Hornby Class 43 HST (MTU) Sound Decoder

[Diesel 72]

I hardwired a Hornby Class 43 HST (MTU) Sound Decoder and Speaker to the power car of my swallow livery HST set. This was the easy part as I then tried to programme it through Railmaster. I put the car on the programming track and connected it to the programming ports on the controller. I pulled up the CV download page and pressed go. Initially the red and white lights flashed quite a bit, it has Black Cat Technology lighting, but after that nothing. The screen showed 'DCC Controller Error. Please clear the short circuit. Would you like to resume loco speeds', when it was not connected to the track, then CV1 said 'could not verify' then 'CV2 error repeating'. Then there was 'No Active DCC controller attached to the computer even though the green light was on and finally it found a fault with the Hornby Railmaster USB lead which I changed but still no CV's despite countless tries.

Can anyone provide any useful assistance please? 

[Chrissaf]

You didn't say, but I assume that you have an eLink controller connected to RailMaster. I am also assuming that you are using Windows 7, 8 or 10. If both those assumptions are correct, then read on.

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Check your RailMaster INI file settings.

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You open the .INI file editor by clicking the bluish COG icon in the RM 'Help About Screen' [Top row navigation icons in RailMaster]. Follow on screen prompts to open the editor. Then ensure that these two lines are at the very bottom of the file as the last two entries:

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Alternative comms=1

Check controller=1

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and are not =0 values.

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Type them in if missing, or delete them if existing higher up the file and retype them at the end of the file with =1 values, then save the changes, close and re-open RM to ensure the changes take effect. It is important to retype them at the bottom of the file and save the edit.

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This may or may not fix your issue, but it might. The reason I am not convinced that this is the cause of your issue is because you say that the loco lights flash when the loco is on the program track. This wouldn't normally happen, unless of course your lighting is not being controlled by the decoder but is directly fed from the track.

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eLink communication errors are nearly always fixed by modifying the .INI file as described above.

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TIP: As this is your first post, just be aware that the 'Blue Button with the White Arrow' is not a 'Reply to this post' button. If you want to reply, scroll down and write your reply in the reply text box at the bottom of the page and click the Green 'Reply' button.

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TIP2: You have confused your name title with something else. You have given yourself a user "nickname" of "Help Wanted". This nickname will now be displayed on ALL posts you make in the future. I recommend that you go into your forum account and change your 'nick name' to something more appropriate that identifies you. For example my 'nickname' is "Chrissaf" as displayed in this post. The image below shows where the change can be made. Note that you can only change your nickname yourself  ONCE only. After which you have to request the forum administrator to change it for you.

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/media/tinymce_upload/edb02481aa4f10f1aff4450bd24e192d.JPG.

[96RAF]

From the symptoms you describe it is a classic decdoer hardwire miswire, where the eLink programming output is telling you there is a problem.

 

I would be looking at the hardwire connections again and if necessary disconnect the lighting connections to prove the motor wiring to the decoder and then see if you can get a readback of the CVs.

 

You should be able to prove the loco is the problem or not by establishing a connection to RM with the loco removed. If the comms error is still there then the loco is not causing it.

 

I presume you are aware that if RM does not spot that this is a TTS decoder then you can force CV7 to allow you to pick from a drop down of decoder types.

Rob

[Diesel 72]

Thanks for the replies. I have an e-link controller connected to Railmaster and am using windows 10 - 64 bit. I opened the ini file editor; the two lines mentioned were not there so I added them as the last two entries and saved them, and rechecked that they were still there. The lights don't flash any more; when I initially connected the programming set up the lights went through a spell of red and white flashing then stopped - never to return? I have rechecked all connections with my multi meter and all sound good. I have also double clicked on CV7. The exact class type is not listed so I selected TTS Decoder. It then goes up to CV1 and carries on asbefore ie error repeating etc. 

[Chrissaf]

Now that you have got your .INI file corrected, I would follow Rob's advice. Temporarily disconnect your after market lighting modification so that just the motor and wheel pickups are connected. That is to say the red, black, orange and grey decoder wires. If you can then read and configure CVs correctly, then there is something about the way you have installed the lighting that is not right.

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Just to note that If all CV's read the value 255 then this means that the controller cannot electrically see the decoder.

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PS - pleased to see that you took my advice and changed your nickname to something more appropriate.

[96RAF]

The Black Cat instructions are very good and specify which bits of the pcb you need to break out (spot drill on the marks) for various uses like DC or DCC, etc. I would be carefully checking those spot drills are exact.

 

Annoyingly Black Cat Technology is offline at present and I can’t find my copy of the HST lighting module instructions, just this photo showing the spot drill points L, H and R.

 

/media/tinymce_upload/4ea41ef856b1cabbae0160cc2bed69ee.JPG

Rob

[Diesel 72]

Thank you everyone who replied for your assistance. Problem is now sorted. The rear bogie without the motor

was turned in the opposite direction, consequently there were red and black wires on the same rail - doh!

[96RAF]

Good to hear you have sorted it out D72 and  thanks for reporting back.

Rob