Wiring of Hornby Colour Light Signal to R8247

[JohnH]

I now have RailMaster Pro and want to use an R8247 for 4x Hornby 2-aspect colour lights.  I have it wired to my analogue transformer but want to transfer to using the DCC instead using the R8247   Any help would be appreciated.

[Chrissaf]

Your posting history indicates that you have an Elite with RailMaster.

.

The ports that your going to use on your R8247s to operate the Hornby R406 signals will need to be configured for 'always on' operation. This will mean connecting the DCC Input of your R8247s to the Elite 'PROG A&B' controller output. You then use the RailMaster 'Accessory Decoder' configuration screen to tick the 'Always On' check box. Assuming a newly purchased R8247 will be used to operate the signals, then use this opportunity to set the port addresses at the same time. Remember you only set the address of the first port (port 1) and this must be in multiples of 4 i.e 1, 5, 9, 13, 17 etc the other three ports will take their addresses sequentially from the first port address. [RM 1.69 Manual pages 73 to 76]

.

In RailMaster, open your track plan in 'edit mode' and drag the signal icon from the left hand vertical selection column to where you want to place them on your layout plan. Right click the icon to open the configuration dialogue box. Fill in the box fields as appropriate. Remember that the data value field labelled "Decoder port" is the DCC Address you have configured for that port. [RM 1.69 Manual pages 77 to 98]

.

Since you have RailMaster Pro, you can do further quite complex configurations such that point positions can set signals and visa-versa. You may have to post further requests to obtain further instruction if you have difficulties with these quite complex configurations. At this stage I am just focusing on the basics in over-view mode.

.

Once the DCC port addresses have been set and the port configuration set to 'Always On', then you can re-attach the R8247 DCC input to the 'TRACK A&B' output of the Elite controller for testing. You use the signal icons you have placed on the main track layout design to test. Clicking the icon should change the signal and the voltage output on the R8247 port to match. If you are still in the 'Track Design' screen, the signal configuration box has a 'test button' available to you when using RailMaster Pro. This test button is not present in RM standard edition [to use the 'test button', the R8247 must be connected to the TRACK output and not the PROG output of the controller].

.

If all is well, then you can permanently fit and wire up the R406 signals to the R8247 ports as follows:

 

• Red light = red wire = + on the R8247
• Common = green wire = C (common) on the R8247
• Green light = black wire = - on the R8247 (note the green lamp is NOT the Green wire).

.

/media/tinymce_upload/8559e99daaf75a6cd1114849c36e5a41.jpg

.

 

[JohnH]

Many thanks for your prompt and informative reply. This is exactly what I needed.