Revolution Radio Control

Under construction/modification by Eric Timberlake (talk)

Precision RC, aka Crest 'Revolution'

Formed as an offshoot of Aristocraft as they created their own RC control solution.

Train Engineer

Precision RC 
16 Chestnut St. Ste 201E
Emerson, NJ 07630 USA

What is it?

Revolution is based on a 2.4GHz "Zigbee Network" to create a network infrastructure similar to WiFi with the throttle at one end and various decoders at the other end. This allows the formation of a zigbee mesh network and the support of consists with multiple locomotives, for instance.

Revolution sells a DCC Command booster, but it's not clear to me if one could assume that the throttle is then DCC compliant? I have not read the DCC product manuals as yet, but this COULD be the equivalent of an Airwire C60x command booster and a T6000 throttle?

Tools

Deep within the bowels of the Revoelectronics Website you can download sound files, throttle firmware and the Windows program(s) to move these files around using the correct USB adapter.. You need to create an account on the Revolution website to access ANY files or documentation. Grrr.

Goals

There is exactly ZERO documentation provided for any of these tools that I can find and several "use at your own risk" warnings. Sooo... Use at your own risk.  ;-) The goal is to figure out and document just how this all plays together so you don't have to go through what I did..

Observations

Loading the Programmer Interface tool

Running the Windows SW is simple and so far, it works MOST OF THE TIME, with just a few caveats.

So, you insert the USB programming adapter into a USB 2.0 Type A port. Then start either the cleverly named "PC Software v1.0" or "PC Software v1.1"

The photo below shows a modern Arm architecture Mac running Windows 11 within Parallels Desktop.. There can be a little bit of tom-foolery getting the USB to passthrough, but it's quite straight forward, and can be set to be 'remembered' so successive runs "just work"..

Also visible in the photo is an off the shelf USB-C to USB-A adapter (the little red cable) readily available at Amazon and other suppliers.

Of course, this will also work with a standard x86 windows laptop, which I have tested as well, I just hate windows and didn't feel like taking time to take photos of my super cheap authentic windows laptop. The point here is that you can do this using a virtual machine on Arm hardware or a real x86 based machine without issue.

Running "PC Software v1.1"

So, now you should have Windows (real or virtual) running, the Programmer Interface inserted into a USB port.. Time to light up the programing SW interface, called "PC Software v1.1".. You can ALSO use the slightly down rev "PC Software v1.0" version if you desire..

After starting up the SW, you should see a screen SIMILAR to the photo below. Note in this photo that the USB Programmer Interface is NOT visible - I took the screen shot before actually inserting the tool. The tool can and sometimes MUST BE inserted while "PC Software v1.1" is running - more on that later!

Using the Tool

Pre-stage the file to the Programming Interface

After the tool is started, the first step is get that field under the logo to say "Programmer found". Sometimes this works right off the bat if the dongle is pre-inserted, other times it needs to be "hot plugged" while "PC Software v1.1" program is actually running. When inserted the Programming Interface will light a blue LED in a steady state.

Once you get to the "Programmer found" status, the work flow runs like this:

1. Select the device you want to send a file to in the upper left dialog window.
2. Select the actual FILE you want to send to the device using the "File Open" button, which will bring up a normal file selection dialog.
3. Select the "Load/Program" button.

This will result in a file transfer status being shown - this is important, you are NOT sending the file to your device at this point, you are "pre-loading" the Programming Interface with the file for further processing. While this pre-load is happening, a red LED located on the opposite corner from the blue LED will light in a steady state.

Sending the staged file from the Programming Interface to the target

Once the "Load/Program" process is completed, the dialog window will update to say, "Searching Target Device Signal". You should also note that the red LED on the Programming Interface changes from a steady state to a rapid blinking state! If you do NOT see the LED blinking, something is wrong! (See hints towards end of article..)

Starting the upload

Move to your staged device - you should have it powered up and at a minimum the "link" button attached. In the photo further up the article you will note a speaker, a motor trigger wires and the link button all attached to the decoder so all the features can be easily tested after the upload process is completed.

The link button has DUAL FUNCTIONALITY. A short press doesn't do anything. A medium length press puts the decoder in linking mode. A LONG PRESS (what we want to do in this case) triggers upgrade mode and will immediately link with the Programmer Interface and start transferring the staged file embedded in the Programming Interface. You should be able to see the transfer progress updating in the "PC Software v1.1" window.

