cobalt point motors on railmaster

[60157]

hi could some one help as im having trouble getting these to work on the railmaster with the elink when I press the light for corresponding point nothing happens and they work on the elite but cant get them to do anything on the railmaster thanks

 

 

[Fishmanoz]

So they work with Elite by itself? Do they work with Elite from RM?

 

Are you certain that when tried with eLink that you still had them programmed with the long output Cobalt needs and not the short default pulse for solenoids?

 

Is this the

 

only thing that doesn't work with eLink? Are you able to change ID and run locos OK?

[60157]

Fishmanoz said:

So they work with Elite by itself? Do they work with Elite from RM?

Are you certain that when tried with eLink that you still had them programmed with the long output Cobalt needs and not the short default pulse for

solenoids?

Is this the only thing that doesn't work with eLink? Are you able to change ID and run locos OK?

hi how do you check if cbolts are long output or short please. can run locos ok haven't checked with id change as got nun to change

as yet will give it a go later but help with the outputs would help thanks

[Gregd99]

Are you using a hornby 8247 decoder?

 

if yes, then you need to programme it to have a continuous output to drive the cobalt motor. The more usual solenoid motors require a short pulse of energy; the cobalt needs a longer, continuous supply of energy

 

to move the motor and then hold it in position.

[Fishmanoz]

Greg, note my posts above re pulse length for cobalt.

 

60157, we know cobalt needs continuous output as Greg says above because it is motor driven not solenoid. Check your RM manual on programming points and you will see how to adjust the decoder

 

output for this. Let us know if you can't find it and I'll dig it out for you.

[Wildebeeste]

I decided to use cobalt with my Elite which is still at V1.0, however, try as I might I cannot program one. I have tried the workaround that was kindly suggested by the manufacturer but to no avail. Even using a push button whilst powering the motor from

 

the track gives inconsistent results as well as a loud click as it appears to be overdriven. Any help from anyone who has got them to work would be appreciated

[Fishmanoz]

I assume from what you said that you've followed both methods suggested in other posts where there is content from HRMS and Richard Johnson.

 

But the very obvious thing you need to do before trying again in is update your Elite. Your very early

 

firmware has a whole range of shortcomings that will be fixed by upgrade to the latest v1.41, and you may well find it solves this problem for you.

[idlemarvel]

60157 said:

hi could some one help as im having trouble getting these to work on the railmaster with the elink when I press the light for corresponding point nothing happens and they work on the elite but cant get them to do anything on the

railmaster thanks

It's still not clear to me what your setup is. Are you using Cobalt motor with Hornby accessory decoder? If you are then you could refer to this posting from a few weeks ago:
https://www.hornby.com/forums/hornby-forums/hornby-digital/5603/?page=1#post66988



If you are using Cobalt decoder then there is another thread describing that scenario, if you search for cobalt you should find it.

[Fishmanoz]

For all who have looked at the other thread, you will know that I contacted both Richard and HRMS about this problem as I posted a couple of their replies. Well I also contacted HCC and only this morning received their reply.

 

Their reply adds one

 

interesting fact to this discussion - Railcom is not implemented at all in Elite firmware 1.2 and earlier. This probably explains why it has been suggested that the default used to be off but is now on. I now think the fact you can now get it on at all, and

 

only when Railcom is called for, explains the misconception that the default is now on.

 

So we know that Railcom is not interfering with wildebeeste's programming failure, but I still think the early firmware version may be the problem.

[Wildebeeste]

With version 1.0 I can actually turn railcom on and off, whereas this is not possible with V1.41 Is the recommendation of turning off Railcom a red herring? However, I did try the suggestions from Richard and they did not work. Another think that worries

 

me, if I power the motor from the Track output on the Elite, the crank moves very quickly and there is a loud click at the end of its travel. If I power it from a separate 9v DC supply it works very slowly and reliably.

[Bulleidboy]

This thread is very similar to the one Fishmanoz has mentioned above. Railcom in its default setting is OFF. You can turn it on manually using the instructions on page 32 of the latest 1.41 manual. Also there are two types of Cobalt Digital point motors

 

- the one being referred to in the other posting is the DCP-CB1Digital, which has the decoder built-in - no accessory decoder is required, in its simplest set-up you just plug it in to your BUS and away you go - or you should. Please read other posting.

 

 

[Bulleidboy]

See "Cobalt Digital with Elink and Railmaster" under DCC.

[Fishmanoz]

Whichever Cobalt you are using the decoder programming method is exactly the same.