micky.b Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Hi all I was wondering if anyone has upgraded their elite DCC controller yet?It seems an awful lot of work to do this complicated looking task. I only use my Elite to run my trains. I don't have sound locos and don't alter C.Vs as I don't understand what they are and is beyond me.I would not risk ruining my controller by upgrading if this is all it is going to affect.Does it improve day to day running? Will it be any benefit?Thanks Mickyb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micky.b Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 It's okThe search facility is pretty rubbish on this forum. I put 1.4 firm ware upgrade in and it said no matches!! What do I find just two pages away? Yeah, 80 replies to the problem!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevecamden Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Don't be completely put off - I have an XP machine 5 years old and it updated without a problem.It will either update easily on your machine or not. If it doesn't and you don't want to pursue it, its not the end of the world!Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poliss Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 This website will give you an idea of what the most commonly used CVs do. http://www.loystoys.com/info/configuration-variables.htmlThe NMRA came up with silly names like Configuration Variables. Fine Tuning Control might have been better. Would television have caught on if the channel knob had been called a Configuration Variable Interface? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David55 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Having seen all the problems people have had doing the upgrade, I have not bothered.I run railmaster which does everything I need.Is the upgrade necessary? and what has been upgraded? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevecamden Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 I also run Railmaster - so rarely use the Elite as an interface to the system ( directly). But I think it is probably more important in this instance to keep all the 'versions' in sync otherwise I am not sure if you will know if a problem is the Elite or Railmaster. I am not sure I would have a clue as to how to use most of the functions on the Elite without looking them up each time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregd99 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 The 1.4 upgrade includes a set of user interface enhancements plus additional support for decoder "functions".The user interface changes are not relevant if you always use the railmaster sw. The function changes can be. You can now access 24 functions as well ad momentary activation of functions. The main use of the higher number functions is for sound decoders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DW Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 A lot of the problems I have seen posted seem to e linked to computers running Windows 7 as the operating system.I have updated to v1.4 using a 6 year old laptop (now a bit slow and doddery at times) and it was worked first time. It did take some time though especially installing the microsoft net 4framework onto the laptop. I just let it get on with it. Maybe I was lucky.I think it is allways worth updating as there are often hidden bug fixes in updates that are not allways published. Also I would have thought that if railmaster itself is updated it will need the latest firmware on the elite that it is in control off.Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReddersJ Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Seeing the comment above about Windows 7, I have just done the upgrade today. I did email Hornby about it and they sent a Pdf with Windows 7 specific instructions. As far as I can tell it works just fine. I just have to catch up with where they have made changes to how to control some things. For instance it is now much easier to control the engine functions, like sounds, lights etc.I agree with the comment above about keeping updates going as minot hitches with previous levels will be improved along with the other updates.Regards Julian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micky.b Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 Thank you all for your views and advice. I think I'll pass on this and just run trains rather than run computer programs!!mickyb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregd99 Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Micky,up to you of course.... but don't let dcc discourage you. I have found that you can understand dcc in layers. at the first level all you need to do is connect things up and set an address in each loco. this is not difficult. there are many more layers to do with CVs and xpressnet protocols and railmaster/jmri/... All of these can become interesting later. The nature of this and other forums is that much of the discussion is about detailed stuff that you don't need as a beginner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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