Circuit Breakers and Districts

[LMS_Dave]

Every time one of my locos derails my eLink module trips necessitating the closure of the RailMaster software and a plug/unplug of the USB connector from the eLink module.  On my 4-loop test track which has various points, curved and straight, and 2 diamond cross-overs, this is an all-too-frequent occurrence when I'm running-up multiple locos and is becoming, well... a bit irritating.

I already wired my test track with 2 buses - one for points the other for track - and can join/separate them as required through a switch if I need to use a 2nd eLink module to power just the points and spare-up some additional current.  So, one option that seems to be beckoning to eliminate the derail/trip issue is to divide-out the track bus into Power Districts using Circuit Breakers.

 

 

Having looked on the 'net and exchanged e-mails with the new DCC Concepts outlet in Settle, I'm considering a set of DCC Specialities PSX-1 Circuit Breakers, one for each loop.  Doubtless that someone else may already have gone down this route, is there any sage advice to be followed?  Links to any previous threads gratefully accepted and apologies if I'm duplicating previous RFI(s),

[96RAF]

You can reset the eLink by pressing the little red button in the big red Stop button at screen bottom right hand side, without having to go through all that unplugging and restarting stuff.

Rob

[Chrissaf]

The information that Rob is alluding to is detailed in this previous thread.

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https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/delayed-notification-of-short-circuit/?p=1/

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As Rob says, with eLink there is no need to go through all the lead unplugging and powering down/up just to do a reset (this documented solution doesn't seem to work with Elite, presumably as the Elite has a reset button on the hardware).

[westernwill]

Unfortunately the reset button on RM does not always work. 

 

I get an occasional short from derailments and usually the message "short has occurred" comes up and asks you to clear it and hit the tick button. Which usually works fine.

 

But sometimes this message does not appear, then you have to try the little red button, 4 times out of five this works.

 

But on the odd occasions you get the message to unplug/plug the USB connection, which nearly always works first time.

 

Just my experience. Possible I have something not quite right in my ini file, but it matches the recommended list.

[Chrissaf]

WW, read the comments in my linked post about editing the entries in the .INI file to make them the last entries in the file. This documented fix of mine seems to have worked for others with similar issues to your own.

[LMS_Dave]

The existence of the magic red button is, indeed, great news and something for me to try tomorrow.  I used to get the pop-up messages mentioned by WesternWill when I first started with eLink/RailMaster 3 or 4 years back, but they just stopped appearing at some point in time that I failed to notice.

Notwithstanding this, is there anyone out there with any practical experience of introducing DCC Circuit Breakers on to an eLink/RailMaster layout and/or regulating individual Power Districts with them?  Having looked at some of the available material, I think this is probably somewhere I'd eventually like to go anyway if I can for a range of reasons, not least of which is the sheer technical curiosity of knowing a bit more about DCC.

[RDS]

@westernwill

Would it be possible for you to give us a bit more information regarding your derailments i.e. what type of Loco or running stock, where they occur, is your layout fixed and PEFECTLY flat.  I always think it is better to solve the problem, rather than find a workaround.

 

I have a 4 loop layout myself with 32 sets of points and very very rarely suffer a derailment, although I have some goods wagons that are now just parked permanently in sidings, or not used at all, because they could only be pulled, not pushed.

[96RAF]

The information that Rob is alluding to is detailed in this previous thread.

.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/delayed-notification-of-short-circuit/?p=1/

.

As Rob says, with eLink there is no need to go through all the lead unplugging and powering down/up just to do a reset (this documented solution doesn't seem to work with Elite, presumably as the Elite has a reset button on the hardware).

 

I have Elite as primary loco controller and eLink as secondary points controller and the little red button is there on my RM screen.

Rob

[Chrissaf]

Yes, but not if you ONLY have an Elite and no eLink as well, as in your case.

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I only have an Elite, I have the correct .INI entries but NO reset button showing in RM. The key phrase in my reply was "......doesn't seem to work.....". In other words, the reset button doesn't show for me in my particular circumstance.

[LMS_Dave]

Thanks for all the little red button information.  I found the button last night and it kind-of works...

• When I clicked the button, the cycle of reset initiated in RailMaster and I got the 2 "bing-bings" from my Windows XP laptop same as if the eLink was being physically disconnected, but then an error message appeared saying that my eLink hadn't been found by RailMaster.  So, I actually physically disconnected the eLink - followed by a first "bing-bing" - and then plugged it back in - to get my second "bing-bing" - clicked the green tick on the error message and it all worked fine.
• This was the same for the numerous derailments I had in the course of the evening; nb nothing wrong with the test track, just working my way through DCC conversions on a half a dozen old split-chassis Bachmann Scots and doing the usual stuff to get the wheel spacers, wheels and running gear in optimum condition for operation.
• The little red button is still better than having to shut down RailMaster every time and then physically disconnect/reconnect eLink, but not by a great deal!
• Next step is to go through the instructions in the ini file link that you've given me.

Thanks for the help... so far so good!

I'm sensing (pardon the pun) that nobody wants to answer the question on using Circuit Breakers and Districts with RailMaster/eLink though?  Can anybody add anything about this???