Railmaster decoder

[Chrissaf]

Hi,

We need a little more information to be able to answer your question. Is it a locomotive decoder or an accessory decoder? If the latter, is it operating a point or a signal?

 

Ray

[Chrissaf]

Also, if an Accessory Decoder for points and/or signals. What brand and model is it, as they are all configured and operated differently depending upon what make/type they are.

[Chrissaf]

Moderator message: This thread was originally started by user "turb0". For some unknown reason the transfer of the forum to the new forum platform in Feb 2021 shows me as the thread originator in error.

How do I operate decoder after adding it to RailMaster ?

[turb0]

Hornby decoder operating 4 points 

[Chrissaf]

In that case:

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Have you created your track plan in RailMaster using the track design screen and included your points in the track plan?

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If you haven't, then you will have to do this first, BEFORE you can operate points in RailMaster. See Pages 77 to 98 in the RM User Guide on how to create your track plan.

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As you haven't said. I am assuming that you have not performed any re-addressing of the Hornby R8247 and you are using it in its factory default state which is:

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Port 1 = Port Address 001 - Pulse Output

Port 2 = Port Address 002 - Pulse Output

Port 3 = Port Address 003 - Pulse Output

Port 4 = Port Address 004 - Pulse Output

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Again, assuming that there are four points on your track plan I will call them Point A to Point D for the purpose of this explanation.

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The assumption is that:

Point A on your track plan is physically wired to Port 1 on the R8247.

Point B on your track plan is physically wired to Port 2 on the R8247.

Point C on your track plan is physically wired to Port 3 on the R8247.

Point D on your track plan is physically wired to Port 4 on the R8247.

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Now 'Open' your track plan in the 'Track Design' screen so that you can edit it.

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1. On the left hand side you should see some point operating button icons [red and green circle icons].
2. Click & Hold one of the button icons, it doesn't matter what colour, red or green.
3. Drag the button icon so that you place the mouse cursor in the MIDDLE of the point icon on screen on your track plan and release the mouse button. Both the red & green point operating icons should now 'SNAP' to the point on the screen. If this 'Snapping' action doesn't happen then you have done it wrong and try again.
4. Do the same for the other three points on your track plan.
5. Now go to the point on the track plan that is the Point A point.
6. Right click one of the point operating icons it doesn't matter which one red or green. A dialogue box should open similar to the one below:

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Now fill in the details in the dialogue box (highlighted in yellow).

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• Controller = A (I am assuming here that you are not using a dual controller configuration).
• Decoder Port = 1 (this is the point address I have assumed for point A).
• Choose the Hornby R8247 4 port Decoder in the pull down box.
• Decide the start up position for the point, switching left or switching right.

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If you have RailMaster 'ProPack' edition, also put a start-up order number (from 1 to 4) in the empty white box to the left of the 'right / left' start-up position selection box. If you don't have 'ProPack' you can leave this white box blank, but useful to fill it in, in any case, for future proofing [see Note A) near bottom of post].

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Do the same for the other three points, except use Decoder Ports 2, 3 & 4 as appropriate for the 'Decoder Port' entry and 2, 3 & 4 for the [ProPack option] 'start-up' firing order in the white box.

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Now save and close your Track Plan in the Track Designer screen.

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Close and re-open RailMaster so that your amended track plan is loaded and displayed.

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Now clicking the appropriate red and green point operating buttons on your track plan should operate your physical points on the layout. The grey bars on the RM track plan should mimic the direction your points are physically in. If they are reversed, you can either swap the + & - wires on your R8427 decoder for the associated port, or go back into the track plan designer, right click the relevant point icon and click the 'Reverse Polarity' check box. Personally, I would rather reverse the + & - wires.

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Basically everything I have covered above is in Pages 77 to 98 of your RM User Guide Manual. If in doubt, read the manual.

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Note A) For forum readers who have RM 'ProPack' edition. If the white box firing order is not filled in and you have the default 'fire points on start-up' option selected in the railmaster.ini file. Then the start-up point firing will not happen. This feature (in ProPack) uses the contents of the white box to decide the firing order. I used 1-4 in the example above, because the OP only had one R8247. If you have multiple Accessory decoders, then the white box number range is 1 to n (where n is total number of points included in the layout). In RM 'Standard Edition' the firing points on start-up feature will still work if the white box is left blank (just seems to be a quirk of RM).

