Railmaster and Elite

[Culp]

With Railmaster connected to the Elite and running locos. Is it still possible to use the two controllers on the Elite to control other locos? Or would it cause a conflict?

[96RAF]

It is possible but not recommended by HRMS as the screens can get out of synch with each other e.g. sound is on at the loco but off in RM, etc. The whole idea of RM is to run the layout from a screen.

You can’t break anything by trying it so see how you get on.

[Chrissaf]

Yes you can use the Elite simultaneously with RailMaster control. In the railmaster.ini file is the line

Elite feedback=x

If x = 1 then the speed knob positions on the Elite will feedback into RM and change the position of the throttle sliders to match in synchronisation. However, for this to work - the same loco DCC address needs to be called up on the Elite knob being controlled as the loco DCC address on the throttle slider being displayed.

The synchronisation of the Elite and RailMaster however is not 100% perfect. By all means use the Elite knobs to control speed, but if you start to mix using the Elite and RM to operate functions, you will quickly find that the functions can get completely out of synchronisation. I recommend only using the RM screen to operate loco functions.

To view and edit the railmaster.ini file contents, click the bluish COG icon in the bottom left corner of the RailMaster 'Help / About' screen and follow the on-screen prompts.

EDIT: Rob posted whilst I was typing.

[Culp]

@96RAF & Chrissaf

Very informative! I’m not sure if I’ll use it, but just wondered! Thanks

[Chrissaf]

Culp,

As a relative newbie on this forum. Can I bring your attention to some TIPs on getting the best experience from this forum. I have amended your replies in this thread to remove the unnecessary multiple 're-quotes'. The 'blue box with white arrow' button is not a 'Reply to this post' button.

Hornby Forum - TIPs on using the forum.

TIP 5 & 6 refer.

[Culp]

Thanks Chris

[RDS]

@Culp

I do that regularly, never had a problem yet.

[Deepfat]

I often find I can set the loco ID on a new decoder using the Write function on Elite and then test it while RailMaster is running. Another annoying nigle is the flat out problem yo get when adding new locos. For example on my APT-e I either get 0 or 152mph (3ft/sec at scale) on RailMaster where it's nice and smooth using the throttle wheel on the Elite - I know I can spend another hour or two and try again with RailMaster to get it to work properly with my APT-E but it's not trivial to move a 4 car, 4 ft, £400+ train onto my programming track. So the Elite is your friend.

[Chrissaf]

Although I have never experienced this 'all or nothing' speed issue myself, I have helped many others to resolve it in RailMaster. I believe the issue is in the loco configuration held within RM and has not got anything to do with any settings held in the decoder. This is somewhat borne out by the fact that you say the loco responds correctly to control from the Elite. Thus I believe the RM configuration issue can be resolved without needing to put the loco on the 'programming' track.

[96RAF]

I agree with Chris.

The all or nothing thing has been discussed many times on the forum and the standard answer is to delete it in RM and relist it. No action required at loco level.

Sometime it takes a few kill-relist attempts to get it to stick.

[Chrissaf]

The fix is also reliant on not using the RM database to list the loco, but by re-listing the loco manually and entering all the data by hand.