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27th APRIL 201527th APRIL 2015

THE NEWSLETTER OF CLUB PROTOCAB MANAGED BY ACC+ESS LIMITED- MANUFACTURERS OF THE PROTOCAB WIRELESS MODEL RAILWAY CONTROL SYSTEM THE NEWSLETTER OF CLUB PROTOCAB MANAGED BY ACC+ESS LIMITED- MANUFACTURERS OF THE PROTOCAB WIRELESS MODEL RAILWAY CONTROL SYSTEM

PRICES ANNOUNCEDPRICES ANNOUNCEDFollowing the April newsletter (number 9), wehave now finalised the prices for the PilotSeries.Although final design updates and confirmedprices from our UK suppliers have raised theretail price of the 0201 and 0502, we arepleased to announce that we will be offeringClub Protocab members a special discountbased on the prices suggested in previousnewsletters.You will be able to pre-order the items shownon the price list overleaf at any time up to theend of May 2015 (closing at midnight on 31May), after which the normal price will apply. The worldwide interest in Acc+Ess Protocab,particularly from the USA, Canada andAustralia, is accelerating our plans to be ableto supply modellers in those countries andelsewhere. The UK Price List is being applied to theprotocab.com website later this week and youwill be able to make preorders or, for a largerdiscount, to pay in advance for the Protocabproducts you want.

NEWSNEWS

UPDATEUPDATE

140 METRES!140 METRES!

CROWDFUNDING UPDATECROWDFUNDING UPDATEThe discussion in newsletter 9 aboutour funding plans has generated manywelcome replies from you andoverwhelmingly support our proposalto offer crowdfunding campaigns thatwill help to accelerate developments.As a result, we are structuring twoinitial campaigns.The first will be to develop wirelessinduction charging which has beenvery strongly supported in discussionswe have had with modellers and fromthe results so far of the on line survey.Although our early researches have

given us plenty of information, thereare issues to be overcome such asseparation distance between thetransmitter and receiver, size ofreceiver inside the locomotive anduser safety. We intend to launch thisas a 30 day campaign commencing on1 June and, at the moment, it looks asif we will be seeking around £15,000.The range of rewards is beingdetermined and we would beinterested in what you would considerto be an effective reward for eachlevel of investment. Continued.....

Our latest test of the 0201 DirectController and 0502 LocomotiveControl Unit has taken us outdoors intothe lovely Caithness spring sunshine! The first test was to see if thecommunications would stretch to thedesign 30 metres distance in freespace (i.e. not indoors or separated bywalls or other obstructions). As theabove photo shows, we reached140metres! The proof of that is thatwhen the 0502 is out of range of the0201, the red light on the 0201'srelevant LCU select button returns togreen showing that the LCU is nolonger selected (the same as if youhad pressed the selection button todeselect the loco). The 0201 in theabove photo shows button A still redand not only can you not easily see theloco at 140 metres, it was not that

easy to see Dan holding the loco(arrowed)!But some caveats: the 'loco' inquestion was a bare Portescap motorand gearbox and pair of wheels plusthe 0502 and Locoswitch assembled onan open board. In practice, the motorand LCU inside a loco will attenuatethe signal, so reducing range.Secondly, line of sight givesconsiderably more radio range thanwhere the signal is having to negotiateobstacles such as earth, brickwork or(especially) metal. We will be testing the outdoors rangewith these conditions applied andreport back further. p.s. apologies that the 0201 is out offocus, but it was important to get thefar distance visible in the photo!

OPEN FOR ORDERS!OPEN FOR ORDERS!With this update, Acc+Ess Ltd is open for business!Although the first products are likely to be ready fordespatch in June, subject to satisfactory finaltesting (please see latest update on the beta testprogramme in the Availability section on page 2),we are delighted to offer you a discount for anypre-orders received between now and the end ofMay. Later this week, you will be able to pre-orderonline from the protocab.com website. Or you cancomplete and post the order form that has beensent to you with this update. We can also take pre-orders through our UK local telephone number 0845533 3209. We do not take payment details tocomplete the pre-order; we will instead contact youto take payment when we are ready to post theitems to you and confirm with you at that time thatyou wish to make the order or want to amendanything in your pre-order.Alternatively, you can enjoy an even greaterdiscount by opting to pay for the items in advance(“pre-payment”). We will contact you six weeksbefore firm delivery date to take payment.Full details will be available on protocab.com laterthis week. If you have any questions, do pleasecontact us.

What will you need?What will you need?How do you know what to purchase?To fit and drive your first locomotive with Acc+EssProtocab, you will need one of each item on the listoverleaf. Thereafter, you only need the LocomotiveComponent items for every subsequent loco.But we urge you to do your planning upfront and tothat end we will be producing a special newsletterentitled 'Planning for Protocab' based on thesuccessful webinar we ran in 2013 – coming soon.

