and not IR so I am not sure why it would cause an issue but they said resetting the router can help.

Ken G Price · February 19, 2012, 03:56:28 PM

As NM-Jeff check the batteries. Even though I may have a different system then you, when I have this problem it tends to one of two things.
Batteries or you may need to reenter the engine number.

renegade800 · February 20, 2012, 09:21:29 PM

I checked my Volts coming out of the outlet and it is a strong 120 volts, put new batterys in the controller and shut off the florescent lights and still have the problem with the signal coming and going

NarrowMinded · February 21, 2012, 02:26:34 AM

If you have a digital camera with a viewing screen you can look through the screen while operating the units and see if the IR is lighting up, Most Digital camera's see the IR and translate it into white.

Don't expect to see the room light up just the IR emitters will flash.

look around the room to see if you have any other IR emitters active like from a Webcam or security camera if you have them.

NM-Jeff

captain1313 · February 21, 2012, 06:06:13 PM

When do you loose the signal? When a loco is running or when nothing is running or both? I have signal loss when operating one of my locos with a QSI decoder. Usually when trying to use the whistle or bell. I have another loco with a QSI but don't have any problems with it. Just my Atlas.

Kevin

renegade800 · February 24, 2012, 12:56:20 PM

there seems to be no reason to when I seem to lose signal strength, sometimes a couple trains are running on different tracks and is do so for several minutes with no problems and then the signal meter will go down to one bar or go away all together. After a minute or two the signal is back to full strength. Really confusing. I have my layout in a separate building more than 50 feet from the house, no other electronics in the building other than lights.

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Signal strength