Absolute newbie to DCC [Select 1Amp vs 4Amp PSU]

[Darrenbec]

Hi, probably a question already asked, but I cannot find any straight up answers.

So here goes, planning a set up approximately 10ft by 6ft board. Will have up to 10 locos on, with accompanying coaches or wagons. Planning to run about 4 or 5 of the locos at the same time, simultaneously. So will the Select R8213 be suitable for this size layout with the 1 amp power supply it comes with, or with the 4 amp version. Not looking to run points, lights, sound or anything else, just purely loco running and controlling. All i want from the Select is to control loco direction, speed, stopping, and also to program initial loco addresses. Thanks in advance for any comments or replies.

[Chrissaf]

The 1 amp supply is only good for running about 3 or 4 locos concurrently.

To run up to 10 concurrently, you will need the P9300 4 amp upgrade power supply.

As this is your first post, please use the text box at the bottom of the page to reply. Not the blue button.

[Fishmanoz]

Hi Darren, might I add some advice on thread titles that may help you get better advice in the future and allow better searching for that advice in the future too.

Good topics often have 3 parts to them:

• some background. Your background is that you are new
• the problem or question itself. Your question is how many locos can be run with the Select 1 Amp supply
• some qualifying detail that may affect the correct answer. Yours is that you only want to control locos

So what is a good thread title? It is one that directly addresses the problem or question. In this instance, that would be “How many locos can be run by Select with 1 Amp Supply?”

And a not so good title? One that addresses the background or qualifying detail. For this and many other topics, knowing you are a newbie in the title doesn’t help us to know what the problem is. Once we know the problem, the fact you are a newbie may help us to know how to answer it but we only need to find that in the background.

[Darrenbec]

Actually I am not a newbie, personally, I was asking from a newbie perspective. I have been playing trains, and yes it is playing, since my childhood. I asked this in it's basic form because after reading countless webpages, discussions and forums over the years before I converted DC to DCC there was so much confusing advice out there. As some newcomers would even be young children, I was trying get the perspective of the average person, not a qualified electrician, computer whizz or rocket scientist. Also lot's of forums replies, even on Hornby, bring in the "I wouldn't touch Select Controller" or the "Select or Hornby DCC controllers are rubbish, go for blah blah more expensive blah blah". The other noticeable confusion I picked up before I went ahead personally was the NMRA compliance stuff. Many decoders won't work with Select or other negative advice, all from people trying push their favourite equipment. At the end of the day playing trains is just that, playing. If it can be done cheaply, efficiently and without too much over the top hard work for just getting a train or two around a few tracks, then more would be inclined to join in. So my original question is still relevant, from a newbies perspective is the Select good enough for a layout equivalent to double the size of the Hornby trakmat layout, approximately 10ft x 6ft. The extra power for more locos simultaneously is obviously down to amps taken to run a single loco, so common sense says 1 amp is few trains, 4 amps is more trains. Yet the actual question is a simple one. The Hornby Select, is it basically up to the job of a layout running locos with decoders of not necessarily Hornby variety? No fancy bells or whistles, no lights, no point powering, no altering of multiple CV's, just addressing the loco and controlling it.

[96RAF]

Short answer YES.

Long answer - YES but - only a few trains with the 1-amp supply, many more with the 4-amp supply.

Even better if the Select is at the latest firmware revision v1.6 pre facelift or v2.0 post facelift as it means you can customise some of the settings on your loco decoders if desired.

[Darrenbec]

Thank you 96RAF. I was hoping for a simple answer to a simple question, in the hope that any newcomers to this wonderful world of model trains would see it, and not be discouraged by all the negativity and ott responses to what in essence is supposed to be about having fun. Thank you.

[Fishmanoz]

Hi Darren, apologies if you found my reply OTT. May I say that I took 2 things into account before posting: the first was that Chris had already answered your question fully; and the second, taking your newbie status at face value, to hopefully assist you to get better answers in future. Then it also assists others with Google searches.

