Woodshire Bill posted:Nice write-up JGL. Much information contained clearly and informatively; always posts worth reading.
I run outdoors, and I've been thinking of getting a Lion Chief Plus engine for young kids to run as it might not be as complicated as Legacy or DCS with all the buttons and features. I have about a 100' by 60' layout, and I'm wondering what kind of range I might expect. Kids and cats like to chase things around, so that might be part of the solution. I know there are four classes of bluetooth, and I'm guessing that Lionel might use Class 2.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I can't speak with any certainty about the BLE modules being used in the new engines as I don't have one and haven't seen the guts of any of them. I have disassembled a Universal remote, and can say that it uses a class 2 module. I would expect that class 2 would be uses throughout the LionChief line. The module in the universal remote just barely meets the minimum spec for class 2 which should be good for at least 10 meters(33 feet). However in open air, outdoors, I think you can safely assume at least twice that range, if not more. I think it will be hard to know for sure without actually testing. Perhaps one of the folks that has one of the FlyerChief engines with bluetooth that have been released could do a range test?
Also worth considering, if one is planning on using the LionChief app on their smart device, the device you use could limit, or improve, the range. While pretty much every smart device uses a class 2 Bluetooth radio, not all class 2 radios are the same. Many better quality devices will have radios that greatly exceed the minimum spec. On the other hand very inexpensive devices may have radios that only barely meet the requirements for class 2, and may have worse range. At this point, it's a non-issue, with the app only available for Apple devices, which all have top-end hardware, however when the Android app is available there could be a wide range of hardware in use.
Short answer: I think it's worth a try for 100 foot range outdoors, but I'm not quite sure that it will make it. If it doesn't have the range, there are some hacks I can think of that might just get something working for you.
JGL
