Trying to use two MTC4BT

[Max T.]

Hi guys,

I currently have 4 trains running with one MTC4BT and everything works fine.
Only problem I sometimes have is that there is a huge delay in the commands. Sometimes up to 5 minutes, independent if there is one train running or more and how fare the train is from the controller (always within 3m). By the way, I’m not sure if it also happens to the sbrick trains or if only the powered up trains are affected by the delays. Do you have any ideas to improve this?

Now to my main question:
Currently I am adding a second motor/PU-battery to one of the long trains, making it a max of 5 receivers and there will probably be another loco in the future. As it is written in the MTC4BT dicribition it may not be used for more than 6 receivers.
So I thought to myself, that I should upgrade right away with second MTC4BT. One having 3 locos and one having 2. After set up and integration into rocrail I realized that that in average once per minute one of the PU-boxes loses connection to its MTC4BT. It does reconnect automatically but is not very practical. The distance between the MTC4BTs had no effect.

Do you have any advice on using more than one MTC4BT at the same time?

Thanks a lot, Max

[Matthias Runte]

Hi Max,
I believe your problem relates to a bug in the MTC4BT that we are presently tracking down. At present, I would recommend not to use too many PU or SBrick units with one MTC4BT. Using only a limited number of hubs improves the stability of the controller significantly. Our hope is that we get the problem fixed soon, then it should no longer matter.

So, the short answer is: invest in one or even two more controllers.

Cheers,
Mattze

[Max T.]

Hi Mattze,

thank you for your reply.

1. When you we talk about the number of locos which should be kept small per controller do we talk about defined adresses per controller or about the number of trains running simulaneously? For example is it okay to programm for example 10 adresses in one controller if only 3 are running at once?

2. As written in my first post, I already tried to use two MTC4BT controllers at the same time, but “I realized that that in average once per minute one of the PU-boxes loses connection to its MTC4BT. It does reconnect automatically but this is not very practical. The distance between the MTC4BTs had no effect.”
Any idea on this?

Thanks again very much for helping out.

Max

[Matthias Runte]

Hi Max,
ad 1: well, while traffic also does play a role, it’s more the number of connected Bluetooth devices that is relevant. It’s no deterministic science as of now, but we are tracking the problem down as good as we can.

Ad 2: will be hopefully resolved soon.

Thanks for your patience.

[Max T.]

Hi Mattze,

okay got it.
Looking forward for updates.
Thank you and the whole team for this great a project.
I really love the MTC4BT controller although it felt like an unsolvable challenge for me at first it really works great and is really amazing to play with.

Keep up the great work and the community that is evolving around it.

[Matthias Runte]

True. If you’ve never worked with microcontrollers before, it’s a steep hill to climb. But it’s worth it and many people have valued up their layouts with our train automation system. We appreciate every new user and layout, so: welcome to the club!

[Max T.]

Small update:
I am running 4 trains (one of them with two receivers), so a total of five receivers with one MTC4BT for quite a while now. So far everything stable. Almost no problems, also the delays are surprisingly gone…
Did the new firmware V1.0.1 that you uploaded to github improve the situation of running two MTC4BT simultaneously? Or is this something for future versions.

Thanks Max

[Matthias Runte]

Yes, the performance improvement came with V1.0.0. The improvements are indeed significant.

[Max T.]

I tried out an ESP32 with the V0.5.1 and another one with the V1.0.0 firmware but surprisingly currently both show delays for the locos to react again. Doesn’t matter if there are 3 or 5 receivers programmed in the controller.json or and also when only one hub is active.
So first, I need to find out where these delays are coming from again.
What is your experience is the number ob devices that are logged into the WiFi relevant for the whole Mattzo configuration to work stable. Currently I do have 7 switch-MTCs and 1 MTC4BT running, plus the laptop and the other WiFi devices you normally have at home smartphones…?

[Matthias Runte]

Hi Max!

As a general rule, you should always upgrade to the latest version. This is presently 1.0.1, and 1.0.2 is expected to come soon.

Did you check the performance tips in the documentation? They are important.

[Author]

Posts