Hornby Select contoller problem

[alan3rail]

Hi
When I use me Select controller to run an analogue loco and setting the code to 00 the loco just takes off at full speed and the control knob has no effect. What is the problem?

Alan

[Chrissaf]

Even if you could get the analogue control to work, then everyone on here is likely to advise against using it.

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Many DCC controller manufacturers are removing this ancient feature from their controllers due to the damage that it can do to analogue loco motors.

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You have to understand that the feature originates from the early days of Digital DCC control where DCC manufacturers needed to get traditional DC Analogue users to adopt what was then a new emerging technology.

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To make DCC more palatable to the analogue masses they came up with this 'Address Zero' concept.....it is a fudge that modifies the DCC alternating voltage signal to have a pseudo DC bias by changing the mark space ratio of the digital zero binary bit in the DCC signal. This technique is called 'Zero Bit Stretching'. But it is still an alternating voltage that will heat up and destroy a DC motor if the loco is left stationary and the motor not turning.

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Now that DCC is more mainstream, the 'Address Zero' capability is slowly being abandoned by the manufacturers because they know that it is potentially damaging to use it.

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Although, technically the Hornby Select supports the feature. Hornby do actually put in a caveat in the Select manual to advise that it is not used......see extract below:

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I don't use a Select, but I believe that Address Zero support is now disabled by default in the latest 1.6 firmware release. What firmware version are you using on your Select? [the very first number to appear briefly on screen when you power it up].

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To read more about why Address Zero should not be used, read this article by Mark Gurrie who is a member of the NMRA who wrote the DCC S.9 standard to which all current DCC equipment should comply with.

[96RAF]

Do you actually have the Select set to control an analogue loco. You can disable it and depending upon the revision version it may be set to off as default.

 

You can check during a Select reset as to whether you want it enabled or disabled. Check the appropriate manual for your version.