Just a quick question

[hitachi mad]

I have just updated to the new railmaster and have noticed that you can use the select as the A controller. could i use an expressnet to USB and use it without the elite.

[RDS]

[@hitachi mad

No, you cannot use Railmaster directly with the Select. The only way you can use RailMaster without the Elite is by using the Hornby eLink. The use of the eLink with Railmaster is a cheaper option but I think it is a case of you get what

 

you pay for because the eLink does not have a manual controller so you do not have the facility to control manually like you do when using the Elite.

 

The Select can be used as a Walkabout controller by connecting it to the Elite using the Hornby RJ12

 

lead, number R8266.

 

 

[wiggy25]

You can't connect the Select directly to a PC.....YET!!!

In the instructions it does say that you will be able to when a new interface cable becomes available.

I have no idea when or if this cable will ever come to market, but it would be a nice

 

option if it does.

Obviously you will limit what RailMaster can do because of the limitations of the Select, but

Should still give a lot of extra functionality.

 

Cheers

 

Ian

 

 

hitachi mad said:

 

I have just updated

 

to the new railmaster and have noticed that you can use the select as the A controller. could i use an expressnet to USB and use it without the elite.

[wiggy25]

Just read the latest RailMaster user guide and the paragraph relating to the new Select "interface cable" has now been removed.

 

I should of kept an older user guide.

This may be an indication that it's not going to happen, or it's being hidden

 

away and can be dropped in.....usually just before Christmas along with the detection system no doubt :-)

 

Hopefully they are working on it but just keeping it under wraps.

 

Cheers

 

Ian

[Gregd99]

wiggy25 said:
Just read the latest RailMaster user guide and the paragraph relating to the new Select "interface cable" has now been removed.

The next few paragraphs are probably not interesting for many.... if this is you - just

go to the last sentence.

The select has an xpressnet interface running over RS485 (I think). The Elite has an xpressnet interface running over USB. The behaviour of teh two interfaces seems to be slightly different leading to some elite/select inter-working

anomalies - eg point numbering.

There are xpressnet to serial/usb adaptors around I think but these are more than a cable. for the Select to connect to a pc a device would be required that terminated the xpressnet commns and converted to something a

PC could understand - ie looked like the elite.

At the physical level this could be and RS485 to RS232 adaptor. some software would probably be need to adapt the protocol to what railmaster expects from the elite. both the physical and logical adaptation

could be done in a stand alone box as well.

I can't see any way that "just" a cable could do the job.

[Fishmanoz]

Greg, you could well be right on this, but I think the only definitive answer can come from RM Support, or maybe LMSTim knows.

 

It may not be as bad as you think if the 2 xpressnet protocols are actually the same. For a start, I think the point

 

addressing issue you mention is more a function of accessory starting addresses being different but they would surely be defined in the controller's firmware, not the protocol?

 

The major limitation to my mind is Select v Elite. Can't imagine anyone

 

wanting to hobble RM to Select capability on locos or accessories, even as a second controller.

[Fishmanoz]

There are still references to Select in 2 parts of the manual. In the Intro under features, it notes the limitation of not being able to read and write CVs via Select on page 4. Then on page 13, it talks about eLink and Select having only 1Amp supplies,

 

so limit the number of locos you can run.

 

Still think people who try to with a Select will get very frustrated very quickly when the realise all the things that RM can do but Select can't.

[hitachi mad]

My select has a 4amp power supply and you can select it as controller A and you can buy a expressnet to usb

 

[wiggy25]

Greggd99,

 

Not quite sure what you're getting at?

 

I have been told that they are working on a Select to RailMaster interface cable and this was how it was written in an older version of the user guide.

 

I have no other knowledge of what

 

is being developed or what it will be.

If you can't see any way that "JUST" a cable could do the job, good for your superior knowledge.

Your post seems to come across as I'm in the wrong, just because you can't see any way that "JUST" a cable could work.

It

 

really doesn't matter if it's a cable a little black box or a man singing and dancing, I was only pointing out that they are working on a way to use the Select with RailMaster.

 

Cheers

 

Ian

 

 

 

[Gregd99]

wiggy25 said:
Your post seems to come across as I'm in the wrong, just because you can't see any way that JUST a cable could work.

Not at all. You could be completely correct and there will be a way to connect the select to Railmaster.

As mentioned above by another poster HCC would be able to say... and perhaps have said to you.

[reply]wiggy25 said:
It really doesn't matter if it's a cable a little black box or a man singing and dancing, I was only pointing out that they are working

on a way to use the Select with RailMaster./reply]I was trying to explain some of the points that I saw would be involved in developing an interface between the select and railmaster.

see http://www.lenzusa.com/1newsite1/LI-USB.html for an example.

[Fishmanoz]

Interesting link Greg. It certainly says for the L*nz implementation of xpressnet that more than a cable is need in the interface. I'm sure I've read somewhere that different manufacturers implement xpressnet differently, so this interface may well not

 

work with Select.

 

HM, are you saying you can buy a Hornby interface cable, or someone else's?

 

Wiggy, I certainly didn't read that Greg was saying you were wrong as such, just that his interpretation was different. If we can't do that respectfully

 

on here, and I saw no disrespect from Greg, we won't get very far in any discussion.

[Gregd99]

Fishmanoz said:
I'm sure I've read somewhere that different manufacturers implement xpressnet differently, so this interface may well not work with Select.

Hornby, with the elite, do have some unusual interpretations of Lenz's

Xpressnet spec. At a message format level it is compliant but the content of some of the messages and the message types sent in response to requests is sometimes unusual. I learnt of these anomalies working with the JMRI team to get the elite going with JMRI

some years back.

The select implementation could well be different to the elite implementation.

interestingly if the Lenz device only operates at a physical conversion layer - ie does not try and understand the message content - it might well

work. I have not tested this.

[wiggy25]

OK fair enough, I must have read it wrong apologies to Gregg.

 

I have tried the Lenz LH30 handset plugged into the Select and everything does actually work, very slowly!!!

That is you can turn the speed up no problem but when you slow it back

 

down again, it takes a long time for it to respond, and sometimes doesn't respond at all.

Same with the functions, the LH30 only has 4 functions but they all turn on/off, again it can take a while for them to operate though, this is what Hornby DCC customer

 

care actually expected to happen.

 

I'm just wondering if anybody does have the L*nz LI-USB for sale as it might be an interesting idea to test to see if it works.

I could nip over to Digitrains to see if I can borrow one for testing.

 

Cheers

 

Ian