R8216 Points Decoder with E Link

[JamesCornish]

Hello eveyone

 

I was up in my loft the other day and come accross all my old track and loco's. So I thought it was high time I built a new layout. I bought a Hornby e link as i am interested in controlling everything via a pc.

 

I also bought

 

a points decoder model R8216 (date code 49/08 which as i understand is R8216 not R8247), but I can't seem to program it, I have read nearly every post on the internet about this little box but nothing seems to work. Heres whats happening, decoder is connected

 

to 'prog' on the e link unit, I open the program decoder option in railmaster, select R8216, choose 1 in the first output port no, the other 3 outputs are 2,3,4, click on write to decoder. I then swap the link from the elink to the decoder back to the track

 

output, edit my track plan so that all points are numbered and set to the R8216, but still nothing.

 

I have tried the R8247 option, it will read from the decoder but the outpus are 3000 upwards and the pulse duration is over 1200 ms. I have tried to

 

re program it in case it is actually a R8247, but get the same high outputs when i read the decoder after the re program.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on what i should do next?

 

Thanks in advance

 

James

[JamesCornish]

The actual results i get when i read the unit as an R8247 are :- ID 12.8 Outputs are 3327 - 3330 and pulse times are 12800.

 

When i try to program it as a R8216 the progress bar does not move and dissapears after a few mins, with no other messages.

[Fishmanoz]

Do a search on the 8216 in this forum as it was covered extensively only a week or 2 ago. You have to follow the 8216 instructions and pre-charge its CDU on the main before putting it on the program track to program.

[Fishmanoz]

Thread title starts R8247 Vs R8216 15 days ago on page 2 of this forum. See the post by poliss.

[JamesCornish]

Hi Fishmanoz

 

I have had the decoder on the track output for 10 mins to pre charge, then swapped it over to the program track as per the post by poliss, but still get nothing, the progress bar comes up but does not fill up and just dissapears after

 

a min or two.

 

However if i try to program it via the R8247 model the progress bar does fill up after a while, but still no joy.

 

 

[Fishmanoz]

Sounds like something is faulty. Have you been able to program anything else on the eLink program output? If not, it may be your eLink.

 

In any case, I think emailing RM Support from within the Help window of RM is your best option. They are very

 

responsive and helpful. Make sure you give them all the background as you have given on here.

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

Programming Hornby R8216 and R8247 accessory decoders has been made as simple as possible using RailMaster.

 

There is no need to pre-charge the decoders or to repeatedly program them as RailMaster handles the charging up of the CDU in order to program.

 

All you need to do is to connect the acessory decoder module to the PROG output and go into the Accessory Decoder programming window on RailMaster. Simply select the model of decoder you have and enter the desired start port number and pulse times (if desired)

 

then press the program button. After a few minutes your module will be programmed.

 

You can read the current settings of the module by pressing the green tick button.

 

If the above does not work then something is faulty somewhere and the most likely

 

causes are:-

 

a) eLink driver not installed correctly or com port settings not set up (19200, N, 8, 1). Use Windows' own generic driver in Windows 7 and Windows 8 and try to select a com port below 5.

 

b) Faulty cable from PROG output to decoder

 

module or not connected correctly

 

c) Faulty accessory decoder module or eLink. The latter can be ruled out if you can read/write loco settings.

 

The Hornby accessory decoders are possibly the simplest to program as they require no additional external

 

power supply to be connected, no switch settings and no load to be attached unlike some other decoders on the market, therefore fault-finding is straightforward.

 

[johnmh156]

JamesCornish said:

Hi Fishmanoz

I have had the decoder on the track output for 10 mins to pre charge, then swapped it over to the program track as per the post by poliss, but still get nothing, the progress bar comes up but does not

fill up and just dissapears after a min or two.

However if i try to program it via the R8247 model the progress bar does fill up after a while, but still no joy.

