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I wanted to try the PC application for viewing multiple cabeese at once and was very pleased with the results.

Here is my question? I have the Chessie and connect to my Android tablet which is wired to a large monitor that I bring to the shows we do. Works great, picture is fine as my monitor has different screen settings to improve the picture. A friend had his Santa Fe caboose there but could not connect to my Android tablet while mine was. We wanted to use the split 4 screen option and run 2 cabooses on 2 different layout loops.

What do I need to do as his kept showing logging in on my android tablet?

P.S. To Lionel. This was my first new catalog purchase in many years as you have a product here that is reasonable in price and an excellent product. I buy everything on the secondary market.

Caboose Camera Video on the Paradise and Pacific

* This video shows the Lionel Caboose with Camera -- running on one of the 180 ft-long mainlines of the Paradise and Pacific's open-to-the-public layout in Scottsdale, Arizona.

* The video clips were provided, courtesy of Paradise & Pacific member and caboose owner Rolland LaHaie (posting earlier on this thread as 'RLaHaie').

* Note that that "caboose video" is not perfect; the video exhibits a very brief "freeze" about every 3 seconds.

* When we viewed it on the screen of Rolland's laptop (without recording it), the video is "smooth".   But when we recorded the camera to a video file, we got the "freezing" in the file.

B. ~~~~~~~~~~ CABOOSE OWNER'S COMMENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~|

* Rolland says that you pretty much need to operate this caboose in "DIGITAL" mode (DCS , Legacy, or DCC) to have enough voltage on the track for the caboose to operate. Said another way, if you try to operate the caboose in conventional mode, it's hard to keep the voltage high enough for the caboose to operate, and you would have to keep the train moving at all times.
~~~~~~~
* Rolland says that track and caboose rollers much be very CLEAN, so that the caboose never loses contact with the track. He says if the caboose does lose contact for just even 1 second, then the Wi-Fi connection to the camera is lost.

* Rolland says that he removed the PLASTIC WINDOW in front of the camera, to get a clearer picture.
* Rolland says he was able to download a newer version of the caboose camera software from a 3rd party site.
* Rolland says you can use the caboose's own Wi-Fi network, or use an existing Wi-Fi network.

  • To show multiple windows on your computer screen from multiple cabooses, you have to use an existing Wi-Fi network.
  • Said another way, if you use the caboose's own Wi-Fi, then you can view ONLY that one caboose.

 

C. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LINKS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|

* Lionel Caboose w/Camera : http://www.lionel.com/search?q...oose%20with%20camera
* This video "Lionel AT&SF CupolaCam Wide Vision Caboose" by "WichitaToyTrainClub" gives a technical overview of this caboose:  https://youtu.be/ebf0c43VaG4 .
* Paradise and Pacific Railroad, where this video was recorded:  http://PandPrr.com  (We are open 363 days a year to the public).

Last edited by James Ingram

I'm having the same "fuzzy camera" issue on my newly purchase Lionel Wide Vision Caboose Union Pacific 13605, Lionel #685076.  I called my train store where I purchased it, and they said that what folks are doing is removing the plastic window in front of the camera and that is fixing the fuzzy view from the camera.  I'm hesitant to try this, but it is true that all the other 3 windows on the top of the caboose are very clear plastic, expect for the window in front of the camera.

Take the window out. You may have to remove the couplers to get the trucks to swing far enough to get the screws out to remove the shell. Then you have to poke a slim screwdriver in to unplug the light strip. After moving the shell away from the rest of the body, you can remove the light strip and squeeze the tabs in to remove the cupola. Then cut the insides of the tabs so you can remove or replace it from the top since it goes in last after you plug in the light strip and put everything back together after removing the window. It'll be more obvious than this post .

I have been kicking around buying one of these cabooses.

If you are worried about dust, you might use a skylight filter similar to what is used on film SLR cameras, only on a smaller scale. Some older video cameras that used a cassette the size of a cigarette pack had a lens roughly 20mm in diameter. That might be too large, I might have a few lying around. Might have to look at a caboose at the dealer if it’s still available. 
Now a 90mm skylight filter from a large format lens.......that is a different story. 

 

Thank you, Chuck for the detailed instructions on how to remove the Caboose window.  I'm not sure what I am going to do yet, I'm frustrated to spend $124.00 on the Caboose and then have to deconstruct it to make it work.  The caboose construction and modeling is excellent on the model.  It is very nice to look at.  Just frustrating that something this expensive has to be "fixed" by the consumer to make it work.  

I have 5 of the new cam- cabooses, and some are crystal clear, some are somewhat blurred, I can live with them and will keep them original. My CSX excursion car is crystal clear, and fun to run. I hope Lionel reviews this thread and corrects the next batch.  It’s a fun car to run and hope one day they’ll do a engineers view in color. Happy Railroading 

Ron;

Thanks for the reply.  Unfortunately I use Android devices exclusively.  The good news is I found an APK file on another site after searching all afternoon.

Thank you Lionel for your great attention to details, selling webcam devices but not supporting the largest mobile market (android).  Also, for not supporting past customers with any kind of information to keep their purchases working.

Rolland

@RLaHaie posted:

GREAT!  I had a hard drive crash and now the Lionel WIFI Camera is no longer on the play store!  What do I do now?????????

Rolland

If you were storing the APK installer and lost it, I can upload it for your Android phone. You may need to disable some security on your phone to allow the app to be installed.

There other apps that are also compatible with the Lionel camera. It appears that the app developer (FTY) for the Lionel Camera app has been removed from the play store. The bigger question is why and when will Lionel find a replacement?

I also looked for the support info for the vista dome cars.  There is none!   No app, no manuals, nothing!  They use the same app so I guess Lionel has decided that this product line is not worth carrying forward.  I found the APK file here:

https://apkpure.com/lionel-wif...g.Lionel_WiFi_Camera

It was a struggle to get my tablets permissions in line with the apps needs, but I got it to work.  In the past I used another app on my PC which worked adequately but not as well as with my new replacement tablet.

Rolland

@Dave Olson posted:

That's quite the leap.

I'll look into why the APP was removed. Sometimes they have to be updated with new permissions to remain on the APP/Play stores.

I hope you can get it back on the play store.  Went to install the app on another device for my daughter to watch on during a recent layout display we had running, and could not find the app.  We use only android proucts and all google could find was an apk for iphone🤮

Dave;

While you are looking into the WiFI app, could you also look into why the manuals are not on the LIonel website?  I searched for manuals on the web and found one dated 7/20,  the number on the manual I found is 20027670250 and it is dated 7/20.  Is this the latest or is there a later one?

On the upside, the Lionel app I found at the above location works much better than the one from the install disk that came with my UP caboose.

Thanks;

Rolland

@Sam Jumper posted:

Just wondering if anyone else has tried this removing the plastic window trick? I’m scared to try taking mine apart, but I’m not really thrilled with the image as-is from the camera.

@RLaHaie posted:

First let me say that I don't advocate for disassembly of the caboose.  It is made to be easily assembled, not taken apart.  Having said that, I just spent 45 minutes getting the thing apart and removing the window.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!!!!  Once I get the thing re assembled I will post a picture or two.

Here is an excellent video from Sean in 2019 showing exactly how to take these cabooses apart for removal of the window.

https://youtu.be/WkG4pzaZPuQ

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