Successes with RM

[geoff77]

In view of the fact that there are over 3000 threads, most of which are problematical, is there anyone out there who could contribute an account of a successful use of RM . That is, running trains Ok and switching points OK ? I think it would be interesting

 

to know.

[Graskie]

Some forum members have claimed that they fit that scenario. They are extremely lucky, I say, unless they are little Einsteins. I know I'm still having a few problems with loco functions from RM and haven't even looked at point operation yet!

[Rog RJ]

You have to bear in mind that ppl are more likely to come onto this forum, and others, to get help with problems. Very few will join a forum to say they are happy with a product, so the overall impression to us forum users is that the problems outweigh

 

the successes. Only Hornby and possibly the dealers will have the true picture.

[RB51]

I have posted in other forums (and I thought this one) the fact that my experience of RM & E-link is that it is an excellent bit of kit. Ok, there are some niggles, but I am sure they will be sorted out in time. I suppose it is frustrating when we are

 

used to "plug and play" but to my mind that is not what RM is. It is, at least to me anyway (the great PC uninitiated) quite a complex piece of software and I am amazed that so much got packed into such a small box (LOL). I could do with the "handshake" not

 

failing for the umpteenth time, or the screen going blank occasionally, or the elevated sensitivity to shorts, but as I say I am pleased with it. More to the point I suppose is it is easy to drive. That has got to be a big bonus. Hope that helps.R-

[geoff77]

RogerB said:

I have posted in other forums (and I thought this one) the fact that my experience of RM & E-link is that it is an excellent bit of kit. Ok, there are some niggles, but I am sure they will be sorted out in time. I suppose it

is frustrating when we are used to "plug and play" but to my mind that is not what RM is. It is, at least to me anyway (the great PC uninitiated) quite a complex piece of software and I am amazed that so much got packed into such a small box (LOL). I could

do with the "handshake" not failing for the umpteenth time, or the screen going blank occasionally, or the elevated sensitivity to shorts, but as I say I am pleased with it. More to the point I suppose is it is easy to drive. That has got to be a big bonus.

Hope that helps.R-

[geoff77]

To Roger:

I'm pleased you are enjoying your RM Roger. I am pleased to report that after hours of trying different approaches I have cracked the problem of the operation of points using Digitrax DS54's NOT 64's. Apparently , and this shows how time flies,

 

the DS54 was made obsolete in 2007. I am running a Mallard pullman train and a Brighton Belle and so far have eight points working fine from the layout plan on screen. Great stuff, when it works. Hornby can be assured that RM is not just for Hornby modellers

 

but can be used by a massive market of modellers using all kinds of equipment. as the Aussies say...'Good on yer Hornby"

I worked with them on Zero one which was DCC ahead of its time and now they lesd the way with RM. I hope we hear of more successes.

[RB51]

geoff77 said:

To Roger:
I'm pleased you are enjoying your RM Roger. I am pleased to report that after hours of trying different approaches I have cracked the problem of the operation of points using Digitrax DS54's NOT 64's. Apparently

, and this shows how time flies, the DS54 was made obsolete in 2007. I am running a Mallard pullman train and a Brighton Belle and so far have eight points working fine from the layout plan on screen. Great stuff, when it works. Hornby can be assured that

RM is not just for Hornby modellers but can be used by a massive market of modellers using all kinds of equipment. as the Aussies say...'Good on yer Hornby"
I worked with them on Zero one which was DCC ahead of its time and now they lesd the way with RM.

I hope we hear of more successes.

[RB51]

Well done, what did you do to fix it? I managed to get all the points working first time - my headache was trying to work out what was going wrong with a double slip. Eventually I realised that the points were wired into each others decoder ports but the

 

little grey/blue direction indicators where showing what I wanted to happen! Honestly, you couldn't make it up. So, what is the problem with the rest of your points? R-

[DaveAus]

Yep I'm a happy RailMaster user. I have 12 Loco's (Mostly DCC Sound) and 16 points spread over 4 Accessory units and it all works. I can play trains to my hearts content and while I still have a lot to learn about CCV values before I'll get speed etc perfect

 

I repeat again it all works. Additionally and while not often used as my layout is only 9' X 5' I can drive it from my iPhone or iPad.

 

Great product, next step will be more games with the programming function, the timing with Sound Loco's is tricky.

[Graskie]

Perhaps it was all meant to be operated upside down then!

