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Nice presentation. I always try to keep up with the latest and greatest new technologies, Blunami appears to have it all. O.k., I can't help to wonder, if the background hills in you video, are in thousand Oaks Ca. near Wildwood park?

I wish the android app showed the voltage like the ios.

Outdoor layout here. I lose Bluetooth signal as the train passes around the far side of a dirt pile. Android "auto reconnect" works like I expect. I set auto-reconnect on an Apple phone, but it doesn't do it. I have to go back to "home" and hit connect to control my train again.

I cannot find the christmas feature on the android app, was it removed?

It seams to me that O gauge motors are uncapable of ultra slow speed. How come? Starts and stops are jerky. Any ideas?

It seams to me that O gauge motors are uncapable of ultra slow speed. How come? Starts and stops are jerky. Any ideas?

Hi Dave, is it possible for the app to connect to another hand held controller such as a thumb joystick or mini controller? My thinking is to use the app to make settings on the run (example momentum) but have simple accelerate and decelerate via a user choice of controller. Similar to what the enginedriver app can do by connecting to an external input/output device.

Excellent video! Kudos to you, everyone working on the app, and Soundtraxx for a great product.

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This is very exciting stuff. Thanks for putting this together. Love that the function menu is available on the multi train screen.

function remapping/renaming, can it be exported/imported or sent to mailbox as a text (changed fields only) as devices die and the changed settings were made years ago. can it do a yearly popup to backup the current config ? people might like to standardise on a non default common set.

What speaker are you using?

Soundtraxx Blunami is fantastic 😊

$136 is still too pricy for me.

OK so your saying this Blue Rail Train app will connect to any Bluetooth speaker to get sound?

This Blunami decoder and app are absolute game-changers. It’s akin to what the invention of the wheel did for transportation.

Can you use this on non Bachmann Locomotives? I have some old Atherns. Finding it difficult to figure out what I should buy for dcc on my Atherns.. might be nice just to have controllable sounds.

This would be great to use for any model besides EZ App trains...if the Bachmann app would just connect to a wifi speaker with out having the ez app.

Im wondering if bluerail controller could be hooked to a computer running a programbed timer for multiple trains. I have a few new bright trains that can be converted to bluerail as well as the track switches but not sure on computer programming as of yet.

Awesome!

Awesome Dave!

As a total newbie to model railroading I was wondering, if you order the blunami and a batterypack can it run your analog train through your phone. Or do you have to order something else as well ?

Please, I am confused on your website. If I want my loco to be running deadrail. What do I have to order exactly.

Where did you get the speaker

Simply great. As I understand, you used a 18v battery as dead-rails ? was it a Lipo 5S (18,5v) ? Thanks Alexis

Battery powered "dead rail" fascinates me. I'm always looking at ideas for making it work at N scale. (and forget about the complexities and nuisances with rail dead spots and "all wheel" pickups and such...)

I absolutely love this idea! My club's track gets so damn dirty, I get frustrated and give up. The one thing I would love to see is a version that has notches on the software. Rather than a slider with 1 thru 100, how about make it more realistic with a mock-up AAR control stand and notches, but in an app version? Kind of like the ProtoThrottle but on the app. Can't wait for N scale and Android versions!! I will definitely be getting this!!!

Can the speaker be used to play music?

Is there a way to get the throttle notch number to show somewhere for 1 - 126. It would be nice if there was a plus minus button for throttle notch control like on NCE controllers, one set for + - 10 and one set for + - 1 throttle control.

I run N gauge. Do you support that scale?

Can’t wait for this to drop, have a couple of Locomotives that I want to convert from DC to command and control. These boards would be perfect.

Dave, I tried emailing you about using your 5 amp board wired directly to the track. Could I also drive multiple sound decoders with the 5 amp BlueRail? I’d like to be able to switch between diesel and steam. Will I be able to read/write CVs with your app? I want to build a BLE enabled track power “transformer” to run larger vintage locos. Thanks, you are way ahead of DCC with BLE. Nice work. I see lots of possibilities.

