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I recently acquired a Lionel Universal Remote and a Polar Express LionChief. The two work together fairly well.

The Universal Remote seems to offer something that the standard (dedicated) remotes don’t – an opportunity to see signal dropout. Every time the remote and the engine lose communication, however momentary, the bright yellow light (for the engine number you have selected) begins to flash. Mine sometimes flashes in several different spots on just one lap of my carpet layout, a rather small 5’ x 10’ oval. Sometimes though, it will go a couple of laps with no flicker.

Now this question may seem obvious, but I am curious to know if other’s have experienced this flickering, and is it the “norm”? Or is my engine receiver flaky? Is my remote flaky? I would try another engine, but this is the only Lion Chief I have that works with the Universal Remote – my early Thomas doesn’t play at all with this remote (normal, per Lionel.)

What has been your experience? Do you see dropout periodically? Or do you ALWAYS have a nice, steady yellow number light?

 

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Ray - it's running Ver 1.2 which I believe is the latest version. The problem got worse after a couple of days, now I can't sync up when the engine and remote are right next to each other. New receiver bd. is on it's way, we'll see how things work after that's been installed.

Strange, it worked quite well for a few days, then just gradually got worse.

Ray - try letting it down in different areas - I think that sometimes the remote's proximity to other electrical sources such as your transformer, cell phone w/Bluetooth, 2.4ghz house phone, Jacob's Ladder, etc. can cause very localized interference

Jacobs ladderJacob's Ladder

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HI GEOPEG: I use the Universal Remote to manage 5 LionChief Plus Locomotive with no signal drop off. My 4 & 5 year grandchildren use this remote when they come over and it is great for little hands and they know how to change the channels to access the other locos on the layout. 

Below is a YT video from my YT channel... Check it out...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHiClJLFCLk

Gary

Had a running session with multiple Lion Chief + trains last weekend and pulled out my Universal Remote for the first time in quite a while. It worked great and was easily able to toggle among the different trains sets. It was interesting to set the speed on Train 1 and then switch back over to Train 2. All went smoothly.

I haven’t really tested out the range yet (a topic that seems to come up frequently) but it’s pretty much a moot point for me. My layout is small enough and it’s not like I’m going to walk outside and start testing range.

With the elimination of supplied individual remotes with new LC+ locos (more accurately LC 2.0) I think the use of the Universal will really take off.

johnstrains posted:

Had a running session with multiple Lion Chief + trains last weekend and pulled out my Universal Remote for the first time in quite a while. It worked great and was easily able to toggle among the different trains sets. It was interesting to set the speed on Train 1 and then switch back over to Train 2. All went smoothly.

I haven’t really tested out the range yet (a topic that seems to come up frequently) but it’s pretty much a moot point for me. My layout is small enough and it’s not like I’m going to walk outside and start testing range.

With the elimination of supplied individual remotes with new LC+ locos (more accurately LC 2.0) I think the use of the Universal will really take off.

With LC+ 2.0 I think the Bluetooth app and TMCC will take off, not the remote so much. JMHO

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