[Fishmanoz]

You really will need madcohesion to make your locos run then Graskie. At least the upside is it is easy to solder your risers from your track to your bus wires, and connect your accessory decoders. And loose ballast won't get stuck in your points.

[Graskie]

Blimey! I never realised there were any advantages down there.

[Fishmanoz]

Another is that people from your side of the world are a bit like the grandkids - you can have a good time with them when they visit, but after a while they go back home and leave you in peace.

[geoff77]

RogerB said:

Well done, what did you do to fix it? I managed to get all the points working first time - my headache was trying to work out what was going wrong with a double slip. Eventually I realised that the points were wired into each

others decoder ports but the little grey/blue direction indicators where showing what I wanted to happen! Honestly, you couldn't make it up. So, what is the problem with the rest of your points? R-

[geoff77]

Oh dear! Spoke too soon. I carried on after setting the first 12 points Ok, and tryd to set 13-16 but the DS54 wouldnt take the programming.I still had 30 point to go. Then I had a freak accident. While using the design panel to check point position etc

 

I was messing around the bottom left corner with the cursor when , as sometimes happens, I must have clicked the multiple elements button whereupon it 'collared ' part of my large plan and I lost it. I had to re -build my plan. Then I got the problem with

 

the fourth DS54. I am very sorry to say, I have given up on RM and have returned all my equipment to Digitrax, my Zephyr with its two 'jump' controllers (gives me three) and my control panel showing correct point positions using ex-Zero one micromimic led

 

pairs. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.

[idlemarvel]

Happy user (in the Northern hemisphere). 6 locos all with sound (ESU) only 4 points (one 8247) on current layour but previous layout had 8 and 3 colour signals. As has been said the good thing about RM is ease of use (once you're over the driver install

 

initiation) in operation and automation. If you want to experience user unfriendliness try JMRI!

[Fishmanoz]

DigiJohn said:

I have installed RM on my PC without too much hassle. It took quite a few iterations to download all the updates. Loading the software into my iPad and iPhone required a phone call to my computer savvy son. I did not know how

to find the IP address on my PC. He told me how and after that both work fine. I was surprised additional fees are involved. Waiting to see how much they charge!
Here is how to find the IP address: Windows 7
Click the start button and type RUN in the

search box at the bottom of the list.
Make sure the next box is empty and Type CMD.EXE and hit return.
You should now see the old DOS type screen.
Type IPCONFIG and hit return.
A whole bunch of numbers will appear, one of which is the IP address.

Hope

that helps. (I accept no responsibility if anything goes wrong!,,)

John Crook.

I know it is now a little difficult to find, but there is extensive coverage in this forum on setting static IP addresses, including the use of IPCONFIG. It can

be found by going back to the start of this year when the apps were first released. It's in a number of threads.

[Bigric2]

I suspect that I may be a bit of a novelty item on this forum .....an N gauge modeller who is very happy (overall) with my Railmaster experience ! 18 months ago I decided to sideline my ZTC 511 controller & go down the Railmaster route . It's been a bumpy

 

ride at times & has taken a lot of head scratching along the way BUT I certainly don't regret that decision at all .I have a large fleet of over 90 chipped N gauge locos & over 50 motorised points , all controlled with RM (but definitely NOT at the same time

 

!) . My update downloads go in with no problem . It's not perfect.....but what is ??? Cheers , Ric

[Fishmanoz]

Richard, you are certainly not the only N modeller on the forums. Poliss is one too, running DCC but not RM.

 

Some should take note that chip fitting problems OO has are nothing to the N space restrictions.

[Fishmanoz]

Don't believe my iPad took that liberty with Ric's name.

[Bigric2]

Fishmanoz said:

Richard, you are certainly not the only N modeller on the forums. Poliss is one too, running DCC but not RM.

Some should take note that chip fitting problems OO has are nothing to the N space restrictions.

