alternative decoders settings

[jbcontrol]

I have recently purchased a decoder from a well known supplier, which apparently does not work with Hornby.

The second time I tried to read it, it came up with being a DCC decoder, the version DCC Concepts zmini. This is a decoder that I have in use, so I fitted to a loco but found that when I tried to move it, my eLink control said that max speed is only 1 mph and so the loco will not move.

Surely this can be corrected by altering a CV or two. Or should I just save the decoder for future possible use.

Any help or suggestions would be helpful

Thanks John

[Chrissaf]

I have recently purchased a decoder from a well known supplier, which apparently does not work with Hornby.

 

 

You can tell us which decoder it is. This would go a long way to helping. The "apparently does not work with Hornby" statement is quite often not the case.

In RailMaster, when you use the 'CV Read / Write' screen. Try double-clicking CV7. See extract below from RailMaster manual.

Look to see if your decoder is listed and select it if it is. Then re-write the DCC address of the decoder to the decoder. Then edit if necessary the other loco settings like speeds etc in the RailMaster 'Locomotive Settings' screen. Then save the loco again into the RailMaster loco roster so that this information is saved against your loco. Then test again.

[96RAF]

Be aware that you do not have to read CVs to be able to use any decoder in RM. Simply open a new loco screen and without reading anything just enter the new values to whichever CVs you need to change and write these values in. This will allow you to use the loco with RM, although it still may not read back correctly. The main reason for forcing a decoder in CV7 drop down list as described by Chris is so that RM brings up the associated CV listings to be read. A false ID in CV7 will likely lead RM astray and give bad results.

Aside ...

It makes me angry when certain retailers say their kit may not work with Hornby controllers. Hornby go to great lengths to ensure compatibility and warrant their kit as compliant with NMRA standards. If these decoders don’t work to NMRA standards then they should say so rather than call out Hornby as the party at fault and they should work at making them compatible with standards.

[jbcontrol]

Since my enquiry I found that by putting a number in cv number 5 namely top speed that the loco runs. The decoder is from rails,no RoS -218, I entered 32 .

I also have another decoder RoS-8HP, which acted just the same ,but i have not got round to trying it again.

I would like to say that I do know about forcing decoder on the screen,but at first attempt to read it the system could not read it and at that point I had no way of finding out which one it was. I contacted rails and they said that the hornby system will not work them, so in desparation i tried it again and that was when it came up with dcc concepts zmini.

Thanks again John

[Ghutchi1]

Not sure if any of the below has been provided before but thought it might help.

I have had a similar issue when adding in new Hornby locos into RailMaster with non Hornby decoders.

I have seen this issue with various versions of RailMaster, when I added a new loco into the setup locomotives screen, changed the address to a long address, wrote the cv's, exited cv screen, set the loco id to the same as the decoder id and saved the loco, the speed slider would have a top speed of 1 mph. This meant the loco would go flat out or not move.

My steps to get around this are as follows, you don't need to read the CV's for this to work.

Add the loco into the setup locomotives screen and set the locomotive DCC id as the default 003, save the loco, exit the setup locomotives screen.

Check the throttle shows up with the correct scale top speed. Exit RailMaster and restart it.

The loco should still show up in the throttle list correctly, open setup locomotives screen and select the new loco, using the drop down list select the new 4 digit address in the locomotive DCC id for the loco, it will warn you to also change the decoder address, save the loco and and click the red x to exit the screen, check the new address now shows on the throttle and that the top speed has not changed.

Go back into the setup locomotives screen and then into the locomotive settings screen, select the write 4-digit loco address button and select the same address from the list that you entered in the loco information screen then write the CV's and exit.

The above worked for me even when for some reason the CV's would not read correctly.

I hope that this may assist someone else in the future with a similar issue.

Geoff.

[96RAF]

The RoS decoder is likely to be a rebranded clone by a better known maker, hence why RM is trying to ID it as such.

If you can pick a decoder that populates the list with the same Cvs as your decoder paperwork lists then use that.

If RoS are saying their decoders won’t work with NMRA warranted Hornby kit then I wouldn’t be buying them as they are obviously not fit for purpose.

What you could do is provide HRMS with a copy of the paperwork for these decoders and they will add them to their database after testing.