RM or faulty decoder issue

[AlexPW]

I have RM a few other locos (they work ok) + a virgin pendolino and with this if I read the first 20 CV's they all return a value of 255 (even CV1), if I use another manufactures controller I can write CV1 to say 0006. The lights work & it travels in both

 

directions with both controllers. If I read the CV's with elink it reports 255 for all 20 & does not move or lights work!....votes on if the decoder is faulty or its elink problem?

[Fishmanoz]

Alex, you've just told us the decoder isn't faulty because you've set it up with another controller, including setting the address of the loco to 0006, and the loco works.

 

When RM tells you all CVs are 255, it is actually telling you that it can't

 

communicate with the loco at all, so something is wrong in your RM/eLink setup, somewhere.

 

As you've told us nothing about that setup, can we assume that you have the hardware set up correctly - eLink connected to your computer with a high quality

 

USB cable directly to a computer USB connection and not through a hub, the eLink is powered up and the track outputs are connected to your layout and the program output to a separate or isolated program track? Now is RM correctly installed as administrator

 

and has it automatically or manually been updated to the latest v1.53 and eLink firmware updated to the latest at the same time? Have you checked the com port the eLink is connected to in Device Manager in Windows, and is it showing as connected to that same

 

port in your RM eLink controller setup? RM should be reporting if it can't find it by the way. And the port number should be below 5 (change in Device manager to a low unused number if not).

 

Given all of your hardware and software setup is OK, have

 

you now gone into the loco setup window, found your version of the Pendolino from the list of locos and then set its ID number to 0006 using the set ID button on the middle button at the bottom of the window?

 

If you've done all of that, and the loco

 

won't run and all CVs are reading 255, then something is likely to be faulty. If this is the first time you've tried to use your eLink, then the chances are it is the faulty item. If it has worked before running other locos for you, then maybe not. Although

 

if all your other answers to my questions are yes, we've just about eliminated another fault.

 

Anyway, if still not working, I suggest you email RM Support from within the Help section of RM and tell them your problem. In describing it to them, tell

 

them all of the answers to the questions I have asked above as this will give them the maximum information on which to diagnose your problem.

[alan10]

AlexPW said:

I have RM a few other locos (they work ok) + a virgin pendolino and with this if I read the first 20 CV's they all return a value of 255 (even CV1), if I use another manufactures controller I can write CV1 to say 0006. The lights

work & it travels in both directions with both controllers. If I read the CV's with elink it reports 255 for all 20 & does not move or lights work!....votes on if the decoder is faulty or its elink problem?

I too get 255s returned when trying

to read CVs from my Pendolino and my Central 153 with eLink. Apart from never hand shaking on the first connection and an eagerness to upgrade the eLink firmware when it's already been upgraded, once a connection has been made it all seems to work as it should

with regard to actually driving trains.

Yes, I could contact RM support, who have provided an excellent service over other problems, but I just can't be bothered any more.

[Fishmanoz]

So alan, have you followed my fault finding guide above to track down the problem?

[alan10]

Fishmanoz said:

So alan, have you followed my fault finding guide above to track down the problem?

The answer's 'no', because your very useful fault finding guide is a reiteration of the standard setup procedure which I carried

out when I first installed the eLink some weeks ago plus the updates to RM and eLink. As I said above, once a connection has been made it all seems to work as it should with regard to actually driving trains.

When attempting to read CVs, the loco under

interrogation, on it's own isolated programming track connected to the Prog output of the eLink, makes very quiet 'chirping' noises but the first twelve, (all I'm looking at because of the time it takes), all return 255. Not a great problem for me but it is

another irritant which casts doubt on the total viability of my RM/eLink combination.

[Rog RJ]

alan10 said:

The answer's 'no', because your very useful fault finding guide is a reiteration of the standard setup procedure which I carried out when I first installed the eLink some weeks ago plus the updates to RM and eLink. As I said

above, once a connection has been made it all seems to work as it should with regard to actually driving trains.

When attempting to read CVs, the loco under interrogation, on it's own isolated programming track connected to the Prog output of the eLink,

makes very quiet 'chirping' noises but the first twelve, (all I'm looking at because of the time it takes), all return 255. Not a great problem for me but it is another irritant which casts doubt on the total viability of my RM/eLink combination.

How

are you connecting the program output from the elink to the programming track? If you are using a power clip or power track, make sure it's the digital version as I believe some elink systems were incorrectly supplied with analogue power clips

[alan10]

Rog (RJ) said:

alan10 said:

The answer's 'no', because your very useful fault finding guide is a reiteration of the standard setup procedure which I carried out when I first installed the eLink some weeks ago plus the updates to RM

and eLink. As I said above, once a connection has been made it all seems to work as it should with regard to actually driving trains.

When attempting to read CVs, the loco under interrogation, on it's own isolated programming track connected to the

Prog output of the eLink, makes very quiet 'chirping' noises but the first twelve, (all I'm looking at because of the time it takes), all return 255. Not a great problem for me but it is another irritant which casts doubt on the total viability of my RM/eLink

combination.

How are you connecting the program output from the elink to the programming track? If you are using a power clip or power track, make sure it's the digital version as I believe some elink systems were incorrectly supplied with analogue

power clips

You're right about some eLink systems but a stand alone eLink doesn't come with power clips. I use a digital power track which I checked when the capacitor story broke.

Thanks for the thought, though.