locos locking up

[lineside]

i have been running railmaster for about 6 months now and with a layout thats getting more complex i have started experiencing a very frustrating issue that affects several locos especially those fitted with hornby tts sound decoders.   When controlling a loco things start out fine but at some point with the loco running the system loses contact with the loco and will no longer control which is a big issue with units running at speed.  meanwhile it is still possible to control other things on the layout from the railmaster screnn.  So this would appear to be a software issue in RM rather than anything to do with the pc/ELITE link.   i am running 1.72 pro version.  Any ideas?

[Chrissaf]

First thing to check as you say only TTS locos are affected. Is your track power connection. The Hornby TTS decoder is very sensitive to this, far more so than other decoders.

 

Double check your track power connectors and make sure that they are either R8241 or R8242 [DCC Friendly]. If they are R602 or R8206 or R8201 then they will have a DC Analogue suppression capacitor in them and are not suitable for DCC.

 

The capacitor if present distorts the DCC data signal. All decoders are affected to some extent by this signal distortion, but TTS decoders are affected more severely than others. The distortion can cause a wide varied number of control anomalies. One of which is 'DC Runaway' where the decoder switches into DC mode and all DCC control is lost [which is what you are reporting on the TTS locos]. So even if you do or do not find any track connector capacitors, check the value of CV29 and edit it if needed to disable 'DC Operation' support. Use the online CV29 calculator in the link below to show you how to understand the working of CV29

 

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

 

Open up all of your track connectors and look for and remove any capacitors you find.

 

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Particularly as my reply includes an image, using the 'Blue Button' may result in your reply being held back for image approval, even though it is an existing image.

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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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[westernwill]

Make sure your track is clean.

 

I had similar issues until I realised how dirty a certain section of track hidden behind scenery had become. After cleaning everything was fine.

[Fishmanoz]

Given RM has apparently been running successfully for that period, I'm going to assume all of your ini file entries are correct from following advice elsewhere on the forum.

 

After you've cleaned everything as recommended and checked your track connectors are correct, update to latest v1.73 from the link at the top of the forum.

[lineside]

Thanks for the advice.  most of my power connections are directly soldered but there are couple of track conenctors on outlying parts of the network and of course track cleaning is a big one.  will have a go on this as well as the CV29 advice.  That is a new one. will do some experimenting.

[Chrissaf]

...but there are couple of track conenctors on outlying parts of the network...

 

It only takes one track connector capacitor to be present and located anywhere on the layout.