4-Digit Addressing in All 2024 Legacy Engines???

@Keith L posted:

A while back, Lionel's Dave Olson said in a YouTube video that the plan was for all 2024 Legacy engines to have 4-digit addressing. However, I didn't see anything about this in Lionel's 2024 Vol. 1 catalog. Do we know if this is still the plan?

Dave said on the Virtual Legacy Users Group Meeting last fall that only VL at this time will have 4 digit addressing.  He listed the engines it's currently in and slated to be in as of now.  It will get into regular production runs in the near future.

Here is the discussion on 4 digit addressing starting at 40:25

They won't make enough 4 digit engines in the next 20 years to justify 4 digit addressing. Think about it.

You have to buy more than 98 new 4 digit capable engines to justify it.

They would have to make more than 98 4 digit address engines you want to buy.

Current TMCC/Legacy firmware is 1-99, but 99 is all engines, so 1-98 is "usable" address space.

On the bright side, the fact that they'd rolling it out like that suggests they think that Lionel will be around for many years to come.

4 digit addressing bring more to the table than it's name implies. 

Four digits makes it easier for some of us to remember the address of the engine.  I don’t have any 4-digit cab numbers.

@CAPPilot posted:

Four digits makes it easier for some of us to remember the address of the engine.  I don’t have any 4-digit cab numbers.

You can address the engines with the Legacy system using the cab number and not the TMCC ID now, no need to wait for that feature.

I think the primary feature of "four digit addressing" is new electronics capable of two-way communication (like DCS but probably more stable because it apparently uses bluetooth for the engine-to-base communications).  This opens up huge possibilities for future development.  Boggles my mind why Lionel is choosing to focus on the "four digit addressing" as the main selling point...

@Vernon Barry posted:

They won't make enough 4 digit engines in the next 20 years to justify 4 digit addressing. Think about it.

You have to buy more than 98 new 4 digit capable engines to justify it.

They would have to make more than 98 4 digit address engines you want to buy.

Current TMCC/Legacy firmware is 1-99, but 99 is all engines, so 1-98 is "usable" address space.

That really doesnt matter   In a club with multiple addresses assigned to members it frees up the lower numbers for more members that dont have the 4 digit capability   I think its an awesome thing

@bluelinec4 posted:

That really doesnt matter   In a club with multiple addresses assigned to members it frees up the lower numbers for more members that dont have the 4 digit capability   I think its an awesome thing

And then the Lionchief and Lionchief Bluetooth mapping takes away 30 addresses in that key 1-98 range.

I don't think that's awesome.

@Vernon Barry posted:

And then the Lionchief and Lionchief Bluetooth mapping takes away 30 addresses in that key 1-98 range.

I don't think that's awesome.

That doesnt matter in our environment because bluetooth range limits how many engines are actually used      We use two in the yard for switching  Whats next on the bad list

@Catonsville Central Railway posted:

I think the primary feature of "four digit addressing" is new electronics capable of two-way communication (like DCS but probably more stable because it apparently uses bluetooth for the engine-to-base communications).  This opens up huge possibilities for future development.  Boggles my mind why Lionel is choosing to focus on the "four digit addressing" as the main selling point...

It hasn't been mentioned, but as you say, Bluetooth for the return channel is almost surely how it's done.  What bothers me is the current limitations of Bluetooth, how reliable will that return channel be?  We've been successful in boosting the outgoing signal so that even large layouts can have reliable TMCC/Legacy operation.  However, whatever characteristics the return BT channel has I suspect we have to live with.  There are Bluetooth range extenders, so I suspect when this capability is really getting used, we'll be hearing about those.

@Vernon Barry posted:

And then the Lionchief and Lionchief Bluetooth mapping takes away 30 addresses in that key 1-98 range.

I don't think that's awesome.

Vernon,  that for brining up the concern of addressing with BASE3.  I was curious if we lost addresses 1 - 9 for Lionchief and 10 - 30 for Bluetooth.   I have decent number of Lionel TMCC engines and assign them a number based of the engine number.   Several are under 30 such as the original Acela.  

My question for Marty or Lionel is can you still use address 1 - 30 for TMCC/Legacy addresses with the BASE3?    

If not, I will assign them to a higher address.   Hopefully, Lionel will roll out start for using 4 digit addresses for any new Legacy locomotive.

@PatapscoValleyRR posted:

Vernon,  that for brining up the concern of addressing with BASE3.  I was curious if we lost addresses 1 - 9 for Lionchief and 10 - 30 for Bluetooth.   I have decent number of Lionel TMCC engines and assign them a number based of the engine number.   Several are under 30 such as the original Acela.  

My question for Marty or Lionel is can you still use address 1 - 30 for TMCC/Legacy addresses with the BASE3?    

If not, I will assign them to a higher address.   Hopefully, Lionel will roll out start for using 4 digit addresses for any new Legacy locomotive.

Yes you can use those addresses for TMCC / Legacy but if you are entering a BT or LC engine they have to go in those respective addresses.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

It hasn't been mentioned, but as you say, Bluetooth for the return channel is almost surely how it's done.  What bothers me is the current limitations of Bluetooth, how reliable will that return channel be?  We've been successful in boosting the outgoing signal so that even large layouts can have reliable TMCC/Legacy operation.  However, whatever characteristics the return BT channel has I suspect we have to live with.  There are Bluetooth range extenders, so I suspect when this capability is really getting used, we'll be hearing about those.

The other gorilla in the room is Bluetooth gets knocked out of the air pretty easy.

@ThatGuy posted:

The other gorilla in the room is Bluetooth gets knocked out of the air pretty easy.

Well, we'll be sitting on the fence to see how it all plays out.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Well, we'll be sitting on the fence to see how it all plays out.

I’m going to bet BT is the. Achilles is here of the new system.