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Hornby Elite & RocRail Software

BurntwoodModeller

By BurntwoodModeller
in Hornby DCC

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BurntwoodModeller Newbie

BurntwoodModeller

Posted
Posted

Hello all & Seasons greetings.

I am after some advice on the Hornby Elite controller.

I am using the RocRail software and looking to upgrade my DCC controller (Currently a Bachmann Ultimta) to one that can both control locos, points and possibly sensors, and considering the Hornby Elite Controller.

According to the RocRail website it suggests that the Hornby Elite is XpressNet compatible and also supports RailCom/RailCom Plus..

My question is has anyone actually had success in using a Hornby Elite with the RocRail software?

Also has anyone had success in using RocRail with the Hornby Elite controller to receive feedback from sensors and RailCom/RailCom Plus compliant devices or in general used the Elite controller to receive feedback from sensors/RailCom/RailCom Plus compliant devices?

Regards

Rob. 

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96RAF Grand Master

96RAF

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I have used Rocrail with the Elite and was involved in the early days to get it to work properly.

 

You can use it in Classic or Standard modes as there is a V2 box to tick in the controller setup to ensure the points fire the proper address.

 

The whole thing is well documented including a ref out to a WiKi I wrote in the old days and which is still,applicable. The,Rocrail forum is excellent and they build new updates overnight most days if you want to keep on the cutting edge.

 

I didn't use feedback but people have used the S88 units to good effect, although Railcom worked with the Hornby Sapphire decoder on the refuel sim. Other people have documented feedback and there is a fair bit on the Elite forum about it. 

 

Welcome to the forum ... 

Rob

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BurntwoodModeller Newbie

BurntwoodModeller

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 Hi Rob

Many thanks for the reply and it useful to know the Elite can work with RocRail. Having used the Bachmann and know it works, I am a bit nervous about changing the controller, the Bachmann is a great little controller but as I venture into the PC control more and more,  I want a controller that can grow as my learning and adoptions of more digital control grows over the coming years.

Having looked on RocRail at the command station list, XpressNet compliant controllers seem to have ticks across the board as to being able to do everythng, and the Elite seems to be the best value for money compared to the others, such as Lenz etc.

May well pop out and see if I can buy myself a last minute Christmas present at my local Hornby stockist.

Thanks again

Regards

Rob

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96RAF Grand Master

96RAF

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Just be aware Rob that the Rocrail continental chaps can be a bit scathing in their remarks about Hornby 'toy trains' DCC stuff and that you should buy proper German kit. Water off a duck's back to me now.

 

That said they are very responsive in their support and any glitches are promptly sorted.

Rob

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Guest Chrissaf

Chrissaf

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Burntwood, unfortunately the eLink has none of the Xpressnet functions of the Elite. Neither will the eLink be recognised by any PC control software other than Hornby RailMaster. The eLink is totally proprietary to Hornby.

.

Just as an aside, with regard to Elite. You might want to check out this post (from yesterday) regarding new Elite firmware version 1.43. The release notes mention things that relate to your original enquiry. Thus, if you do buy an Elite, you would be advised to update the firmware to 1.43 to get the full benefit. The upgrade can be self administered at home.

.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/elite-143-firmware/?p=1

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Peter Ruifrok Enthusiast

Peter Ruifrok

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 If I may continue this thread: I have been wondering myself for a while if th eLink could be mastered by software other than Railmaster and I understand from Chris that such is not the case. On the other hand it appears that Railmaster can master other units as it also masters the Elite, while the Elite can be mastered by other software. Am I correct in this understanding? Now 1) what is so special about the eLink and 2) what is so special about Railmaster that it can service both the eLink (proprietary) and the Elite (not so proprietary)?

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Peter Ruifrok Enthusiast

Peter Ruifrok

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 The background of my question is not so much that I don't like Railmaster. On the contrary, I find it very good, and with the current offer at GPB 5 by Hattons extremely low cost, really a bargain. Also the eLink at GPB 68 is great value for money, about the same price as the (in)famous multimaus, here in Holland for many the first exposure to DCC. The combi of Railmaster and the eLink, offered by Hattons for only GPB 77, is of course even better. Now overhere we are in the fortunate position that there is an excellent freeware program called Koploper (which is unfortunately only in Dutch), so many start off with the multimause and then add later Koploper, using the multimouse as their central hardware unit. For those that do not like Koploper (it is sometimes a bit difficult to understand) there is iTrain costing about € 130 (and available in English). Thus I have been wondering if either Railmaster could be combined with the multimause, or if the eLink could be combined with Koploper or iTrain.

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Guest Chrissaf

Chrissaf

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Peter, as to whether RM can interface with other non Hornby controllers. I suppose it might be possible (but unlikely - see below), I don't think anybody AFAIK has ever tried.

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In the RM 'System Settings' there is a pull down box to select the controller you want to control. Only Hornby controllers are listed there (note that the Hornby Select seems to be listed there in error as the Select does not have a USB PC interface).

.

Similarly, in other non Hornby controller software for example JMRI, BigBear to name two. They also have a controller selection box where the Elite is listed (but not eLink).

.

My deduction from this, is that controller support has to be specifically written into the software package in question. Users have reported trying to interface eLink to JMRI using the Elite option and reported it doesn't work. I believe, but cannot be 100% sure, that this has been tried with BigBear as well with the same result. I would expect other PC packages to have similar results.

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Fishmanoz Grand Master

Fishmanoz

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Just to be clear both Elite and eLink are proprietary Hornby.  Elite is a fully function DCC controller with Hornby's Xpressnet and a USB interface.  RM was subsequently developed to work wih it as the interface to track.

 

eLink on the other hand is just a USB interface designed to work with RM, it has no other function and is not a DCC controller.

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Guest Chrissaf

Chrissaf

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Peter,

Fishy makes a very good point that I had not given thought to before. With eLink, the controller intelligence is embedded within the RailMaster software. Thus, there is realistically no way other non Hornby software could use it unless it replicated Hornby's proprietary code. Very unlikely to happen, and would most likely breach 'intellectual rights' as well.

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96RAF Grand Master

96RAF

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I posted a response about using eLink with Rocrail along with some background info about back engineering RM from another forum, and Railcom, Xpressnet stuff, but its gone walkabout into the great interweb black hole. Have to wait to see if it turns up next year then.

Rob

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96RAF Grand Master

96RAF

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Lets try again from memory...

 

I tried eLink in Rocrail as a straight swap with the Elite and it would send all commands 5 times. Rocrail support didn't want to help so I binned the query.

 

On RM Web long time ago a guy back engineered eLink and RM in hope of improving connectivity and boot time. As he was contravening RM licence conditions they pulled the thread and it was lost.

 

Rocrail supports Elite as here

/media/tinymce_upload/ddd8068b00e036e8cf03adc9b3b39e1e.PNG

Set it up initally as Xpressnet controller type then pick Elite and switch V2 on or off for the Elite Mode. Works well and the points are reliable.

Can't remember what else I wrote now...

Rob

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Peter Ruifrok Enthusiast

Peter Ruifrok

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 I am pretty sure that compatibility must be written into the software for each individual controller. This is probably what all generic software does. The question is only how difficult this is and how much one controller differs from the other. One tends to think that the differences would be limited as the same principles apply. I had a couple of months a chat with the developer of iTrain and he appeared to think that it should not be too difficult to adapt his program to eLink. However, I never pursued this line any further. My knowledge about the technology behind controllers is zero, which doesn't really help 😀

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