Lionel 84611 Bluetooth Radio Tower

Thanks for the heads-up, Neal.

I ordered this although I have to admit it had slipped my mind until your post!

First the Santa Fe f3’s now the Blue tooth Radio tower......certainly the start of a good month!

-Pete

Thanks, Neal.  Please post pics and a video, if possible.  I'm interested in that one, but, want to hear the opinions of the guys....

Jerry

Just heard that mine is shipping out today.

Will post pictures and a review soon.

Please post a video.  Interested in how these turned out.

I should get this Friday.  If no one has posted photos or video by then I will post some.

Neal Jeter

Hmmm, I like it but would have to cut that building off, make it a free-standing-tower, and put it behind my MTH WRKNG radio studio.

My radio tower arrived today (thanks Nassau, that was FAST shipping ).

A gripe and a heads up for others. The tower comes with what I assume is now Lionel standard 3-pin plug that is commonly used for plug-and-play with FasTrak and associated connectors. If you want to use this on layout with tubular track and/or connect to a transformer (as I do) you will need to purchase separately a Lionel 8" 3-pin female pigtail connector.  It is part 6-82038.

Wish I'd known about this when I ordered it. 

So, no pics of it in operation yet.

Charles Ro just me an email too. Radio station is on its way.

Sean

johnstrains posted:

My radio tower arrived today (thanks Nassau, that was FAST shipping ).

A gripe and a heads up for others. The tower comes with what I assume is now Lionel standard 3-pin plug that is commonly used for plug-and-play with FasTrak and associated connectors. If you want to use this on layout with tubular track and/or connect to a transformer (as I do) you will need to purchase separately a Lionel 8" 3-pin female pigtail connector.  It is part 6-82038.

Wish I'd known about this when I ordered it. 

So, no pics of it in operation yet.

 

Can you just cut the plug off and hardwire?

What is the third wire for?

Looking forward to getting mine. Ill post pictures and video once it arrives.

Train Nut posted:

johnstrains posted:

My radio tower arrived today (thanks Nassau, that was FAST shipping ).

A gripe and a heads up for others. The tower comes with what I assume is now Lionel standard 3-pin plug that is commonly used for plug-and-play with FasTrak and associated connectors. If you want to use this on layout with tubular track and/or connect to a transformer (as I do) you will need to purchase separately a Lionel 8" 3-pin female pigtail connector.  It is part 6-82038.

Wish I'd known about this when I ordered it. 

So, no pics of it in operation yet.

 

Can you just cut the plug off and hardwire?

What is the third wire for?

Absolutely and that's what I may just do.

You can cut the plug off and just connect it like any other accessory to power.  The third wire is not used for anything.  

Neal Jeter

Lionlman posted:

You can cut the plug off and just connect it like any other accessory to power.  The third wire is not used for anything.  

Neal Jeter

Correct. Per instructions that came with tower, when hooking up to a transformer use red and black wires. The white wire is not used.

Here are some photos of the Radio Tower.  I am unable to post any video.  The sounds are clear and crisp from the tower and it is easy to connect to Bluetooth on your smart device.  

Neal Jeter

I assume Lionel meant this is a bluetooth controlled accessory as there is no such thing as a bluetooth radio tower.

Here's mine on the layout. It's a PW style layout but this new accessory actually fits in quite well. In fact I placed it in the spot occupied by my 193 water tower.

Should add that like Neal's above, easily connected to my phone via Bluetooth and sound quality is excellent. There's a volume control knob on the base.

You can also control the volume from your smart device.

Neal Jeter

Lionlman posted:

You can cut the plug off and just connect it like any other accessory to power.  The third wire is not used for anything.  

Neal Jeter

buy the accessory adapter 6 22793 bare wire to power source

My question, you are using by for engine can you still play music from files over tower speaker at same time or do you need a secondary source?

Will it play engine sounds from loco that is running?

BOB WALKER posted:

I assume Lionel meant this is a bluetooth controlled accessory as there is no such thing as a bluetooth radio tower.

True.  There is no AM or FM radio included in this tower, it relies on whatever audio stream you feed it via your blue tooth compatible device (iPod, etc).

That's why the only control on the face is a volume knob.

-Dave

Jushavnfun posted:

buy the accessory adapter 6 22793 bare wire to power source

My question, you are using by for engine can you still play music from files over tower speaker at same time or do you need a secondary source?

Will it play engine sounds from loco that is running?

The engines have no way of transmitting sound to the BT Radio Tower.  I suspect whether you can play music and run trains may be dependant on your device.  According to Google, an iPhone can connect to 10 but 5 or 6 is more practical.

Picked it up at the hobby shop today.  The signs I made up were waiting for it’s arrival.  

50,000 watt flamethrower KRMR 720 AM is now on the air!  It works really good!

These are some cool units but the packaging has a lot to be desired.  A strategically placed piece of foam could have made it better.

I can't wait to get one

I also got one of these and it is very nice. Got mine from modeltrainstuff.com . Four left at 74.99 plus shipping.  Seemed to be best price I could find, but others may have done better. Shipping for me was around 8.00, Maryland to Roanoke Virginia. I do not have fast track so you need the adapter to pig tail, part # 6-82038. This was around 10.0 at local hobby shop. Cutting off the plug works, I just did not know if it would void the Lionel Warranty if you got a bad one or if it quit working. The lionel tower looks nice on the layout and the blinking led light on top is a nice touch.

Another option I have used to get bluetooth sounds on layout is the small bluetooth speakers. These come in various sizes and price. The biggest one I have is made by Jam Classic 2.0 which is too big for a boxcar but could be hidden in a building, a smaller one made by iHome which will fit in a lionel boxcar, and the smallest one made by Grove Cube. 

The phone apps I have found are Train Sounds, Train Horns, and Train Sim. 

Would be nice to know what apps others are using with the Tower.

Dean

For those folks wondering about operation, here's a video I produced with the prototype late last year. This works the exact same way as the production version. Hope this helps answer some questions. 

MartyE posted:

These are some cool units but the packaging has a lot to be desired.  A strategically placed piece of foam could have made it better.

Ain't that the truth. When I unpacked mine I could hear the telltale rattle of loose stuff. As others have reported the tower light fixture was the culprit. Easy to fix but poor job by the factory on packaging.