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PS - PLEASE DO NOT CLICK THE BLUE BUTTON TO REPLY. This is a long reply containing images. Firstly, if you click the blue button, it will re-quote my whole reply unnecessarily. Secondly, your reply will be held back for authorisation because of my included images. Instead, scroll to the bottom of the page and write any reply you want to make in the empty 'Reply to this post' text box and click the green 'Reply' button.

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[St1ngr4y]

Hello again,

Your original question contained the words "... after adding it to railmaster ". Does this mean you have been into the layout designer and created your layout plan with the four points on it? If so, have you saved that layout and told Railmaster to use that as your default layout?

Ray

 

Chris - you beat me to it again  😉 ... doh ...

[turb0]

Hornby r8247 operating 4 hornby points with no track plan 

[St1ngr4y]

Then that is your next task. Create your track plan in the layout designer, give it a name and save it. Then go into the Railmaster settings window where you will find a dropdown list of saved layouts (which should now include yours). Select your layout from the list to be used as your default layout. When you exit from the settings window, your layout will be displayed in the main RM window, and there will be buttons attached to each point which can be clicked to operate the points. Apart from using RM programs or routes, these buttons on your layout diagram are the only way to switch the points attached to your R8247 decoder.

 

Ray

[turb0]

Okay I got it thanks for help all 

[turb0]

Happy New year to you all.

Okay boss I failed on first attempt but I will try again , following your advice more closely I think.

Big thankyou to all.

Cheerfulness in the face of adversity !

[turb0]

 Good afternoon all,

Once again thank you for helping. I have an update: I have managed to get the points and Railmaster working. I do have an issue still with the track layout on railmaster. Not all the points have grey lines indicating which way the points are set. Surely all of the points should have grey lines to indicate the way in which the points are set?

[Chrissaf]

If you have points where there are NO grey lines, then you didn't follow my instructions correctly in the detailed 'How To' post I wrote for you. In that post I wrote and I quote below:

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"Drag the button icon so that you place the mouse cursor in the MIDDLE of the point icon on screen on your track plan and release the mouse button. Both the red & green point operating icons should now 'SNAP' to the point on the screen. If this 'Snapping' action doesn't happen then you have done it wrong and try again."

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You must place the mouse cursor when dragging the point operating button icon in the MIDDLE of the point and observe the 'Snapping' action I described. Do NOT try and place the point operating button icons manually in their operating position on the toe end of the point. No 'Snapping' no Grey Lines show. This is a well known documented issue.

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Also do NOT put two points directly adjacent to each other on the track plan, try to have at least one normal track piece on the plan between them. Putting two points too close together (particularly two point toe ends facing each other) can also cause the buttons to get confused about themselves in the RM software.

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To correct your missing grey lines error, you will have to go back into your track plan in 'Track Design' mode. Add extra track pieces to separate points apart only if needed due to my comment above. Fully DELETE the buttons on the affected points. Re-drag a new set of point operating icons from the left hand side to the MIDDLE of the point and observe the 'Snapping' action as I described, then right click them as before and re-enter the configuration information before saving the changes.

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Remember the track plan is only a 'logic representation' of your layout. You are not supposed to try and draw a 'What you see, is what you draw' reproduction. Your points may very well be connected directly together on your physical layout, this does not mean that you have to draw them that way on the RM plan.

[turb0]

 Many, many thanks again Chris! All sorted now and running perfectly!!! :)

[Chrissaf]

Was I correct, was it an error in placing buttons on the plan that was the problem?

or was it points on the plan too close together?

[turb0]

Good morning Chris,

It was an error in placing the points buttons. Once the buttons snapped to the points on the track diagram we were up and running! To be on the safe side I added extra track between the points on the track diagram.

Thanks again!

[Fishmanoz]

You only need to add track pieces where, without them, one or both point buttons on 2 or more points would snap to the same positions.