9.4. Connecting to WLAN After

9.4. Connecting to WLAN After setting up the device you must establish a link to the WLAN. This may either be your home network or the WLAN signal generated by the CabControl ICU.

If using your home network you must have your ICU connected to your WLAN device with an Ethernet cable. The CabControl system will appear as “ESUWIFI”. If the Mobile Control II finds this network, it will automatically attempt to establish a connection.

In this case you may skip the following steps.

• Select the first menu item “Wi-Fi” in the Android set-up. Make sure that the slide control is set to “On”.

• Select the desired network from the list of available Wi-Fi networks by touching its name. The quality of the signal link is permanently displayed in the status bar at the top. The longer the bar, the stronger and more reliable is the connection. 

Have you tried that. I'm guessing you have.

Phil

Yeah I tried that

Yeah I tried that Phil, 

Those instructions are basically what the manual states but the problem is that when I select the ESUWIFI network it prompts me for a password...

Without the password it doesn't connect and ends with an 'Authentication Failed' message. I've looked everywhere for something that looks like a password but cant find anything obvious!

I also tried pressing the WPS button on the unit which should allow it to connect without the need for a password however it still asks me for the password every time...

Thanks for trying though, really appreciate it

hmmm wonder if the password

hmmm wonder if the password is on the power unit or controller. Bit like they put the default password on wifi  routers.They do that here in NZ. I couldn't find anything that says anything about password. Only if you want to set one.

Phil

Try a factory reset of the MCII

I saw this condition on a used set at a train store. Spent some time trying to enter the default password which  I had learned is 12345678 on the ProtoThrottle group. No good. So I did a full reset of the MCII in the Android settings, rebooted the ICU and started over.

It worked automatically right away, no input required.

home network or standalone?

from the manual

After setting up the device you must establish a link to the WLAN. This may either be your home network or the WLAN signal generated by the CabControl ICU. If using your home network you must have your ICU connected to your WLAN device with an Ethernet cable.

it sounds like the unit is attaching to a private wifi router that requires a password to connect to.   The above suggests that the ICU can act as a wifi router that the handheld connects to directly, but maybe the handheld is seeing a neighbor's wifi router if you don't have one yourself.

2 different setups

For my home system I have the ICU on my LAN by cable and the ICU Wi-Fi turned off. The MCIIs connect via my home Wi-Fi using the SSID and password for that. But I think this question is about the standard MCII connection direct to the ICU by Wi-Fi. That should be fully automatic when both are working properly. The condition I saw on the used system was that it had connected to the ICU but was asking for a password, but entering the 12345678  didn't fix it. Hence the reset. I have no idea how that system got into that mess mind you!

Case Closed...

Thanks for the help guys,

I finally got the system connected, it ended up being 123456789.

What threw me was when typing in a password the 'connect' button would light up after typing 8 characters, so yesterday I typed 12345678 leaving out the number 9 assuming I only needed 8 characters for the password. It would still be nice if there was something written in the manual about a default password, either that or I completely missed it?

Thanks again everyone for helping out, I really appreciate it 

Glad you got it fixed!

And that is really interesting about the 123456789.  I just went back to the ProtoThrottle config file for the ESU CabControl settings and you are correct, it shows:

network={
    ssid="ESUWIFI"
    psk="123456789"
}

So the post on the PT io group shows it incorrectly as 12345678.  Thanks for thinking of adding the "9".  I guess we'll neither of us get that hour of our lives back...

Learning every day! 

No connection possible

Hello from Austria,

the Cabcontrol drives me crazy!

First i have a PIKO Smart control also, works very well and know that system very good, but with the Piko is not the same as the Cabcontrol.

WPS does also not work, with Button for WPS (2)
(1) Status LED for WPS connection flashing, no connection to the mobile control to the ICU.

Reset ICU, Reset controler, Update the mobile control, no connection only after starting the ICU the blue led (3) flashing shortly.

By the Mobile Control is a status led right from stop-go it is also not flashing red/green because noT connect to the ICU...