At this time, press and HOLD the link button. The decoder LED will first flash quickly, then after a few seconds will slow down - that's the sign you have entered the second "programming mode". Release the button and observe the "PC Software v1.1" window to monitor the transfer process.

When it is completed, it will note "Transfer Successfully Finished".. This is a good sign!

After the process is completed, simply power cycle the decoder and test to your satisfaction.. Repeat as required to get the sound you want..

Updating the throttle vs. a decoder

Updating the throttle Firmware is a similar process with just some minor variations.

1. First, select "Revolution Transmitter" as the device to upgrade.
2. Second, select the FW file you want to upload into the throttle. (3.03 being the most current)
3. Third, after the transfer into the Programming interface is complete and the red LED starts flashing, power up the throttle, select MENU -> ASSIGN FUNCTIONS ->10. UPDATE FIRMWARE.
4. Forth step, like the decoder, the "Are you sure?" dialog needs a LONG PRESS on "Yes" to trigger a transfer.

If something is wrong and you can't see any progress happening, use the MENU and ON/OFF button together to reset the decoder. DO NOT do this "mid transfer"! It may brick your throttle! Only do this if something is amiss and the process never starts at all.

Errors and Caveats

I started this project with a used Throttle and an older decoder found "miss-listed" on Ebay, thus a real steal of a deal. I borrowed the "Programmer Interface" from Warner Swarner.

It turns out that I was fighting several issues that made figuring this out quite difficult..

1. The used decoder is broken, it won't accept updates. Fortunately I was loaned a couple of new decoders that work correctly, and that helped establish what works and what doesn't work as well as proving the decoder I got off Ebay is just plain broken.
2. The Programming Interface was partly faulty - the zigbee radio module was not making a firm connection to the USB dongle.. This was HUGE..

It took MANY, many tries to get things working. The intermittent Programming Interface was the largest hurdle. Ultimately what I found was this:

That disconnected connector you can see is prized apart so I can try seating and re-seating it a few times. This cleared up the "loads, but red LED stays solid" issue that I fought off and on for weeks while I worked my way through the puzzle of how this is SUPPOSED to work..

Other gotcha's

It is not uncommon for the Programmer Interface to just not respond to the "Load/Program" button. The only cure I can relate is to leave the "PC Software v1.1" running and unplug, then re-plugin that Programmer Interface - wait for "Programmer Found" to appear, then start at the beginning by selecting a device, file, then "Load/Program".

Sometimes, the exact opposite is true and you need to quit out of the "PC Software v1.1" and restart it. And sometimes you need to do BOTH actions to get it all happy..

If the red LED does not start blinking at the end of the "Load/Program" step, something is wrong with the Programmer Interface itself, try GENTLY unpluging the zigbee module (it will NOT come completely free due to a soldered ground connection!!) and re-plugging it back onto the USB module a few times.

That chuff thing

Sooooo... What exactly got Eric Timberlake (talk) started doing all this to begin with? Chuff.. That's it. I have helped people with many and various steam locomotives over the years, and despite my personal feelings about Revolution products, ONE THING they seemed to reliably do was chuff to an external trigger in a very competent fashion.

But THEN, I was working on a model for John Stephenson, and the chuff failed in a way I'd never seen before:

Then, on ANOTHER install for Tom Church, A Bachmann Shay with one of my Hall Effect sensor assemblies - the same thing, triggered chuff failed at 50% throttle!? WFT? This used to work without issue! Why is it failing seemingly everywhere now? Sent email to revolution support - no response. (they NEVER respond, which is part of my not caring too much for them as a company/product)

I thought about purchasing a Programming Interface, but with no re-assurance from Revolution that this would be useful, I stepped back to think about the entire situation for a while and keep $100 in my pocket. I then reached out to various RCGRS club members, and lo, Warner Swarner had one, and had actually seen it recently so knew just where it was.

After getting the Programming Interface in my hot little hands, I promptly started exploring and despite an utter lack of ANY sort of documentation, slowly put together the data shared in this wiki entry. When viewed after the fact, the steps and processed seem trivially easy, but mixing in pre-loaded unknown sound files, faulty hardware and poorly connected modules, the entire exercise took the better part of two months of tearing out what little hair I have left..

This article is an attempt to save your hair from my hair's fate..