Forum-1211528 Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 I’m thinking of using Loconet on my layout but I want to know does it support Hornby, I have Hornby Trains and decoders but my DCC controller is not Hornby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 Hornby decoders do not support the 'Loconet' protocols [as far as I am aware]. Mainly because neither do Hornby controllers, so there is no incentive for Hornby to make their decoders 'Loconet' compliant. The Hornby Elite does support 'XpressNet' [Hornby custom version implementation] but this is not the same protocol as 'Loconet'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deepfat Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 Friends,what about Railcom. I am enabling detection on my layout with Digikeijs 5088RC units. My reading is that this might work, but has anyone tried it as I'd like to keep the TTS decoders if possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 Elite controller supports Railcom, as does the Sapphire decoder, but not the Select controller or R8249 or TTS decoders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brew Man Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 So does that mean the Elite's ability to read CVs is next useless as the decoder has to be Railcom enabled? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 No - it doesn't. By default you cannot read back CV values on the main, which is what Railcom does in effect. You will find any controller that programs on the main as its prime/only programming method will not be able to read CVs, only write to them - e.g. Hornby Select and eLink, as well as other makes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brew Man Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 So can you read CVs in direct mode if the loco is on the programming track without the need for Railcom? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 Yes if your controller supports Service Mode (Direct) programming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deepfat Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 @brewMan. I am about to set my collection of locos up in iTrain running a Roco Z21. First they are going to be consistently photographed so I get nice images of them. Then they are going back on my programming track so I can read them. I am pretty sure that'll just work for any DCC decoder.However my worry on this or any forum is based on working in the criminal justice system - I am not interested in what lawyers call "hearsay" I am really only interested in evidence based on what our friends on these forums have actually done. So when I have all this actually working I'll be updating my notes from the loft on RMWeb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 The TTS decoder is loosely based upon the Hornby R8249 decoder architecture which doesn't have Railcom support. There was a period where TTS decoders were being incorrectly detected in RM, but usually they were detected IIRC as R8249s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brew Man Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 @96RAFAh, right, I was under the impression that decoders had to be Railcom enabled in order for its CVs to be read under any circumstances. I'll have to give it a go with my Elite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 Reading the definition Railcom it implies that it gives the controller the ability to read data from the decoder outside of the programming mode (correct me if I am wrong). So effectively while the locos are running round your layout the controller could read data from any one of them, rather than just the one as in programming mode. Now I don't know how good it is at doing this but it could interpret all the locos on your layout if it knew which ones you were using ( doing the whole extended address range might take too long). So I assume Railmaster keeps a list of your active locos. This could be extremely useful if you wanted to do loco detection properly. It appears that Lenz want a license fee which probably explains why Hornby haven't implemented it, Zimo have implemented it as they were party to the original discussions. I assume when DCC was originally designed there was a facility for the transmission of data to and from the decoder, all I suspect Railcom does is put a set of known commands to that facility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 @deepfatHornby made a pig’s ear of their decoder ID codes in the early days. Sapphire has always been ID 10 but other decoders have had common IDs such as some TTS and R8249s, hence RM saw an R8249 when in fact it was a TTS fitted loco - widely documented on the forum.What it needs is a basic decoder family code ID (e.g. TTS) then sub Codes for branches of those families (e.g. TTS diesel classes and steam classes). RM then needs to be able to read down this stepped list to positively ID an individual decoder and load the associated CV list.TTS later went onto three digit codes, which defined the loco up to and including motor variants - e.g. FS 3-pole and 5-pole motors. It won’t take long to run out of codes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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