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You may remember from the April newsletterthat, when you switch on the 0201, any LCUsthat are already switched on (and, as a resultof recent developments, any adopted LCU inrange of the 0201) will show as a green lightagainst the respective selection button. Whenyou press the button to select the loco todrive, the light turns red.Club member Bob Juleff emails us to say that,in his opinion, this is the wrong way round.Surely, he writes, the 'Not to Go' board on aloco is red, and any green signal means 'go'. Tony Hagon, who laid down the designspecification, had a different view. He saysthat, surely, a green indication on a toilet doormeans free to enter, and red means occupied,so his logic is that green means ok to drive,red means selected to drive.There has been mutiny in the Acc+Ess ranks!Alex, our Business Director and Club ProtocabManager agrees with Bob and says that

Protocab has very little to do with toilet doors!Fortunately, sanity has prevailed in the form ofAcc+Ess Technical Director, Dan. He says thatwe will give you the option which can bechanged with the Management Application.So, if you prefer Bob's recommendation orTony's, you can simply select it by clicking therespective box on your computer screen!This is a very good example of why we choseto implement a high level microprocessor forthe Protocab architecture. It means that wecan make user-requested alterations to thebasic software with relative ease and provideyou with the control system that you want.PostscriptSince writing the above article, we attendedScalefour North, and we asked fifteen of themany modellers who visited the stand and theyALL agreed with Bob, much to Tony's chagrin! PPSOn the way to Wakefield, we showed the 0201

The Acc+Ess Protocab News and News Updateare sent to members of Club Protocab free of charge

Published by and copyright© Acc+EssLimited 2015Glenrhu, Bowermadden

Highland KW1 4TWUK

Acc+Ess is a company registered in Scotland number SC399393

Please send articles, photographs etc. for publication in Acc+Ess Protocab News to the above address or news@protocab.com Descriptions of products in this newsletter are subject to design change at any time

This price list for the Pilot Series ofAcc+Ess Protocab products shows therecommended retail price, and thediscounts available for pre-orders or pre-payments that are available from nowuntil midnight on 31st May 2015. All pricesshown include Value Added Tax at 20%and postage and packing within the UK.

At the moment, due to certification andexport regulations, the products showncan only be sent to UK addresses, but wewill announce through the Club Protocabnewsletters or updates and on theprotocab.com website when our productsare available in other countries andterritories.

The 0201 Direct Controller has now beenfully developed with all constituentcomponents brought together includingthe controlling software and testedsatisfactorily. There have been somesmall design changes in the keypadmembrane and the casing, mainly toassist manufacturing and assembly of theproduction units. The 9601 Plug Charging Unit was alreadyready as of the last newsletter, andinstallation tests with the extended landsand apertures have been very successful.The 0502 Locomotive Control Unit iscomplete although we will have addedsome design enhancements as a result ofthe online survey where a significantnumber of respondents want the 0502 tobe switched on from the 0201 controllerrather than (or as an option) from theLocoswitch. The 1902-703048 battery has given goodresults in tests.After Scalefour North we will beassembling complete test sets to send tobeta testers and during the beta test wewill be carrying out final EMC testing.With these tests completed in mid May,the first production units should beavailable in mid June, assuming the testsare satisfactory.

CROWDFUNDING UPDATE CROWDFUNDING UPDATE continued...continued...

RRP Preorderprice (1)

Prepaymentprice (2)

CatalogueNo.

Description £ inc. VAT (20%)

Controller

0201 Direct Controller, battery or USBpowered, 9 LCU selection buttons,

simulation mode

128.00 116.36 108.47

Locomotive Components

0502 Locomotive Control Unit for 12Vmotors, maximum stall current500mA for 30 seconds, running

current maximum 450mA at 10.8Voutput with Locoswitch fitted andincluding 9958 LCU to motor leads

(150mm) and 9970 Motor Suppressor

82.50 75.00 69.92

9601 Plug Charging Unit including9953 PCU to LCU cable assembly

18.99 17.26 16.09

1902-703048

Battery, lithium-ion polymer,1000mAh, 3.7V, with leads and

connector with fitted overchargeprotection circuit

8.95 8.14 7.58

Accessories

9901 UK Mains Adaptor, input: 220-240V, output:5V at 500mA, USB

type A socket

9.99 9.08 8.47

9950-X EIAJ to USB cable, 1.83 metres,for use with 9601 Plug Charging

Units

6.75 6.14 5.72

9956 MicroUSB to USB type A cable, 2metres

6.99 6.34 5.92

(1) Price applies to all orders reserved between 11 April and 31 May 2015 and payment taken when goods are ready to be posted.(2) Price applies to all orders reserved between 11 April and 31 May 2015 with full payment taken six weeks before delivery.Full terms and conditions, including warranties and discount schemes are detailed on protocab.com or available from Acc+Ess Ltd at the address below.

The next campaign, again stimulated bythe results so far from the online survey,will be the development of the 0503Locomotive Control Unit aimed at small4mm/ft tank locomotives. Although theextension of LCUs beyond the 0502 willbe based on the architecture that hasbeen employed on the 0502, there aresome significant challenges to reduce thefootprint to the size that you have askedfor. We will start this campaign in Julyand in the next few weeks we will knowmore about the size of funding that thisdevelopment will require. We are very grateful to everyone whohas completed the online survey and whohave written or emailed us following theApril newsletter.

AVAILABILITY UPDATEAVAILABILITY UPDATE

PILOT SERIES PRICE LISTPILOT SERIES PRICE LIST

PISTOLS AT DAWN??PISTOLS AT DAWN?? to someone who is severely colour blind.Although he could not differentiate red fromgreen, he was able to record the difference incontrast between the LEDs, a good user test.