Accuracy of speed settings.

[WilliamDavid]

Running my four TTS locomotives tonight, I was concerned with the sluggishness ofTornado.

It was way too slow on the shunt and cruise settings compared with the Duke of Gloucester.

Fearing that the Tornado might be faulty, I carried out some tests.

For a circuit of my track, and set to 80mph the Tornado took 20 secs., and the DofG took 12 seconds.

From the Railmaster loco menu I changed the Tornado to DofG settings(12secs) and Flying Scotsman settings(12secs) 

I then retested the Dof G (12secs) and then the DofG on Tornado settings (25secs)

Thankfully, it seems that the Tornado setting are too slow, and the Tornado is fine.

I think Hornby should revisit the settings, as this sort of inaccuracy spoils the functionality of an excellent product.

Also, I now have the TTS King Richard ll, what a beauty.

When can one expect the loco setting to be installed, and how are they instigated?

 

[Fishmanoz]

Is this a matter of having scale speeds set for one loco and not for the other?

 

And have you done the original setup for each by calling the correct loco with its R number from the RM database?

[WilliamDavid]

I have used the correct Railmaster settings and find they are non too accurate.

The settings for the Tornado are just a joke. Please sort it, Hornby.

I will query them direct.

 

 

[Fishmanoz]

Good idea, email support@rail-master.com, not HCC.

[WilliamDavid]

I have not received a satisfactory reply from support@rail-master.com. 

I'm obviously imagining it.

I have just downloaded 1.63 rev 3, which has King Richard ll on it.

This at scale 80mph is like a rocket compared with Tornado's snail.

It seems that the speed settings are not very accurate, unless RM can tell me where I am going wrong.

I don't think they have tried it.

Haven't any of you people got RM and a Tornado to try out?

[hosh]

Does RM get feedback from a train's decoder about back EMF?

[Yelrow]

William, hi, i have the tornado, CON, both TTS, and both run at same speeds. I dont think its a Railmaster problem.. Surely you can adjust speed on cv. john

[Fishmanoz]

Hosh, I believe that once you program EMF cutout, running is an internal to the decoder process with no feedback to RM.

 

John, WD has told us his locos are set up from the RM database and that scale speeds are selected, I believe just like yours.  This should be all that's needed to have them running at the same relative speeds.  Further, RM doesn't achieve scale speeds by CV adjustment, just by throttle settings.  However, it's worth asking him your question more specifically - WD, you haven't by any chance put a non-defsilt low value in Vmax have you on the slow loco?  You could remove that as a possibility by writing 8 to CV8 to put the decoder back to default, but you will have to reprogram the address you want if you do that.

 

And as a matter of interest WD, what have HRMS said in reply?

[WilliamDavid]

All locos are as received except for the id number.

I did a CV8 reset just to see if anything changed and recorded these times tonight. 

For oval and  RM slider at 80mph Tornado 21s  R3245TTS (the speed is a little variable) It is very slow on shunt, and requires a setting of about 18mph (I meant) to match the others. Duke 14s R3244TTS King 8s R3370TTS (you should see that go)

I have checked a number of other Hornby locos, and they tend to be around the 14s mark.

I have reported these results to HRMS and they say the will do some tests after Christmas.

 

[WilliamDavid]

Just had a play with the double heading feature.

Does this actually work? Whatever Hornby locos I pair, there is a speed difference, some small, some large.

[Fishmanoz]

Will be interesting to see what HRMS come up with WD.

[WilliamDavid]

I have still not heard from HRMS on this issue.

Is there anybody using the double header feature?

I have purchased a few more Hornby locomotives, and none run at scale speeds.

[96RAF]

I ran some tests on a trio of 0-4-0 rockets to find 2 that were matched for a double header.

i set up the DH and placed both locos 180 degrees apart on a 4th rad circle and set them off Initially at shunt and cruise, then manually up the speed range.

