adding the Hornby R8213 DCC Select Controller

[conrail]

as a new person with DCC using elink and windows 10 home laptop, getting used to options and managed to code my 1st loco, but I often get messages saying the controller cannot be found, it is worth adding the Hornby R8213 DCC Select Controller to the elink and laptop?

[Chrissaf]

Is it worth adding the Hornby R8213 DCC Select Controller to the elink and laptop?

.

Since Hornby have cancelled the release of the 'Select-a-link' cable (reported and confirmed elsewhere on this forum). The R8213 Select Controller can not be made compatible with RailMaster, as the Select does not have a USB interface on it.

.

....but I often get messages saying the controller cannot be found....

.

If you are still getting 'communication error' messages between RailMaster and your eLink controller, then you probably still need to tweak the settings in your 'railmaster.ini' file to make communications more robust.

.

Open the railmaster.ini file editor. The blue / grey COG icon in the bottom left of the RM 'Help Screen'.

.

Find the entry (if present).

.

Reset eLink on start=1

.

Change the entry to (or add it if missing).

.

Reset eLink on start=0

.

Now look for and delete these two lines (where n is either a zero or a one).

.

Alternative comms=n

Check controller=n

.

Now type them again as the last two lines listed in the .INI file.

.

You will now need to experiment with the values of these two lines until you find the value combination that works best for you. The four combination options are:

.

Alternative comms=1

Check controller=0

.

Alternative comms=1

Check controller=1

.

Alternative comms=0

Check controller=0

.

Alternative comms=0

Check controller=1

.

Yoy will need to save the .INI file and restart RailMaster between each of the four alternative options detailed above. If all is well, one of the four configuration options above should give you a robust communication link to your eLink controller. Making them the last two lines in the file is an important edit to perform as is retyping them afresh even if present in the file. Don't ask why, but this works as a fix.

.

If you get issues with the Com Port number allocations not synchronising, then review this previous thread:

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/train-will-not-run-on-elink-plus-other-issues/?p=1

.

Note also, that the latest version is no longer 1.70.2 but at the time of writing this post version 1.71.0

.

 

[conrail]

thank you Chrissaf, I will have  look at your suggestions, Iappreciate your help and advice

[96RAF]

I still think Hornby bean counters missed the trick by cancelling the Select-a-Link cable. It would have increased the popularity of scope of the Select and brought them Select firmware update revenue.

 

It was a good retail price and would not have stretched the Company budget too much for a minimum production run of say 2,000 units. At the risk of manufacturer bashing - short sighted corporate numpties in my humble opinion. A pity some enterprising soul couldn’t make the equivalent device and prove them wrong.

[Rog RJ]

Maybe the bean counters thought that sales of the Elite would suffer too much if the Select was able to be used instead.

[96RAF]

About time we had some professional looking DCC kit instead of Thomas the Tank styled controllers.

 

As we used to say in the military BS baffles brains, so same internals with a different outside could work.