Mobile control to connect it asks for a WIFI password, 123456789, 12345678 does not work! Then full reset from unit and control, does not work no Wifi connection possible to the box unit / controller ;(

Please HELP

Andre from Vienna

Sources of tech support for ESU CabControl

Hi Andre,

I would try the following sites for support on this topic:

https://groups.io/g/Loksound/topics

http://www.esu.eu/en/forum/forums-overview/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1845287662452221/

Pete

ESU tech support

Hi Pete,

ESU forum: have no access to the ECOS/Cabcontrol section, ask me for serial nr. in the pofile settings, where can find this in the Cabcontrol ???

Yesterday after update the MCII and reset it works, wifi blue led on and connected to the ICU.
IP 192.168.65.1
Version 4.2.5
Cabcontrol 0008db91

Today nothing no wifi connection, the ESU MCII app ask for the IP adress, input them and not connectet to the ICU can not find them ;(

If i power on the ICU and the MCII then (android settings) reset them, start the app button right its connected to the ICU. Shut down the system and power on not connecdet.

Then in the MCII android wifi settings WPS and press by the ICU WPS button wifi connected...

The fact is everytime if start the Cabcontrol the WPS connection is necessary, thats crazy thanks ESU !!!

Andre from Austria

. . .

I downloaded the Mobile Control II manual November 2015 and it says

" ..  the ESU Mini Access Point responds to the name “ESU WIFI” with the password “123456789”.   "

Page 11 of the manual,  section 9.4  Connecting to WLAN

- - - -

The CABCONTROL manual (2017)  has the same section 9.4 Connecting to WLAN but no reference to a password

" The CabControl system will appear as “ESUWIFI”. If the Mobile Control II finds this network, it will automatically attempt to establish a connection. In this case you may skip the following steps "

Marc

Update

Hi Marc,

update/reset again the comlete Cabcontrol, nothing the same as before...

check it with ethernet lan cable, but want not use my home network...

Andre from Austria

CC ICU Serial number

Andre,

The CC ICU serial number is actually the "ID" number on the label on the bottom of the ICU. No sure why ESU calls it two different things...

ESU Forum

Pete

thanks, full access in the forum but found no topic for my troubles.
Must send it back from Austria to US

Questions?

Andre,

Could you ask the questions you asked here on the ESU forum (they have German and English sections)?

And maybe try that on the ESU Facebook and Loksound Groups.io forums also? 

If you do have to return it, would ESU allow you to send it back to ESU in Germany rather than the US? Might be faster/cheaper.

Good luck whichever way you go!

Pete 

ESU tech support Germany

Dear Pete,

First: Yesterday i have had a long phone call with my favorite store modellbahn-seyfried.de
There are lot of troubbles with MC2, Ecos ect. they sayed by nothing now wait for the news by the february trainshow in Germany 2020 it comes a big ESU update, Piko have also stopped the Smartcontrol production.

Searching all US forums, nothing does match in my case, then send email to the ESU support Germany.

The start, android, wifi setting ect. screen on my MC2 looks diffrent what seen by youtube and manual.
Send it back to US ore maybe Germany, thats no hobby only frustrade and bought it in shop not by ebay!

Many thanks Andre

Mini WLAN Router for Testing ???

Maybe its possibble to connect the MC2 to ICU with this:

TP-Link TL-WR802N N300 WLAN Nano Router
(Mobile, Accesspoint, TV Adapter, Repeater, Router, Client, 300 Mbit/s (2,4GHz), Print, Media, FTP Server)

No extra power supply need, USB power and LAN connect direct to the ICU.
Found it by Amazon less then US $ 30,- looks more better as the the ESU Mini Access Point for the MC2, this is the worst case what i read in german forums, cheapest China trash

The Piko Smart manual explain it much better how connect with home wifi router then the ESU Cab manual.
https://www.piko-shop.de/index.php?vw_type=5&vw_name=detail&vw_id=79

Vienna Andre Gauge 0 Swiss

Are you having problems with the ESU or Piko system?

I'm sorry I got confused when I re-read your posts. I'm not sure about Piko, but perhaps the TP Nano router can replicate my home LAN/Wi-Fi setup:

I do have ESU CabControl and I did get MCII throttles working. I was never able to make the system work reliably on the built-in ESU Wi-Fi i the ICU. I upgraded the MCII antennas to these:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2308

which helped a bit but still not a reliable enough connection to run ops sessions.