I couldn't get any pair within reasonable limits so snagged it to HRMS (long time ago) and their answer after running their own tests was the mechanical differences between my locos.

the way I got round it was to run the 2 best matched locos on the circuit as singles (I.e. Not DH) and adjusted theor speed steps until I got them matched, then set these values in loco settings as their cruise and shunt defaults. Then when DH'd they ran reasonably well matched up the whole range.

 

there is no reason why you can't use the same principle to improve the scale speed of any loco to match its shed mates.

[WilliamDavid]

So it's not just me.

This feature is actually rubbish.

[96RAF]

I wouldn't say it's rubbish - RM has put a lot of effort into researching scale speeds for different loco types.

i think it mostly depends upon the mechanical state of each individual loco - some need to be run in for a long time before reaching prime running condition, others run ok straight out of the box, others never run well for some reason.

[WilliamDavid]

The locos I have are new Hornby models, using the Railmaster loco list.

They should work correctly.

Please stop making excuses for Hornby's failure. Their effort to work out scale speeds was clearly flawed.

[96RAF]

I wasn't making excuses for Hornby In this instance.

I said the Railmaster team has put a lot of effort into the software package they have developed for Hornby.

Do not mix up HORNBY the hardware people and RAILMASTER the software people.

As for scale speeds not being accurate. It's something you can correct by yourself quite simply by altering a few settings.

[WilliamDavid]

I think Railmaster is a great piece of kit, but, if scale speeds don't work, why don't they just say.

One shouldn't have to fiddle things to make it work.

[WilliamDavid]

I have had a reply from them, saying there is not a problem, and it must be my set up.

As far as I am concerned, all is correct, and it is their scale speed settings are wrong.

Locos run in----yes

Warmed up-----yes

Track clean-----yes

Use of correct R numbers-----yes

Motors in locos, or DCC decoders may be causing the problem.-----new TTS  locos, wouldn't be complimentary to Hornby quality, would it.

Anybody got any ideas?

I have asked them to compare the TTS Duke of Gloucester with the Tornado.

[JWRStation]

I have about 20 Hornby loco's currently set up in Railmaster and I set cruise for all of them at 60mph as a reference point however, all of them travel at different speeds for this setting so I have therefore had to use the facility for speed reference adjustment.  I have a track set up that for scale speed of 60mph takes 14 seconds for a circuit.  To check I always start with a nominal 10 seconds set for the OO scale distance then check the relative scale speed: I then alter the intial 10 second setting either up or down as required to acheive the scale speed of 60mph..  After this all the locos when set to 60mph all run at the same speed, job done.  I have noticed though that even after this some do shunt at slightly different speeds though I put this down to the fact that I have a number of different makes of decoder and is is perhaps tolerence and also loco pick up efficiemncy that makes the difference....

Joe

[Fishmanoz]

So WD, can we take it you have told HRMS everything you've told us in your last post at the bottom of page 2.  Any response from them yet?

[WilliamDavid]

My latest email

Running my four TTS locomotives tonight, I was concerned with the sluggishness of theTornado.

It was way too slow on the shunt and cruise settings compared with the Duke of Gloucester.

Fearing that the Tornado might be faulty, I carried out some tests.

For a circuit of my track, and set to 80mph the Tornado took 20 secs., and the DofG took 12 seconds.

From the Railmaster loco menu I changed the Tornado to DofG settings(12secs) and Flying Scotsman settings(12secs) 

I then retested the Dof G (12secs) and then the DofG on Tornado settings (25secs)

Thankfully, it seems that the Tornado setting are too slow, and the Tornado is fine

 

These were new locos, run in for 30 minutes each way. They were tested on the same loop of track, which was clean. They were set up with the correct R  numbers.

Since that was posted, you have added the R number for the King Richard ll, and this is way faster than the others,  None of my Hornby locos are the same.

Please compare the Tornado against the Duke of Gloucester. The difference is significant.

Regards,

William Glover.

 

 

I am not holding my breath.