Bachmann Dynamis RailController

[TonyO]

I notice that the software is out now so I'll start the topic rolling by asking if it can use Hornby's eLink to run the layout?

[Chrissaf]

Probably not. eLink is known NOT to work with JMRI, BigBear or Railroad & Co (whereas Elite does work with these). So logic would suggest, the same inter-operation issues would be common to Dynamis RailController as well. The USB data protocol used by eLink seems to be proprietary to Hornby.

[Howbi]

Not a chance..........designed only for Dynamis Ultima system

[Bexhill Donkey]

I should like to add that I have recently acquired a Dynamis Ultima.

For the curious here are some notes:

You get a 30-day trial version of Railcontroller on a CD included inside the box. However, you do not need this, since you can download the evaluation version online. This is similar to Railmaster, in that you can purchase a CD with an activation key or upgrade to the full version online.

In order to connect the Dynamis Ultima to your computer, you need a standard USB printer lead, which is not supplied with the Dynamis Ultima. Any spare printer or scanner lead can be used. If you have not got a spare, you can get one in the £1 shop. When you connect the Dynamis Ultima, your computer will not recognize it unless you download and install a suitable driver for your version of the operating system.

You must choose the correct file for Windows 32 or Windows 64 bit here:

https://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

Unzip the relevant file to a convenient folder.

Now, go to the control panel, and select the device manager, and right-click where it says FT232 USB UART driver, and navigate to the folder you just created above and install the driver.

If this does not work, repeat this procedure.

You should now be able to test the trial version of Railcontroller.

Compared to Railmaster, Railcontroller is only a very basic program. 

The Dynamis Ultima is very similar to the original Dynamis, except that it has an infra-red extension which has four sockets. You fit this to the top of the base station and fit the IR receiver to that. You can fit the IR receiver directly to the base station as illustrated or you can fit it on top of the IR extension. It does not matter if you fit the IR extension when you have no IR extension receivers to position around the layout. If you fit the IR extension, it means the IR receiver it a bit higher up above buildings on the layout which may get in the way of the IR signal. The now-discontinued ESU Navigator as illustrated in white is shown set up like this. The ESU Navigator in white is virtually identical to the Dynamis Ultima in black which continues to be supplied by Bachmann. The ESU Navigator has a USB socket, but no computer connectivity as the Dynamis Ultima does. You cannot use software intended for the ESU Navigator with the Dynamis Ultima because that works in conjunction with a different interface.

At the Future Technology web page above, you will see are drivers for Mac and Linux. If you download and install these and you connect a Dynamis Ultima, it doesn't do anything since the Railcontroller software only runs on Windows.

You cannot as of this writing use a third-party program such as RocRail or JMRI which runs on a Mac/Linux with Dynamis Ultima.

Freiwald "Railroad and Co" and RocRail are mentioned in the Dynamis Ultima documentation, but you cannot use these at the moment because the necessary code has not been written.

Quo Erat Demonstrandum: Railcontroller on a Windows PC is the only option you have got to use with the Dynamis Ultima at the moment. If you have Railmaster with eLink or Horny Elite, then that is better. However, you may prefer Railcontroller if you happen to have Dynamis Ultima and want to keep things simple