Hornby Elite Malfunction

[Royster]

Good evening Brain Trust, I have an Elite controller and I'm running version 1.44.  I have been attempting to change the locomotive address system from the "short address" to the "long address" as in step 5 (page 32) of the Elite Unit Operators Manual.  

Have anyone experienced this malfunction and if so, is there a fix?

 

TIA,      Roy

[Chrissaf]

Well you have explained clearly what you are trying to do.

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But you haven't actually told us what the 'Malfunction IS'.......what are you observing that you feel is a malfunction?.....what is not happening that you feel should be happening?........what are you doing with the controller at step 5 and what do you observe when you do it?

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I suspect that your 'Malfunction' may be because you do not have a clear understanding of how CV29 works to configure the features of a decoder. CV29 is a CV that very few fully understand in any detail.....so you are not alone if CV29 is a mystery to you.

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Once someone has an understanding of how CV29 works, it is just a simple matter of writing a numerical number to CV29. The skill is in the calculating what that numerical number should be. Hornby in their infinite wisdom have tried to simplify this calculation using the menu system described on page 32, but not explained it well and the resultant menu based feature is very clunky and not intuitive. I feel that maybe your issue is not fully understanding how the page 32 menu system should be used and driven by the user (i.e you).

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You don't HAVE to use the page 32 menu method. If you know what value you want CV29 to be, then you can use the normal Elite CV writing method to write the value directly to CV29, and if necessary the CV17 & CV18 values as well .... see further below.

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This online calculator will explain CV29 and calculate the value that needs to be written to it. The page below also includes a calculator for defining the CV17 & CV18 values needed to set an actual 'Long Address'.

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http://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29%20calculator.htm

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At the most simplistic level, when you configure CV29 to recognise 'Long Addresses' you are telling the decoder to ignore CV1 where the 'short address' is normally stored and to read the values in CV17 & CV18, where the 'Long Address' is stored instead.

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TIP: As a newbie poster on the forum, just be aware that the 'Blue Button with the White Arrow' is not a 'Reply to this post' button. If you want to reply to any of the posts, 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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See also – further TIPs on how to get the best user experience from this forum.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/tips-on-using-the-forum/

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[96RAF]

Elite should selfhandle CV29 when writing a long address using its menu screens. Try reading CVs 17, 18 and 29 and tell us the calues.

[96RAF]

You could try a unit reset from the menus. Often fixes a vague problem.

[Chrissaf]

Just to add to my original reply and expand upon what Rob (RAF96) wrote in his first reply.

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If all you are trying to do is write a 'Long Address' to a loco decoder. Then you do not use the Page 32 'Menu' process to complete that task. You use the basic configure a 'Loco Address' process on Page 15 of the manual. When you enter a DCC Address number above 127 (i.e a Long Address). The Elite recognises that the address required is a 'Long' one and automatically makes the appropriate changes to CV29, CV17 & CV18 for you in the background.

[Royster]

Thank you all for your valued advice.  I must have a different manual to what you have Chrissaf as page 15 of my manual describes the process of "Deceleration Control".

My last post explained what I was attempting to do as per page 32, Step 5, of my manual.  What I described as a malfunction was that after scrolling through the "Advanced Locomotive Programming Settings, which commenced on page 31, step 5 explains to toggle from "Short Address" to the "Long Address" function.  I carried out this process several times and after each attempt to change this setting to the "Long Address" it failed to hold this option and reverted back to the "Short Address" option,  I hope this helps explain where I'm at, at this time.  Any further advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Royster]

OK,  I've just downloaded the latest manual and I have been successfully using this feature to load addresses for locos with low address numbers.  I have been following the flow chart to write the CV29 Bit5, "Long and Short" address functions and this is where I get stuck.  I have attempted to change the address code from short to long on the CV29 and it fails to register the change to long addressing.  I have reset the Elite and still no luck changing the address function.

I hope this helps.

[Chrissaf]

In your original post you stated that your Elite is firmware version 1.44. The manual you have been using is for firmware revision less than 1.41 and as useful to you as a 'chocolate teapot'. So it is no wonder that what you observed may not have matched what the manual you were using said.

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As both Rob and I have previously said. If you just write the address you want using the documented manual address writing method (Page 10 in the old manual and 15 in the new one). The values of CV29, CV1, CV17 & CV18 should be configured automatically in the background. There is no real need with the Elite to write CV29 Bit 5 manually, even though the Elite gives you the ability to do so.

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Write a 'Long Address' [a value between 128 and 9999] using the Page 10 / Page 15 method.

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Then read the value of CV29 and tell us the value you get.