Two Controllers in Railmaster

[Exetersteam]

Having failed in my attempt to get a DCC Aplhabox to play nicely with my Elite I am now planning my next move. Having been reading the Railmaster manual I see I can run two controllers and it says one can run the trains and the other the points etc. As from Friday I will own two Elites and an eLink so adding a controller to Railmaster is possible. However, I have a question to which I can't seem to find the answer in the manual. This is, does Railmaster send any command you enter to both controllers? By this I mean that I want one controller to run the trains and the other to power my accessory bus to which the points decoders are connected, so if I tell a loco to move and then click on a points icon will both things happen without me having to "change controllers"?

Sorry to be a pain with this ongoing saga but any help is much appreciated.

 

John

[Chrissaf]

I provided a detailed reply 3 days ago to another question. In my answer, I described in some depth (with schematics) how the RailMaster dual configuration works, what its limitations are and what RailMaster configuration changes are needed to make it work.

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You can read my previous reply here:

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/using-e-link-as-a-stand-alone-power-source/?p=1/#post-331193

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...so if I tell a loco to move and then click on a points icon will both things happen without me having to "change controllers"?

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It is automatically managed ... see item 3 in my list in the linked page reply.

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If after reading item 3 in my list, you are still not clear ... then read the comments below:

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Loco DCC commands will always go to 'Controller A' ... this action is fixed and cannot be amended. Therefore 'Controller A' [Elite] must always connect to the track.

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Signals and points however have a 'right click' selection box in the track plan set up screen to tell RM which controller, A or B to use. If you choose B [eLink] then those commands will never be sent to Controller A [Elite] and will be permanently routed within RailMaster to 'Controller B' [eLink].

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[Exetersteam]

Thanks Chris.

 

[Exetersteam]

Chris,

So far so good. The Elite is installed and running the trains fine. The eLink is installed with an Elite 4 amp power unit as per the diagram in your other post and connected to the accessory bus. Ini files changed, comm port set up and eLink set up in Railmaster.

Just one snag. It is not working and I get this windows message in device manager "unknown USB device, Descriptor failed, Driver error" I checked the driver but Windows tells me it has the right/latest version.

I also get this pop up windows message "Windows stopped this device because it has reported problems (Code43)" I am running Windows 10

Any ideas welocme.

 

John

[Chrissaf]

In Windows 'Device Manager' check the 'Properties' of the eLink device manager entry and make sure the correct baud rate and config settings are selected in the 'Port Settings' tab.

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TIP: To ensure you are checking the correct driver entry in 'Device Manager', leave the Elite USB disconnected whilst you perform this check.

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Post the contents of your 'railmaster.ini' file for me to look at.

Also post an image of your RailMaster 'System Settings' screen.

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Also check the "Reset eLink on start" line in the .INI file and make sure that it is =0

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[Exetersteam]

Whoopee it is fixed! I simply uninstalled the eLink in Device Manager, unplugged the eLink USB lead, switched the computer off, plugged in the eLink USB and turned the computer back on. Must have been a glitch within Windows and google tells me this "Code 43" thing is fairly common.

Many thanks to you Chris and Rob for bearing with me through the frustration of all this Alphabox business and giving me sound advice. If you are ever in South West France, the beers are on me!

In conclusion I now have the system I always strove for with Railmaster driving the Elite and the eLink giving 4 amps to each of the track and accessory buses. I may be biased but I think Hornby Railmaster and the Elite are great bits of kit and seriuosly underated by those who are a bit sniffy about them.

John

[Chrissaf]

Whoopee I'm pleased too.

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But a question of clarification:

Are you still using the Alphabox with the eLink to provide the additional power for your ADS decoders. Or has the Alphabox been relegated to the spares bin and you are just using a phased ADS power up methodology with the eLink 4 amp supply.

[Exetersteam]

The Alphabox is being sent back as not fit for purpose and yes the eLink (with the 4 amp power supply) is powering up (phased) the the ADS decoders via the accessory bus. To be fair to DCC Concepts, they have put their hand up for there being a problem with the Alphabox and Hornby power unit and said they will do some work on it.

[Chrissaf]

Worrying that they seem to be aware of a problem, particularly when their advertising blurb specifically highlights the Elite as a candidate for using their product with.

[96RAF]

In principle the Alphabox is not that much different to any power district signal booster module. Maybe there is an isolation problem within the gubbins. We shall likely never find out.

[Yelrow]

Getting a  flavour of europe, with more french expats posting on here.