[Bigric2]

Re fitting decoders to N gauge locos....can't take any credit for the hard wired ones , they've all been done for me along the way (over the last 10 years) by a few different people . The only ones my limited skills cope with are the newer 6 pin plug-in

 

decoders !! Ric

[Fishmanoz]

Just adding a posting from Bigric2 on another thread that is applicable here:

 

 

re your recent posting about fitting it all on Railmaster , some observations which may help a bit....hopefully ! About 18 months ago I decided to go down the RM

 

avenue , despite being non-technical & non-computer nerdy . I mothballed my ZTC 511 , bought the RM disc & a 2nd hand Elite on Ebay , & started working on just how the RM track plan thing worked and how I was going to fit on a large N gauge layout on 4 levels

 

with over 50 motorised points onto that small screen . I spent a few weeks plodding through the idiosyncracies of the RM track planning tool & decided that I would split the 4 levels into sections vertically on the RM screen , as I find scrolling up & down

 

easier than backwards & forwards across the screen .I decided to start (at the top of the screen)with the fiddle yard schematic . At the same time , I was starting to enter loco details for a few of my N gauge fleet . After about 6 months , disaster struck

 

- my cheapo 2nd hand laptop packed up for good & I lost everything (no backup !!). The weeks it took me to sort out a new laptop actually proved to very useful , as I realized that because I wasn't going to go down the loco detection route , I could actually

 

leave out chunks of track where there were no points to be located .

There were 4 or 5 points which I use a lot , so I decided that in addition to these particular points being located on the schematic , I would place numbered repeat versions of these

 

in a handy location near the top of the track plan , under the 1st section of plan . They kind of float there in a disembodied manner , are easily accessible without having to scroll down a long way & make changing those points much easier if I don't want

 

to change all of the points in a route that they belomg to.

Along the way , there has been an AWFUL lot of head scratching & expletive muttering BUT I am getting there slowly .I bought Decoderpro & Sprog 2 for quicker & more accurate CV furtling , which

 

proved to be a very good thing as I still find the RM approach to CVs a bit cumbersome . Having said that , the RM updates come thick & fast , often improving problematic elements . I know some people on here are often highlighting problems they have with

 

the updates , but that's NOT my experience . Mine always go in with no problems . Also , RM support are generally very good if you need them & generally prompt in replying . Best of luck with the Elink - an unknown quantity to me ! Cheers , Ric

 

[HooliganHedgehog]

On balance, I like RM. I do have some issues with it though .... for instance on one Loco it turns one function off when it should be on and vice versa (though itcould be the type of decoder I guess). So before running a program with that command in, I

 

have to remember to manually set it first to the opposite of what I eventually want. Points are brilliant (I use point motors with inbuilt decoders) but find timing stops is tricky and seldom do the locos stop in the same place precisely each time. But yes,

 

overall pleased with it. They need to pay more attention to some of the basic stuff though. You would never accept software from Microsoft, or Adobe for instance that presents you with a warning that the Publisher is unknown, then requires you to run the program

 

as an Administrator to perform an update, and gives you the same message again even when you have started it up as an Administrator. Software should work for the user, but here the user has to work for the software or it won't play ball.

[GarH]

I get the impression that the eLink unit and my new laptop notebook know what they are doing even if I don't.

 

Having got my head around Windows 8 (Why have they made it so hard to find the com ports?) and the external hard drive purchased to load

 

the RM software I eventually got the software loaded and when the eLink was connected and powered up it told me it couldn't find the unit and told me to power down the unit and try again. Mug that I am though having read all the problems sorting out Com Ports

 

I wasted a good 90 minutes trying to find out how to get to the com ports with not much success and powered up the eLink unit again to see what would happen and guess what - yes it found it this time on port 3 not port 1 it was intended to use and not sure

 

what I did but all the engines on my track layout suddenly all took off as one!!

 

Anyway I have two engines programmed into RM and they are happily motoring around the layout in different directions - on different tracks of course - and I am looking

 

forward to programming the others I have and then having a go at the 2 point decoders on the layout and their respective 4 point motors. Time will tell if I have managed to get to grips with it all and the only surprise I had apart from all trains on track

 

taking off as one is that whilst my BR 2-BIL 2 Car Electric Multiple Unit Train seems to be hurtling round the track on full power my Somerset Belle S&DJR 0-6-0 Class 3F locomotive is now running at about a third of the speed it did using the Select control

 

unit so I guess I will either have to accept the scaled down speed or play around with cv's? in the loco setup.

 

The setting up of the locos is a bit strange but I'm sure I'll get used to it in time and need to read up more on the subject methinks as

 

I think it was more by luck than judgement - and the software knowing what it was doing even if I didn't - to set up my first two locos on the system.

 

So in a nutshell like a lot of others I too am pleased with the way it has worked so far and hopefully

 

when I next power up the laptop and eLink unit it will not cause me any worries (Fingers Crossed). I must say I'm impressed with what Fishmanoz has accomplished down under - pity about the Baggy Green Cap boys though?