Hornby Elite status

[Gregd99]

I am just coming to the end of a contract and day-dreaming about spending some time renovating my layout.

I have an Elite with a dead transformer and was looking at spares. They are hard to come by but do seem to be available.

However, I note that everyone, including Hornby is showing the Elite out of stock. Is this indicating that it is end-of-life or is it still going strong?

Any info appreciated.

Regards

Greg

[Chrissaf]

Hornby have a history of underestimating demand when setting manufacturing runs at the Chinese factories. It seems to take a lot of time to get a manufacturing scheduling slot in the Chinese factories to replenish stocks. The 'sold out' status for the power packs for the new HM6000 products is an example.

Hornby controllers and power packs seem to go through stages where out of stock scenarios go through extended periods. There are no rumours of the Elite being discontinued within the forseeable future.

[Rog RJ]

I'd like to think that the Elite was being upgraded and updated, a bit like the latest Selects, and perhaps including a backlit multicolour display with the status of all functions displayed.

One can only hope grinning

[96RAF]

The status of all functions is there on the bottom of the screen Rog. If you are talking about what that function is then that would be out of scope of most controllers. I have an article on my website telling of how to install a backlight to the Elite using an electro luminescent panel. A colour screen would be pretty but no more functional.

@greg - the 4-amp power brick is widely available but folk have reported a Toshiba laptop PSU has the same 6.3mm x 3.0mm size jack plug but can be sourced at a fraction of the Hornby price.

[Brew Man]

Yes, available from Amazon - here https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07D342BYM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[96RAF]

Of interest re Hornby 4-amp power packs. I was discussing a problem about using more than one R8239 booster and one would keep showing signs of a problem. Output was checked at the rails and at the power pack and although it was showing 15.5v output the problem went away when the power pack was changed, which is odd, so if your controller or other module is powered by this pack and is playing up, have a look at trying a swap out unit.