On compliance issues with Select and other brand decoders, we don’t seem to have had such problems coming up for a while. Just about everything seems to be NMRA compliant these days. That doesn’t mean that you won’t see posts suggesting some brands working better/being more reliable than others in the poster’s experience, or have higher current capability for Ringfields/X03/X04, or are smaller and fit into tighter spaces. Hopefully such replies are seen as informative and not Hornby bashing and there’s no suggestion of NMRA compatibility issues.

[Will Hay]

May I respectfully point out that a recommendation of any alternative to the select controller is forbidden here, unless things have become less militant since I last posted and complained to Hornby about the conduct of two moderators.

Similarly, users are not permitted to outline any failings of Hornby products whatsoever, so forgive me if I think you'll ever get a balanced opinion on this forum.

Mod note - the OP was not asking for a recommendation for a replacement for his Select, he was asking for advice on a replacement Hornby power supply, which was given.

See Forum Rule 2 for what is and what isn’t currently allowed to be discussed. If Hornby doesn’t currently market a product then members are free to recommend an alien make. The Forum rules are undergoing revision.

Mod note: Your comment above and your other post this morning seems to infer that you think you are not allowed to raise concerns about Hornby product reliability and quality. Absolutely not the case, as long as you keep your comments related to the Hornby product failings. You will find lots of posts raising such issues, if you look. What is frowned upon and in breach of Hornby forum rules, is to make statements like "Don't buy this rubbish Hornby XXXXXX, I strongly recommend product YYYYYY made by ZZZZZZ. There is a distinct difference between being Hornby product critical and aggressively promoting a directly competitive product.

[Darrenbec]

hi Fishmanoz, no problem, I should have tried make it clearer that I was only trying get a simple answer because many answer do get ott. Many of the non compliant issues really are mostly down to older versions of the Select. Updating most hardware is almost compulsory these days, but especially when it comes to compatibility problems, as most are sorted with the current firmware. The only major issue with Select updates is the return to Hornby way of doing them, when maybe a physical change, adding a usb connection to it might enable updates via the internet.

[96RAF]

@darrenbec

Hornby had designed and were to have brought to market an adapter cable bridging the RJ Expressnet port of the Select to USB so that it could be connected to a PC for use with Railmaster.

Unfortunately the Select-a-Link cable was binned due to poor pre-order sales, hence any chance of being able to self update the Select same as Elite was binned with it.

There was one other glitch in that early Select motherboards - the very ones that desperately needed updating - had a closed write protect jumper, which has to be mechanically broken (desoldered) before the update hex file can be loaded to the PIC chip. Later motherboards have the write protection written into the software and the jumper is left open.

[Costers]

@96RAF

Can I pick up on your comment about the initial intention to be able to link the Select to a pc?

Surely times have changed since the decision to bin the link was made? DCC is more widely accepted and computers are commonplace. I for one would welcome the facility. Would it be possible for Hornby to revisit this decision. Times are changing.

Apologies Darren.

[RDS]

@Ian

Could you please have a look at the thread from the link below.

Important Information for New Members Registering for the Forum (Updated 31st Jan 2022) :: Hornby Hobbies

[96RAF]

@costers

Unfortunately Hornby tend to stick with a decision once made - right or wrong in our eyes.

I have pled the case of resurrecting the adaptor cable time after time as it is/was going to be a very useful low cost item, that would open up RM to Select owners, thus spin off sales and possibly offer the chance of firmware updates by users much like Elite, but to no avail.

Maybe as DCC evolves there may be some other device that will perform the same function made available, who knows.

[Johnde]

I wouldn't even consider the 1 amp supply it may be alright for now but I would certainly recommend the 4 amp supply as what will run a little will run a lot more ! No contest.

[Fishmanoz]

JD, it’s not quite a matter of considering the 1 Amp supply. Select comes with it out of the box, no choice. And it will run around 4 modern locos, only 2-3 older ones and has other limitations which have been aired on the forums previously.

But given you can actively control only one loco at a time, all others running being for the time being set and forget, you’ll need a lot of layout room, not to mention controller head space, before you exceed that.

My advice - try it out of the box and see. If it works for you, you are laughing. If it keeps overloading, then buy the 4 Amp.