ESU Mobile Control 2/Pro

../_images/esu_mcii.png

As the ESU Mobile Control 2 and Mobile Control Pro are built on an Android platform, and they have made the API available to external developers, Engine Driver can run on it and make use of the hardware knob and buttons. Download it from the Google Play Store or by direct download as you would any other app.

Warning

The ESU Mobile Control 2 does not have a Google Play Services installed, so you will not be able to use the Google Play Store to install Engine Driver. You will need to download the APK file and install it manually.

Warning

The ESU Mobile Control Pro is currently being shipped with a version of Engine Driver pre-installed that is not* compatible with its hardware. It is also impossible to update the app on the device by downloading an APK from this site. We hope this will be addressed soon, but in the meantime there are some instructions below on how to update the app on the device.

Operation

As well as being able to control speed of the selected throttle with the control knob, it’s also possible to switch direction via the zero-position end-stop switch.

Up to three trains can be controlled at once - the train being operated by the control knob is highlighted by the small ‘v’ in the speed indicator. Switch between operated trains by clicking the appropriate speed indicator. It is also possible to assign one of the device side buttons to switch to the next operated train - by default, the bottom-right button is assigned to this function.

When assigned to control a train, the Green LED is lit. When no trains are assigned, the Green LED flashes. In addition, you can use the Stop button to pause the currently operated train, or to stop all controlled trains. A short press of the Stop button (default, less than 1/2 second) pauses operation of the currently controlled train. The Red LED will flash quickly to denote this. On a second press of the Stop button, the currently operated train will resume at the previous set speed. A long press of the Stop button (default, greater than 1/2 second) will stop all controlled trains. The Red LED will flash slowly to denote this. On a second press of the Stop button, all controlled trains will remain stationary and it will be possible to again control the currently selected train.

Whilst in stop mode, the on-screen speed change buttons and bar are disabled for currently stopped throttles. Switching between controlled throttles is also disabled.

Configuration

Default configuration

It is possible to configure the device side buttons to perform various actions. The default assignment is as follows:

Top-left

Increase speed

Bottom-left

Decrease speed

Top-right

Toggle direction

Bottom-right

Select next throttle

These assignments can be modified via the ESU Mobile Control 2 Options page in Preferences.

Other Configuration

You can also configure the physical slider on the ESU Mobile Control Pro to perform various actions.

The Options are currently

  • none

  • 3 Decoder Brake Levels

  • Screen Brightness

  • Use Semi-Realistic Throttle setting

If the 3 Decoder Brake Levels option is selected, the slider will control the brake level of the currently operated train, using the brake functions of the decoder. This functions exactly like the brake slide in the Semi-Realistic Throttle setting, but it will only work with decoders that support the brake functions.

See the Decoder Brake Type for more information on how the the Semi-Realistic Throttle settings work. This works exactly the same way, but for all throttle layouts, except the Semi-Realistic Throttle layout.

If the Use Semi-Realistic Throttle setting option is selected, the physical slider will follow whatever settings you have for the brake slider in the Semi-Realistic Throttle. It will work with any decoder, even if the decoder does not have brake functions.

Note

The setting for the Decoder Brake Functions for the physical slider and the Semi-Realistic Throttle setting are independent of each other.

Updating Engine Driver on the ESU Mobile Control Pro

The ESU Mobile Control Pro is currently being shipped with a version of Engine Driver pre-installed that is not compatible with its hardware. It is also impossible to update the app on the device by downloading an APK from this site.

These instructions will allow you to update the app on the device from one of the APKs on this website. Note that currently only the EngineDriver-2.40.200a.apk (Alpha), or later, is compatible with the ESU Mobile Control Pro.

  1. You need to download a copy of adb.exe (e.g. https://developer.android.com/tools/releases/platform-tools )

  2. Then open a terminal (cmd or powershell) and navigate to the directory where adb.exe is located.

    For example, if you have adb.exe in C:adb, then you would type:

    cd C:\adb

  3. Open an adb connection to the device. You will need to enable USB debugging on the device, and connect it to your computer via USB.

    Type:

adb shell

  1. Then Enter these commands line by line:

$ mount -o remount,rw /
$ rm -rf /system/app/EngineDriver/
$ rm -f /data/dalvik-cache/arm/*Engine*
$ mount -o remount,ro /
$ pm uninstall --user 0 jmri.enginedriver
$ reboot

(You can copy and paste these commands into the terminal window, but make sure you press ``Enter`` after each line.)

  1. After the device has rebooted, you can install a new APK from this website.

  • Open the Chrome browser on the MC Pro

  • Navigate to the Engine Driver downloads page: https://www.jmri.org/downloads

  • click the .APK you wish to download