Railmaster App

[DaveAus]

Not sure that is correct - You have to supply the iPad with the PC's address at least that's how mine works and then I entered the same address of the PC on the iPhone. You don't address the iDevices you supply them with the PC's IP addy. All pretty simple

 

really and apart from finding out the IP addy of the PC there's not much more knowledge needed. Seemed to happily run on the default port 30.

[Fishmanoz]

LMSTim is of course right. What I meant was that you put the PC address into Settings in the iPad app, which is different to setting the iPad to that address.

What I've described to you is shorthand for the method I used when following the instructions

 

for setting up handhelds. That has worked for me so far on 2 separate laptops running RM. App connections to the Rm server have been almost instantaneous after doing this. I have not as yet done a lot of loco control so have yet to find out if setting the

 

iPad to a (different) static address improves things as suggested.

[DaveAus]

Macchuff said:

When I downloaded the software on the IPad it didn't find my PC. If i leave the first screen (which says hornby railmaster 1.13 in a central box) without touching, it does nothing. If I tap on the box it goes to settings and

if I follow the manual which said to change the settings to 192.168.0.1 and 30 on the iPad and press back, it says please wait and does nothing. Anyone have any ideas?

Is my PC supposed to be set to a particular IP address? I went into Network Settings

on the PC and tried changing the IP address to 192.168.0.1 instead of it being automatic but that just stopped the Internet working and the iPad still didn't connect.

Help please (before the computer heads out the window)

Forget all about

192.168.0.1 it's a sample plucked from thin air. Find out what your computer is set to. (I googled find IP in Windows 7 to find out how to do mine) then enter that number into the Railmaster app setup screen. 30 as the port seems to be OK.

I don't believe

the IP addy of the ipad is relevant and I'm sure you can't change it anyway.

[Fishmanoz]

Sounds like Dave and I are in agreement except he doesn't seem to have changed his address from auto to static.

Also, you can find the IP address of your laptop. Just go to WiFi and tap the arrow on the right of the network you are connected to. The

 

router address will be the same as you found for your PC router and the iPad will show a different last number to the router and the PC.

[Fishmanoz]

You find WiFi in Settings of course. Having found it, you can then tap on static instead of the default DHCP and make the static address what it was already on, again all described in the instructions.

[DaveAus]

OK changed to Static IP (good youtube video) seems to connect to the PV a little faster but otherwise the same.

[Fishmanoz]

Fishmanoz said:

Sounds like Dave and I are in agreement except he doesn't seem to have changed his address from auto to static.
Also, you can find the IP address of your laptop. Just go to WiFi and tap the arrow on the right of the network

you are connected to. The router address will be the same as you found for your PC router and the iPad will show a different last number to the router and the PC.

And I meant IP address of your iDevice not laptop.

[DaveAus]

OK there you go I've learn't something new. I'll try without making the iPad static to start with as I use the iPad all over the place for lots of different things so I'm not sure of the effect. The Laptop is trains only so I have set that to static.

[Fishmanoz]

My thinking too but that static address is specific to that one WiFi network you set it in from where you do the setting. So I don't think it will affect the iPad operation when not attached to that network.

[Fishmanoz]

Just checked that out. I have 2 WiFi networks around here and the iPad definitely has separate addresses for each.

[DaveAus]

Same here and my iPad picks up either. Will be interesting if you run static on the iPad and I run dynamic if we get different bugs. Hopefully my app upgrade will arrive overnight so I can test more fully.

[LMSTim]

The thing to remember is to keep the network as "clean" as possible. Remember that most communications things you do on a hand-held device tend to be one-way comms, like Internet. You press a link (a few bytes sent to the web server) and thousands or tens

 

of thousands of bytes come back. RailMaster uses comms equally in both ways so the network MUST be stable. With multiple devices thrown into the mix the RailMaster PC really does become a powerful server and requires a rock solid connection. You may want to

 

wire your PC directly into your router for this.

 

In professional environments you wouldn't dream of setting up a dynamic IP addressing network --- too many things can go wrong and diagnosis is a nightmare. Always set a static IP address for EVERY device

 

on the network. That way you know what is going where (and so does the software).

 

You want a static IP address on the router, PC and hand-held devices. You can, of course, leave the DHCP server on the router switched on (for guests and the like) but

 

limit it to handing out addresses between, say, 100 and 105. The rest should all be static.

 

The other thing is roaming and quality of connection. If you have multiple wireless access points then obviously tell your device and PC to link to the closest

 

with the bests signal. Try to avoid repeaters or boosters as they can affect traffic on the network. I've been doing this for 30 years, so trust me that the above is important and DOES make a difference.

 

One final VERY important thing. Nowadays, antivirus

 

and firewall software blocks every connection in sight, so you MUST exclude the IP addresses of ALL your devices and also the entire port range you are using .e.g. default of 30 to 37. Antivirus and firewall software is the scourge of comms specialists everywhere

 

and actually causes the most headaches.

