Loco cv issues

[whiteshield]

Cannot get railmaster to write cv's to loco's, have tried half a dozen all brand new all Hornby. Have tried the following:

New lead

Different port

Main track and programming track

Upating the software

Have checked all settings and they seem to be right.

 According to Hornby the E-link works as they recently returned it, for the second time, saying they had repaired it. The first time they said it was working properly, strange that.

Any help would be appreciated.

John

[Chrissaf]

Have you tried it with the eLink programming port ONLY, connected to the programming track - i.e with the main track output disconnected from the eLink altogether.

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Does your railmaster.ini file contain the following lines:

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Alternative comms=1

Check controller=1

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To check and edit if necessary, click the COG icon found in the 'Help' 'About' window and follow on screen prompts.

[whiteshield]

Hi Chrissaf,

Yes done all of those.

[Yelrow]

Whiteshield, hi, before we get too complicated, have you managed to read any cvs yet, bearing in mind all your locos, are set at 0003 from factory. I had exactly same prob when i started, and was doing it wrong. Can you say exactly what you are doing, step by step, and it may be, we can put you right. Also, the the history of topics, is a full set of idiots guide how to do this, as it was posted for me. john

[whiteshield]

Hi Yelrow,

No. None at all.

Been following the instructions as supplied by Hornby.

[Yelrow]

Thats where i think you are going wrong,  have a look through the old posts, there is a proceedure that needs following to the letter. I will try to find the old post. there wont be an elink fault, they are very rare. its just the way its done. No doubt some one with an elink will help you. john

[whiteshield]

Thank you.

[Yelrow]

ok here  goes,   Place loco on prog track, Click  set up locos  Press button which looks like an exclamation mark, with a circle round it   Enter 1-16 in CV range. RM will then read CV of loco.   OK so far. When it has finished reading Change cv1 to new number, eg   008 Press oblong box, with another oblong inside it for it to write to new number.  YES,,,,, Select DCC ID to new loco   Set cruising speed , shunting speed Name loco   Set any functions.   Write all this down clearly, as you go, and keep it close by.  Let me know how you get on. john

[whiteshield]

Thanks for that John. I'll give it a try, probably won't be for a few days but I will let youn know if it works.

 

 

John

[Fishmanoz]

Or you could go to the second top locked thread in the forum title Setting Up and Getting Started where I think the 3rd post is originally from HRMS giving the full procedure for writing and saving both short and long loco IDs.  This is in fact the post I think John was struggling to find for you.

[96RAF]

I have also found that just overtyping in a value box didn't take, I had to backspace the existing numbers out before typing in the new ones, then press the pencil icon (on my colour scheme that is) to write the new value.

[whiteshield]

Have tried the suggestions, all I get is an error reading message. Cannot increase the read time as as soon as I press the green tick it go's back to four seconds. Have tried on half a dozen loco's all brand new and all Hornby but none work. Elink has been back twice, first time told there was no fault found second time that repaired it. Very strange that. Am fed up with it as I have spent many hours trying to get it to work but nothing does.

John

[Yelrow]

What i would suggest is you do what i did firdt time, and go through it on the phone with Mark Lodge at Hornby. Ask him to ring you back, when he has 15 mins spare, and he will actually talk you through it, while on the phone. I am sure, its something that you are not doing or doing in the wrong order. If he cant get it to work. nobody can, and he is the guy who will replace, if faulty. john

[St1ngr4y]

Have you tested the programming track with a multimeter to ensure that there is power getting through when you are trying to access the CVs?

Ray

[Chrissaf]

Whiteshield, can I ask how you physically have your programming track piece connected to the eLink A&B Programming output.

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1. Do you use a power clip to connect to the Prog Track, if so is it a proper Digital clip and not an Analogue clip - see further below for info on part numbers.
2. Alternatively, are the wires soldered directly to the programming track piece (in my opinion - recommended).
3. Are the wires between the prog track and the eLink direct point to point and relatively short i.e don't go through any additional switches or connector arrangements.
4. Have the rails of the Prog Track been scrubbed with a track cleaner rubber to ensure that they're spotlessly clean.

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Digital power clip R8241

Digital power track R8242

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Analogue power clip R602

Analogue power track R8206

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The Analogue power versions can be converted to Digital versions by removing the 'Suppression Capacitor' under the plastic connector cover. If present, just snip through the two leads and discard in the bin.

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Here are three YouTube videos in a 3 part series. They're fairly short but I haven't sat down and watched them all the way through. However, they are for RM and eLink and cover trying to read & write CVs.

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the decoder is faulty and the process fails.

a new decoder is fitted and the configuration is completed OK

the newly configured loco is tested.

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I have included them, so that you can compare the reading / writing process to how you are trying to do it, to see if your problem is operator error.

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In addition to above, here is another loco programming video by a different YouTube presenter showing the CV process from a different perspective.

.

 

 

[whiteshield]

Thank you for your replies.

Yelrow I spoke to Mark as you suggested and have got loco's running round the main track. Not sure why as I had already tried what we did. 

Yes Ray I tested for power and that seems ok.

Chris the test track wiring is soldered directly to the track, but we could not programme any loco's. I will replace the track and cable over the next few day's I hope.

Will keep you posted.

Thanlks John

[Yelrow]

Whiteshield, thanks for your feedback, i thought mark would be able to help. He has this fixed step by step set of instructions, that appear to work, despite as you say, us trying the same thing, but, (not necesarily in the same order). john

[whiteshield]

Fully agree with you Yelrow.

Completely redid programming track and it now works fine. Track I origanilly used was old track replaced with new and new wiring incase there was a break in it.

Decided to renew all wiring under the layout as it was running a bit iffy, going to solder conections instead of using jointing blocks. Also renewing some of the track and will only use new infuture as I think this will help.

Thanks again for all your help.

John

[Chrissaf]

Whitesheild's fix for this issue shows how important it is to use good clean track and well terminated wiring for programming. The programming output in DCC uses very low power. It is critical to have a 100% electrically clean signal path between the controller and the decoder. So many people seem to think, oh its only used for programming. I'll just use whatevers lying around in my box of bits.