RM + e-link - new train set not working

[Lindsay_C]

Just purchased a new DCC set that includes the new e-link controller and Railmaster software.

I simply cannot get this to work.

Installed the RM software (including updates) and setup the e-link box and required COM port, etc. All went well, no problem.

Setup

 

the rails, etc and connected the power.

Started Railmaster, which seems to communicate with the e-link unit. Also noticed a green DCC controller icon at top right of screen, which displays a "DCC Controller active" message when you place the mouse cursor

 

over it.

Tried to start the loco - nothing happens (it was already set up in RM as ID 0003), so all should work, but nothing.

Checked all the usual stuff, connections, etc, still nothing. Also checked power was being delivered to the track, got 25V reading

 

on meter.

Tried reboot, resetting, changing COM port, all I can think of, still not working. Also noted that all COM settings in RM are correct and match those in Ports section of XP device manager.

 

One wierd thing, the loco started at full speed

 

for a few seconds on the track when I booted up and connected after a few attempts, but then went dead again and will not respond. So think the loco is working, just can get no response to control. Thinking a faulty e-link controller.

 

Need help.

 

Lindsay

[Fishmanoz]

Lindsay, from your description, you seem to know what you are doing as all your setup stuff seems right. Decoders come default with address 03 or 00003 (same thing as far as RM is concerned, although stored differently in the decoder). So straight out

 

of the box, when you set up a loco in RM, it should have the default 03 ID and run straight away.

 

A simple way to check things is to look at your manual on reading CVs and see what you get. It is likely it will tell you they are all 255, which means

 

it can't read them at all. Next thing to do is to email RM Support from within the Help section of RM. if they agree the eLink is faulty, they will replace it for you.

 

And DCC locos taking off flat out is a well known problem. It means the decoder

 

got a bad DCC signal, interpreted it to be DC not DCC and, as full rail volts are present all the time on DCC, it applied full throttle. The DC feature can be turned off in CV29 and it is recommended you do so, once you have a functioning eLink connection.

 

Again, the manual tells you the number to add to CV29 to do this. CV29 is different to other CVs in that each bit in its word controls something different. So if you understand binary maths at all, it will be clear that to change the bit 0 feature, you would

 

add 1 to the value of the CV, for bit 1, add 2, for bit 3 add 4, bit 4 add 8, etc.

[Lindsay_C]

Thanks for your reply Fishmanoz.

Actually got it working last night. I noticed that there were no CV values recorded in the RM application for the loco that came with the set. I connected the e-link unit to the track using the "Prog" connection and

 

managed to read the CV's from the loco into RM, there were not very many so it only took around 10 minutes. I saved this info to the locos settings in RM.

Then I hooked the e-link back up to the "Track" connections, tried it and it worked, the loco is running

 

OK now.

Not sure if what I did was by the book, but it worked for me.

So far all is now running smoothly.

 

Thanks for helping, no doubt will be back again.

[Fishmanoz]

Still sounds like you are doing the right thing, I should have mentioned the need to use the programming output.