Railmaster & digital Select controllers.

[Steamdrivendavy]

Hi everyone.

Am still on a pretty steep learning curve with all this digital stuff.  But by virtue of family gifts, I now happen to own both digital types of media (Select & Railmaster).

The question to my peers to ask is... can both these control methods be used TOGETHER?  I have a 3 track layout, to which a 4th elevated track may be added.  And wonder if using these two controllers in conjunction can be of benefit at all!

As always will appreciate any pearls of wisdom you have for me.  Thank you.

SDD

 

[Chrissaf]

You cannot connect the output of two different DCC controllers to the same layout. DCC is a digital control system. The controllers communicate to the loco decoder using a digital language. If you have two controllers connected to the same layout and both are trying the communicate to a decoder. The decoder will get totally confused if it hears two different controllers talking digitally to it at the same time.

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Also, Digital DCC signals have very strict timing of binary ones and zeros in the signal. Having two controllers connected at the same time will totally corrupt this timing and just confuse every DCC device that is attached. Regardless of which decoder is being targeted by which controller, so you can't say oh that's OK, I'll just use Controller 1 to control decoder A & B and Controller 2 to control decoder C & D.

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Just for information. A Select can be connected to an Elite (or another Select) as a 'walkabout' controller i.e an additional hand set. This is not the same as connecting two controllers to the same layout, as the attached  'walkabout' controller does not connect to the layout. It only connects to the 'master' controller and uses the power supply of the 'master' as well. I only mention this, as you may have heard of this somewhere and getting it mixed up with your original question.

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Now that Hornby have cancelled the release of the 'Select-a-link' cable it will now not be possible to connect a Select controller to RailMaster.

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The only way you could use the Select at the same time as the RM / eLink, is if the new elevated track section is totally physically and electrically isolated from the rest of the layout. In essence this is for all intent and purpose creating two completely different layouts. One controlled by RM / eLink and the other by the Select.

[Steamdrivendavy]

Thanks Chrissaf.  Message received.  😀

Best regards

[Ducky1]

Now that Hornby have cancelled the release of the 'Select-a-link' cable it will now not be possible to connect a Select controller to RailMaster.

 

This must mean I have wasted £15 upgrading my select to 1.6. The only reason I upgraded was to use the select as a backup to my Elite with railmaster.

 

Ducky1

[Chrissaf]

No, not necessarily.

Version 1.6 Select firmware also completely transforms the user experience due to the ability of 1.6 to write to all of the CVs, not just a selected minority of them.

[Ducky1]

It's still £15 I would not have spent. Have Hornby said why it has been cancelled or is it just postponed like Loco Detection.

 

Ducky1

[Chrissaf]

It is reported elsewhere in this forum as cancelled and has been confirmed in a Hornby press release. I believe the reason is lack of retailer sales demands.

[96RAF]

I just checked half a dozen retailers and all but one show it as still available on pre-order but one definitely states - this item is cancelled.

 

I have left my email with the others to be informed when it comes into stock. It will be i teresting to see how long it takes before they let me know its been canned.

 

It just goes to show how much faith Hornby puts in pre-order stats to gauge if a product will be successful or not. I think Hornby has shot itself in the foot whilst standing on their tie (can’t miss) in this case, as in my opinion the Selecta-Link product is a game changer for expanding use of the Select, especially with the new v1.6 ability to read and write all CVs. You can get a similar device from GM... http://www.gaugemaster.com/item_details.asp?code=DCC55   ...but at over x2 the price of the Hornby cable. A lot to spend to see if it would work with Select or any other Xpressnet controller.