The range for bluetooth are different from outside and inside buildings. Can you provide more about the specs in terms of version that you are using? The BlueRailTrains site says the app works on IOS9 which is 2015. Also since bluetooth is bi-directional communications, would it be possible to add feedback from the locomotive such as locomotive motor diagnostics (temperature, speed etc) This might require some cooperation with the manufacturers. This would really be a nice plus.

What a great idea this Blunami is for model railroad. Thanks for the post.

I’ve been thinking of something like this for years and love this idea! Now for the battery, can you leave it in and connected or do you have to take it out in order to turn it off whenever you want? Also, this is an idea that I have had with but don’t have the skills to do it, is there a way to make a rechargeable battery and instead of having to change batteries, maybe add a separate power track where locomotives can recharge just sitting on the powered tracks?

Hi Dave. Slightly misleading channel discussion. Bluetooth and BLE are frequency hopping technologies. Each device uses all available hop channels in a pseudo random sequence agreed to by the two devices when a connection is formed. If two devices land on a channel at the same time and a data collision occurs, they detect it. Each moves on to its next channel and retransmits the message segment. As the connections will now be on different channels the message will get through. I worked with Washington University in St. Louis testing Bluetooth in various wireless environments and found no loss of connections in the presence of WiFi, Zigbee or other sources of interference. It's important with Bluetooth to distinguish between channels and connections. Bluetooth uses 79 hop frequency channels but can have a huge number of connections sharing those channels. BLE does the same thing using 40 channels. I participated in the development of BLE and it is designed to support thousands of connections in an Internet of Things applications for home automation or industrial automation. In testing in ugly industrial environments Bluetooth got through when WiFi couldn't. Great product idea btw. Bill Drake

Note that the loco never moves. A better demo would start moving the loco and then stop it. This would require multiple number of commands sent to the loco almost continuously. This would be a much better test of signal. This is not a good demo of signal range because it does not reflect realistic situations. Specifically, there is nothing between the train and the ipad. On a layout a train will go into a tunnel, perhaps made of casting powder. The tunnel will weaken the signal. Also their are obsticals such as other trains and buildings so there is not a direct signal.. Finally according to searching the internet bluetooth is limited to about 30 ft.

when will it be scaled down to N?

Dave, you need to add a demo mode to the ap so folks considering buying into Blunami can actually open the ap and see how it works. Right now it won’t do anything on my iPad unless there is a Bluetooth loco available. Also is the Bluetooth transceiver always on is is there a CV or function in the decoder to turn it on. I have looked in all the Soundtraxx stuff and this is not mentioned anywhere! Matter of fact Soundtraxx has nothing about the Bluetooth operations or requirements. Thanks-Larry Puckett, The DCC Guy

You don’t explain how the control actually works. Does it replace your throttle ?

Dave, thanks for the video. When you say ¼ inch from a metal shell are you assuming it’s on top of a coal load or will it work within a closed top Diecast tender shell if kept away from the shell? Thanks

Thanks you answered one of my questions, I have brass steam engines and if I put the decoder in the boiler or the tender will the Bluetooth signal be able to get out?

Nice Dave. But no chain link fencing? How am I suppose to run my neighbors trains from my back yard?😉

If I have a brass engine will be Bluetooth signal go through the brass?

Congratulations on a great technology partnership. I've been following your progress for years. The one thing holding me back has been the need for an iPhone hardware adapter to provide a tactile mechanical throttle (wheel or buttons). You teased the idea with your video using a iPhone bluetooth game controller to control BlueRail. I in-vision a handle with clips at the top to physically hold the phone. The handle would have either a thumb wheel or buttons for throttle control and direction. (very minimal - 2 buttons and a wheel) This device would simply be plugged into the lightning connector on the iPhone. Added bonus if the "handle" held an auxiliary charger to keep the iphone from draining during an op session. Just my thoughts. Congratulations again. Keep up the great work!

Great for my garden rail with the 5A module

Very cool

great combination of 2 cards into one........what a game changer...will be in the market when the 4amp version comes out....

What track voltage is needed? AC or DC. Amp rating?

I just saw the presentation from Soundtraxx and it looks like you are doing the software side. I do not own any Apple stuff, I do have a Galaxy 20. So my question is, how long before there is a Droid version of the app? Thank you.