Model Railroading > Ring Engineering RailPro

All,

Has anybody used the Ring Engineering RailPro wireless system. I'd be interested in hearing from folks that have or are using it.

Thanks.

J.

Some folks in the Willamette Valley of Oregon have dumped their old boards and are moving to this, with the wireless controller directly to the locomotive as I've been told. Sounds like a decent way to control helpers, systems like this don't use a repeater/DC Supply, they just use straight DC. The only comment I've heard so far is that the hand held controller is very busy, lots of displayed info and menus.

I'd also like to hear more about it. I was trying to line up a Demo but the timing didn't work out.

http://www.ringengineering.com/RailPro.htm



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/14 13:56 by TCnR.

That is nice. I like how you can use a current DCC system to supply power. Makes it far less expensive to switch over. Get the controller and a few moduals and over time convert over the units. Then just change out the power supply at the end.


I was wondering when the complete self contained radio system used in Large scale would migrate to smaller scales. Here it is. Only question I have is that are there sound samples on the web page some where? And what quality of sound reproduction is there?

I have had Railpro now for at least a year and a half and love it. I've had some experience with DCC, and although I like much of what DCC is capable of I really didn't like how it accomplished it. Working with CV's, even through JMRI, was tedious. Speed matching was incredibly frustrating. I would spend hours speed matching a set of locos, only to flip them around and realize they wouldn't be speed matched in the other direction. That's when I started looking around and found Railpro.

Railpro works by direct radio communication. Each locomotive module has a radio transmitter and receiver in it, as well as every other Railpro product (power supplies, accessory modules, auto reversers, etc). This means that everything communicates together and all of that information is available on the controller. The controller does have a lot going on, but it is easy to see and do what you need to. Railpro takes power from the rails, but can also be used with battery power. It doesn't care how the power gets to it, as long as it's over 12 volts. If using rails, it will run on DCC-powered track or Railpro filtered DC-powered track (side note: it will also run on straight DC, but b/c straight DC is not regulated spikes in voltage are possible that would destroy the modules....ie not recommended). Commands are instantaneous....I've never detected any lag whatsoever.

The biggest draw about Railpro for me was the automatic load-sharing. Upon installing Railpro in a locomotive, you set the Motor Full Load Current (which is set by pressing a button and letting the program detect it automatically), then you are able to consist that loco with any other Railpro loco. When consisted, the locomotives detect how much 'load' they are under and send that information to other locos in the consist and they adjust accordingly. For example, if the lead loco detects that it is pulling too hard, the following locos will increase their output to compensate. It is really interesting to watch in action. I can consist any locomotive with any other, be it Kato, Atlas, Athearn Genesis, Athearn blue box, etc.

The greatest weakness about Railpro currently is the sound. The sound library is somewhat limited, and compared with some of the newer offerings from the DCC manufacturers (Loksound, TCS, and some QSI) the sound files themselves need some improvement. New sounds are continually being added and old files are improved, so at least there is some improvement there. I do know that Ring Engineering plans to allow users to create and load their own sound files in the future. It will take time, but the sound will eventually get to the point of rivaling the best that DCC has to offer. FYI, Railpro sound is 44.1kHz 16-bit WAV.

Here are a couple videos I made documenting some of what Railpro is. The first is a general overview (keep in mind this first video is old, things have changed some since). The second shows the newest version of the locomotive module (small) and how everything is set up on it. The third video is an example of the sounds, featuring a SD70MAC and ES44AC.

Video #1: Ring Engineering Railpro review
http://youtu.be/RGx7lQC2-0Y?list=UUjY19BtvDh7HyZGMNEtn5Hg

Video #2: Railpro installation
http://youtu.be/6uL69dp0qmA

Video #3: BNSF 9624
http://youtu.be/6cLypR-ySHA

Let me know what else you want to know. I can probably answer most questions you might have!

-Kevin