The only way I could make CabControl work was to connect the ESU ICU to my home LAN (which also has Wi-Fi) by Ethernet cable. Then I assigned a static IP address to the ICU in my router and changed the Wi-Fi SSID and password in the MCIIs to match my home Wi-Fi.

One good thing about using my home LAN is that I could use the JMRI setup on my train-room PC. JMRI found everthing automatically and works every time. But I can still start and operate the layout with just the MCII if I don't need JMRI.

In my hobby room no Wifi/LAN

Thanks Pete,

in my hobby room have a very bad wifi signal from my home wifi/lan router, to far away...
Need a additional small LAN/Wifi router ony for the ESU Cab MC2 system.

ESU Cab and Piko Smart hardware is the nearly same but not realy compareable, the ESU MC2/ICU is lot of better and powerfull.

THE PIKO I HAVE SOLD, works 2 years by me for H0, some restrictions hardware/software, no troubles with ESU V4.0 m4 decoders, plug&play and perfect manual.

ESU Cab manual is not very instructive

JMRI looks interesting,

Andre 0 scale

MC2 Sreen Functions/Apps

My MC2 from the Cab looks very differnt what seen on youtube.

First look this starting at 5:30 minutes, very interesting:

There is a icon left upper wifi settings with the option "ON DURING SLEEP IF PLUGGED"

My MC2 dont have this icon or Wifi App, only the Android system Wifi settings...

How look your MC2 screen and Apps ???   

Thanks Andre

MC2 Sreen Functions/Apps

My MCII screen looks the same as the video at 5:44.  How old is yours? 

Unfortunately ESU used a slow processor, too little memory and Adroid 4.1 (I think) from several years ago. To get mine to work at all, I had to uninstall or disable all the bloatware Google apps that are on your screen, except for MCII, WiFi Keeper and Wi-Fi Analayzer which it it supposed to come with. As well, deleting caches and data from all those apps setting update apps to off or never.

I leaned to make sure I never let the MCII get an Internet connection, and never sign into any apps on it, especially Google Play Store. The first time that happened I had to wait hours for apps to update and then they all start running again despite me having them set to disabled. That was followed by another hour wasted disabling all the apps again and deleting caches, data etc.

I just sold off 2 of my 3 MCIIs now I have 3 ProtoThrottles. The last MCII only gets used to turn on and off track power when I can't be bothered to start JMRI on my PC.  

Just sayin'...  

Cabcontol Set got with MC2s Android 6.0.1

Pete, now it goes crazy with the MC2

have purchased the Cabcontrol by Yankee Dubbler on Oct. 22. 2019. not by ebay
ESU support contacted, NOTHING no answer GRRR

ABOUT THE TABLET

Hardware of the MCIIs:
CPU QuadCore-A33
Memory 0.98 GB
Memory used 393 MB

Android:
Version 6.0.1
Patch level 07.05.2016

Firmware:
v6.0rc2

Kernel:
3.4.39 ji@esu #199

1000k for your assistence and time Pete !!!

Andre from Austria

Android version

OK it looks like your MCII updated to Android 6.0.1. Mine is still Android 4.1.1. As I said above I haven't dared let it get onto the Internet after the first disaster.  My last system update was 29-12-2017.

I bought mine about 18 months before you did. Also I don't know anything about Android 6.0.1.

I think what I would try is to go through all the apps and uninstall/disable, deleting cache and stored data. Except for MCII and the Wi-Fi keeper and Wi-Fi analyzer which are supposed to be there. Sign out of Google and any other accounys and disable updates in Google Play and anywhere else you see it.  

Then factory reset the MCII and go back through all the apps to make sure they are all still disabled.

Then make sure all app and system updates are still set to off or notify only, don't do anything automatically.

Then I would update the MCII using the newest app from ESU website here:

http://www.esu.eu/en/downloads/software/mobile-control-ii-firmware/

After that, when you have the CC ICU Wi-Fi enabled, when you start the MCII in range, it should just connect automatically.

Unless:

There's one more thing I can think if that might be preventing the MCII connection to ESU Wi-Fi: At some point a few years back Android implemented a setting in Wi-Fi that would only allow connections to Wi-Fi networks that had an Internet connection.  Or at least would always try them first and avoid connecting to non-Intenet connected networks. You could override that but not easy to find out how.  I'm sorry I don't know if that's the case in Android 6.x

Good luck!