[johnmh156]

johnmh156 said:
i bought a |R8216 by mistake, i hought i was getting a R8247, to be honest i thought it was better, unforunately i had a bad short and its overheated so its now scrap, I bought a brand new R8247 but its not working, i am wondering

if its the port numbering, the points on my layout are numbered 01 , 02, 03 etc, the R8247 starts at 61, 62 eytc, do I need to alter these to 1, 2 .3 etc?
JamesCornish said:

Hi Fishmanoz

I have had the decoder on the track output for 10 mins

to pre charge, then swapped it over to the program track as per the post by poliss, but still get nothing, the progress bar comes up but does not fill up and just dissapears after a min or two.

However if i try to program it via the R8247 model the

progress bar does fill up after a while, but still no joy.

[johnmh156]

johnmh156 said:
i bought a |R8216 by mistake, i hought i was getting a R8247, to be honest i thought it was better, unforunately i had a bad short and its overheated so its now scrap, I bought a brand new R8247 but its not working, i am wondering

if its the port numbering, the points on my layout are numbered 01 , 02, 03 etc, the R8247 starts at 61, 62 eytc, do I need to alter these to 1, 2 .3 etc?
JamesCornish said:

Hi Fishmanoz

I have had the decoder on the track output for 10 mins

to pre charge, then swapped it over to the program track as per the post by poliss, but still get nothing, the progress bar comes up but does not fill up and just dissapears after a min or two.

However if i try to program it via the R8247 model the

progress bar does fill up after a while, but still no joy.

[johnmh156]

johnmh156 said: mark at the hornby helpdesk helped me through the initial hurdle of loco programming which isnt very clear in the instructions, the e-link info is not very good, it goes on about elite and other controllers but very poor on the E-Link,

I had the points working fine with the R8216 until it burnt out.

johnmh156 said:
i bought a |R8216 by mistake, i hought i was getting a R8247, to be honest i thought it was better, unforunately i had a bad short and its overheated so its now scrap,

I bought a brand new R8247 but its not working, i am wondering if its the port numbering, the points on my layout are numbered 01 , 02, 03 etc, the R8247 starts at 61, 62 eytc, do I need to alter these to 1, 2 .3 etc?
JamesCornish said:

Hi Fishmanoz

I

have had the decoder on the track output for 10 mins to pre charge, then swapped it over to the program track as per the post by poliss, but still get nothing, the progress bar comes up but does not fill up and just dissapears after a min or two.

However

if i try to program it via the R8247 model the progress bar does fill up after a while, but still no joy.

[Fishmanoz]

johnmh156 said:

johnmh156 said: mark at the hornby helpdesk helped me through the initial hurdle of loco programming which isnt very clear in the instructions, the e-link info is not very good, it goes on about elite and other controllers

but very poor on the E-Link, I had the points working fine with the R8216 until it burnt out.

johnmh156 said:
i bought a |R8216 by mistake, i hought i was getting a R8247, to be honest i thought it was better, unforunately i had a bad short and its

overheated so its now scrap, I bought a brand new R8247 but its not working, i am wondering if its the port numbering, the points on my layout are numbered 01 , 02, 03 etc, the R8247 starts at 61, 62 eytc, do I need to alter these to 1, 2 .3 etc?

Johnmh,

when you reply to a post, Esther then just post a reply, don't write inside the square brackets around the first reply, and the last reply, and we will be able to see clearly what you say, just like this.

I think answering your question, yes, if you

want a point to work in RM then the point number must correspond with the port number programmed into the 8247. This is covered clearly in the manual.

[Fishmanoz]

That should say rather than, not Esther then.

[alan_french]

you can not read codes on a R8216 only write to it 

[Fishmanoz]

You can program them though but you need a point motor load on port 1. It is all covered in the manual. 

[Chrissaf]

For the attention of Peter_Darton

.

Peter I have moved your post to a completely new topic titled "Unable to program R8216".

.