[Exetersteam]

Just a tip when setting up two controllers. When Railmaster askes you to disconect the USB cable and wait five seconds, make sure you can see where exactly where you are re-inserting the USB cable because if you accidentally push it into the Expressnet socket you will trash the Elite.

Er..... don't ask me how I know! New Elite now on order which will have the Expressnet socket taped over!  😎

[96RAF]

Just stick a blank RJ11/12 plug in there.

 

Is this the new Elite you have murdered or the historical one that died In mysterious circumstances.

 

Folk have previously reported dropping a usb cable across the live rails before which also ended in tears.

[Exetersteam]

The new one! Good tip about the RJ plug - funny how we seem to learn lessons the hard way... well me anyway.

[Chrissaf]

To be honest, you shouldn't be getting the "5 seconds re-insert USB" messages with the Elite nor the eLink for that matter. This is an indication that you haven't yet got your 'railmaster.ini' settings optimised.

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I asked before...I'll ask again .... please post the contents of your .INI file for review.

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Unless of course, the messages relate to a time period before performing .INI file amendments for dual controller working or a time period where .INI file edits have not been subsequently performed.

[96RAF]

The new one! Good tip about the RJ plug - funny how we seem to learn lessons the hard way... well me anyway.

 

Have you thought about taking up knitting. You and electric string do not seem to mix well.  🤑

[Exetersteam]

To be honest, you shouldn't be getting the "5 seconds re-insert USB" messages with the Elite nor the eLink for that matter. This is an indication that you haven't yet got your 'railmaster.ini' settings optimised.

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I asked before...I'll ask again .... please post the contents of your .INI file for review.

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Unless of course, the messages relate to a time period before performing .INI file amendments for dual controller working or a time period where .INI file edits have not been subsequently performed.

I will endeavour to do so.

[Exetersteam]

The new one! Good tip about the RJ plug - funny how we seem to learn lessons the hard way... well me anyway.

 

Have you thought about taking up knitting. You and electric string do not seem to mix well.  🤑

😆 🤐 🤐

[Exetersteam]

Having a problem.... the forum won't seem to accept a reply with a photo of my ini files in it.

[Yelrow]

Size thing, someone will be along to tell you how to do it.

[pd91223]

Simplest way I've found:

1. locate your RailMaster.ini file - probably in somewhere like c:Progam Files (x86)RailMaster
2. open it in Notepad
3. Select All; Copy
4. Then complete your Reply here with Paste

Paul

[Exetersteam]

Right..OK.

Maybe I will just type in the relvant bits which seem to be:-

Contollers on top = 1

Double pulse = 0

Alternative comms = 1

Check controller = 1

Alternative comms 2 = 1

Check controller 2 = 1

Elite feedback = 0

Full controllers = 0

The Elite is on Com port 6 and the eLink on Com port 5

Chrissaf, I hope this is what you need to tell me what I have done wrong.

BTW, it seems I have not copletely killed the Elite. The LCD readout is scrambled and none of the knobs/buttons work but I can run the layout through it via Railmaster.

Cheers

 

John

[Chrissaf]

As the .INI file is a text file. You can highlight the text and copy it to the clipboard, then paste it as text into a reply. It doesn't have to be an image.

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That aside, TIP 8 in my TIPs page below describes posting images. Review that, just in case you are doing it wrong. This forum does not support 'drag n drop' nor 'cut n paste' of images.

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

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I really do need to see the original file contents in their entirety not just a section. Apart from which, even in the section you have retyped above. There are 'syntax' errors. Now the question is, are those 'syntax' errors actually in the original file contents or just in the way you have retyped them.

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The Elite is on Com port 6 and the eLink on Com port 5

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This has the potential to be the cause of your issue. RailMaster has been known to have issues with Com numbers above 4. I suggest that you use 'Device Manager' to try and force your Elite to Com3 and the eLink to Com4. However that said, the issues with Com5 & 6 usually manifests itself as no controller communication at all, which is not your reported issue.

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Another reason for Com5 & 6 being assigned, can be because you are using USB3.0 ports on your PC and not USB2.0 ports. Can you confirm the USB port types you are using. This is not a 'hard n fast' rule, but USB3.0 ports usually have non white coloured inserts in the socket, typically 'Blue'.

[Exetersteam]

I think we posted at the same time!

[St1ngr4y]

Try opening the Railmaster.ini file in Windows Notepad, select all lines, and copy to the clipboard. Then just paste this into a new post. Before hitting the reply button, however, go to the end of each line and press the Enter key, to make it look as if it is double-line spaced, otherwise all of the lines will be concatenated together without any line feeds.

 

Ray

 

Ooops everyone else typing quicker than me again...