 

[Fishmanoz]

Thanks Tim, good advice.

[Macchuff]

Thank you for the advice. I have set the laptop to a static IP of 192.168.2.20 and ran the software on the IPad. Then typed in the same settings and pressed back button. Now I get a please wait message and unless this usually takes longer than ten minutes,

 

it does nothing.

My router is 192.168.2.1 and the iPad is 192.168.2.4

Firewall software is switched off.

Either I am missing something or my laptop doesn't want to play.

[LMSTim]

Have you tried PINGing your iPad and router from your PC to prove that the IP connection is there, as detailed in the PDF guide?

 

[Macchuff]

Just pinged iPad from laptop with railmaster on and it worked fine. Average 55 ms return.

[Macchuff]

Oh, and Ping to router was fine too.

[Fishmanoz]

Macchuff, the IP addresses you are using look remarkably like the sample addresses in the manual, rather than your real IP addresses, although the ping test does seem to suggest otherwise. But the fact you are waiting 10 minutes also says the RM on your

 

computer is not recognising any app on the iPad.

Anyway, it is easy to check this out by going back to the start and resetting your TCP/IP Configuration to the address being obtained automatically - yes, get rid of the static address. Now open a command

 

window and type ipconfig and note what results you get for:

IPv4 Address

Subnet Mask

Default Gateway

When I do this, the numbers look nothing like the examples given in the manual except for the subnet mask They are in fact:

10.0.0.13

255.255.255.0

10.0.0.1

Now,

 

whatever numbers you got from ipconfig, go back to TCP/IP Configuration, Set Static IP Address, and enter those numbers. You might note that mine tried to tell me the subnet mask was 255.0.0.0 but I entered 255.255.255.0 anyway. Having done this, press Apply/OK

 

until you are right out of all the boxes you went into to do the setting. Double check by typing ipconfig again and see that you still have what you set.

Now open RM on your computer and the RM app on the iPad again and put the IP4 address in the app settings

 

and return to the home screen. There should be an instantaneous response from RM on the laptop saying there is an unregistered app there and asking you to upgrade, enter your registration code or exit.

Good luck.

[DaveAus]

OK full version up and running, I have made the iPad IP static and all seems to be good although I do sometimes get a dialog box with OK in it after I enter a cmd on the iPad and then it stops working. Seem to happen less if I use the PC RailMaster first

 

before cmds on the iPad. Last session seemed OK though.

[Macchuff]

Thanks for further advice. My IP addresses were very similar to what hornby used as an example so I changed them as per previous posts. iPad now connects so I get 2 loco controls but it won't download my loco list or plan. I give up. I like the railmaster

 

software on the PC so I will just wait until a manufacturer comes up with a more user friendly remote app.

[BigNoj]

I had similar problems with the eval version but when I bought the full version hey presto everything worked perfectly and I am very pleased with it. Hopefully it will be upgraded to reflect better what is on the RM screen such as background colour and

 

point indicator lines but it is nice to see that it has moved into the 21at century. Now if we could get them to forget about voice control and concentrate on the detection system that would be something.

[LMSTim]

You give up too easily Machuff. The app works fine IF you set up your networking properly. You have to ask yourself, why does it work for others but not for me. It's not because the app doesn't work, it's because your set-up doesn't work.

 

Networking

 

can have many things going against it. Have you-

1. Set static IP addresses on ALL your devices?

2. Have you PINGed your devices from your PC and received four replies under 50ms?

3. Have you disabled your firewall software (the worst offender)?

4.

 

Have you pointed the app to your RailMaster PC IP address and set the correct port?

 

If the answers to the above are "yes" then it must work. The fact is that one or more of the above are "no". You can give up, of course, or persevere, get it right and

 

enjoy the app.

 

 

[Macchuff]

Post a new reply...

[Macchuff]

Answers to your points.

1 yes

2 yes

3 yes

4 if you mean typing the same IP address on the App as the static IP on the laptop, then yes

 

The handheld element is a 'nice to have' as the railmaster on the laptop is excellent anyway. If it

 

works for others but not me then maybe I am doing something wrong, or maybe my laptop just doesn't want to play (too old maybe) or my network is not great. I might at some point try a different laptop just to see if it works but the one I use for railmaster

 

is only used for Hornby whereas the others are used for other things.

I have given up for now as it got too frustrating and at some point a manufacturer will come up with an easier solution.

[Fishmanoz]

You say you get 2 loco controls but not your loco list. How long does that take? Do you get your track plan as well?

All of the above will happen almost instantly if the above is correct. At the same time, RM on your PC should acknowledge the presence

 

of the app, and if it has not been registered to the PC previously (don't start me on that again!), ask you to buy, register or exit. Does that happen?

If these things don't happen, then I agree with Tim that you've yet to set up your addresses correctly.

 

So if you want to give it one last try before sending it somewhere it will never see the light of day again, open your mind, read the installation instructions again, read my post suggesting you go back to auto assigned IP, use Ipconfig and try it all again.

 

 

Good luck.