@rplst8 posted:

One big miss, Lionel's big "feature" for the CAB3 is four digit engine numbers.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

One big miss, Lionel's big "feature" for the CAB3 is four digit engine numbers.

How do we say it in software engineering ...

YAGNI

Ya ain't gonna need it. :-)

@rplst8 posted:

YAGNI

It's certainly true that I doubt I'll need it at my age, I doubt I can buy enough new engines for 4-digit addressing to make a big difference.  However, if designing a remote for the whole TMCC/Legacy audience, I'd be considering all the stuff coming down the pike.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

However, if designing a remote for the whole TMCC/Legacy audience, I'd be considering all the stuff coming down the pike.

Fair enough. Adding a few more digits on the display shouldn’t be too hard, but I’m guessing the remote would need to be bidirectional with the Base 3 to make four digit addressing viable on any remote. I’m assuming the database that keeps all the info is on the command base, but since they are using a smartphone app, who knows.

Actually, the remote would have to be bi-directional to implement a number of the features you've added I expect.

One thing your new remote should have, lose that stupid cover over the L,M,H buttons!  That is the dumbest idea I've ever seen, and you'll note that even Lionel figured that out with the CAB2.  Why they retained it on the CAB1L is a total mystery, but I expect it was so they could use the same molds at the CAB1.

Thanks for the link to this new post!  

Copied from my last post:
If they keep making the Cab2 there is no R&D and allows the parts to be made for repair.  Warranty it for 3 years then customer pays for repairs.  Seems practical to me.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Actually, the remote would have to be bi-directional to implement a number of the features you've added I expect.

You might be right. I don’t think the whistle slider would, nor would displaying the currently selected engine.

Train brake control I’m not sure about. Displaying the speed step shouldn’t as there is no communication from the engine to the remote to confirm the speed increment like with DCS.

One thing your new remote should have, lose that stupid cover over the L,M,H buttons!  That is the dumbest idea I've ever seen, and you'll note that even Lionel figured that out with the CAB2.  Why they retained it on the CAB1L is a total mystery, but I expect it was so they could use the same molds at the CAB1.

I TOTALLY AGREE!

@Keystone Bill posted:

Thanks for the link to this new post!  

Copied from my last post:
If they keep making the Cab2 there is no R&D and allows the parts to be made for repair.  Warranty it for 3 years then customer pays for repairs.  Seems practical to me.

Bill, that misses the point. The displays from the Cab-2 are no longer available from the part manufacturer.

@rplst8 posted:

Bill, that misses the point. The displays from the Cab-2 are no longer available from the part manufacturer.

Bingo!

Mike

I didn’t know the screens were not being made anymore.  But you would think there would be another vendor that can produce them to the required specifications.

The display/touchscreen situated under the programmable keypad 'grid' is a very unique item.  It appears to be made of layers of fairly flexible plastic sheeting.  It's not like the screen on a smartphone, i.e. not gorilla glass with a modern capacitive touch sensing system.

I haven't seen this kind of assembly used anywhere else, not on other handheld devices, not on appliances, not in automobiles, nada.

As a result I'm reasonably certain that there are no sources other than the original one.  Low volume usually means few suppliers (perhaps only one?) and no alternative sources.  It also usually makes for a short production lifetime.

In light of all of this we're lucky we've been able to buy CAB2's all these years without parts being unavailable long before now.

Mike

@Keystone Bill posted:

I didn’t know the screens were not being made anymore.  But you would think there would be another vendor that can produce them to the required specifications.

Almost anything can be made for the right price.  I just think it's probably not cost effective to keep the Cab2 manufacturing going if components would need to be re-designed to work with older technology.  Sooner than later all of the components will be EOL and then you'll be starting over again.

@Keystone Bill posted:

I didn’t know the screens were not being made anymore.  But you would think there would be another vendor that can produce them to the required specifications.

@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:

The display/touchscreen situated under the programmable keypad 'grid' is a very unique item.  It appears to be made of layers of fairly flexible plastic sheeting.  It's not like the screen on a smartphone, i.e. not gorilla glass with a modern capacitive touch sensing system.

I haven't seen this kind of assembly used anywhere else, not on other handheld devices, not on appliances, not in automobiles, nada.

As a result I'm reasonably certain that there are no sources other than the original one.  Low volume usually means few suppliers (perhaps only one?) and no alternative sources.  It also usually makes for a short production lifetime.

In light of all of this we're lucky we've been able to buy CAB2's all these years without parts being unavailable long before now.

Mike

@MartyE posted:

Almost anything can be made for the right price.  I just think it's probably not cost effective to keep the Cab2 manufacturing going if components would need to be re-designed to work with older technology.  Sooner than later all of the components will be EOL and then you'll be starting over again.

The truth is probably somewhere in between. The model railroad industry is a very, very, very small player in the electronic components industry. Twenty plus years ago (or even before the smartphone era) it was probably somewhat different, and a component manufacturer would have been more open to making a special part for a company like MTH or Lionel. I'm sure it could still be done today, but we're even seeing the demise of some through-hole components so I'm not so sure it could be done for anything in the realm of what would be considered "affordable" today.

The fact is, outside of the computer, smartphone, and IoT industry no one is else is able to drive the direction of component manufacturers and we are beholden to the whims of those industries. That is to say, if those industries don't need it - it's not going to get made. The most recent victim of this is the auto industry. Certain 8-bit processors of a certain component size are just NLA, and they've been forced to redesign based on what's available.

Parts obsolescence has always been a thing, but the pandemic spurred it on as factories scrambled based on low staffing and other supply chain disruptions.

@rplst8 posted:

I'm sure it could still be done today, but we're even seeing the demise of some through-hole components so I'm not so sure it could be done for anything in the realm of what would be considered "affordable" today.

Well, not many thru-hole parts in the CAB2...

I hear you about parts shortages, I've had to pick a number of substitutes for my boards as the parts originally used were out of stock for at least another year!