Wireless Throttles

Aristo-Craft developed the Train Engineer, an FM radio throttle system that has many of the advantages of digital control without requiring modifications to engines. The "Aristos" were key to the success of RunniN TraiNs 96, where NVNTRAK hosted the largest NTRAK layout to date, 315 modules or the equivalent of 41 scale miles!! With the Aristos, each operator could run their train over the entire layout without any modifications to the engines!

Aristos were used at The Lake Junction, the 1997 National NMRA convention; Plug N Play, the 1997 N Scale East convention and at Magic Rails, the 1998 N Scale East convention. Nearly every NVNTRAK public show uses Aristos; several other clubs have adopted Aristos, as well.

THE COMPONENTS

We use the Train Engineer, model ART-5470-01. This consists of a walk-around transmitter and a receiver.

The walk-around transmitter has push buttons to make the train run faster or slower. You can also change directions, with a "pause at stop" feature that protects the drive train components in your engines. There is also an emergency stop button, which, of course, we would like to not use for its named purpose. The walk-around transmitter operates in the 27 MHz frequency band and had a range of about 300 feet. It is patterned after a TV remote control, so that it only transmits when a button is pressed. We can easily operate for several shows, even an entire weekend mall show, on a fresh set of 4 AA batteries.

Because the transmitters are all operating in the same frequency, you can lock out everyone else if you press and hold a button on the transmitter. When we use the transmitter to change speeds, we try to press the speed control buttons several times rather than holding them down. This allows others to send commands to their trains while also allowing you to evaluate whether you have achieved the desired speed.

The receiver is placed between your power supply and the track; you still need a power supply to operate with this system. You need a receiver for every block that you plan to control. The system can operate 20 separate blocks. The receiver can be programmed for 5 levels of momentum.

The receiver has a slide switch marked "Linear" and "P.W.C." The "P.W.C." setting is what we use most often. It provides good response and range of voltage for newer engines. The "Linear" setting proves useful for older engines that have a high initial voltage requirement.

We modified all our receivers so that we have a male and a female Cinch Jones plug on both the input and output wires. Thus, on each side of the receiver (input and output), we have a wye. This makes it much easier to hook into the existing wiring of NTRAK modules.

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This information was compiled by Dave Freshwater, with input from Matt Schaefer, Dave Greenacre, Gil Brauch, Brian Brendel, John Drye and Jim FitzGerald.