HFM Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Has anyone tried to programe one of these peco smartswitch decoders.I have spent the best part of 2 days and still got nowhere. Not sure if it is me or rm not recognising it.any help would be very much appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Fuwe, welcome to the forums. Can I just say before I answer your question, that one of the most valuable contributors we have here is Hornby Rsilmaster Support, HRMS, themselves. However, if I were them, I might be less inclined to help you then some others, for the obvious reason. Back to your question, can we assume that you have eLink set up, RM installed and running as Administrator, updated to the latest v1.55, set to the correct com port, and proven working as it is changing DCC loco addresses on the programming track and running the locos on their new addresses on your layout? Given that it is all working, programming the PLS-135 should be simple. First connect it up as per the manual. Just select a point in RM, press and hold the push button on the 135 until it flashes green, throw the point and you are done. Output 4 will be set to that point number, and outputs 3,2,1 to the next consecutive higher addresses. And this is clearly done on the track, not the programming track. Is this what you did? How far did you get and what did you see? Just on one thing in the manual - it suggests programming output 4 to a multiple of 4. I suggest you don't, rather do it to a multiple of 4 plus 1. The reason is it will then give addresses that are compatible with the group addressing conventions of other decoders its obvious if you start with your multiple as zero, your point addresses will be 1,2,3,4. For other forum users, the PLS-135 is part of seemingly complicated arrangement of 3 circuit boards. The main board is designed to run 4 servo motor point motors, plus frog switching and route indicator LEDs. The second board programs the position speed and throw details for the servo motors (must be done by this arrangement and not under DCC setup as far as I can see), and the 3rd board is the PLS-135 used for DCC address programming only. It uses the increasingly common method of putting it in programming mode, throwing the desired point and it's done for all 4 ports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete172 Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Hi, Servos are being discussed regularly on various forums now and are being used more often for activating signals and crossing gates etc... I hope Hornby are planning to introduce a DCC servo control unit soon ? as I for one hope to use some servos on my layout ( I would prefer to keep all my DCC electronics within the Hornby brand)... P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HFM Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 Fishmanoz said: Fuwe, welcome to the forums. Can I just say before I answer your question, that one of the most valuable contributors we have here is Hornby Rsilmaster Support, HRMS, themselves. However, if I were them, I might be less inclined to help you then some others, for the obvious reason. Back to your question, can we assume that you have eLink set up, RM installed and running as Administrator, updated to the latest v1.55, set to the correct com port, and proven working as it is changing DCC loco addresses on the programming track and running the locos on their new addresses on your layout? Given that it is all working, programming the PLS-135 should be simple. First connect it up as per the manual. Just select a point in RM, press and hold the push button on the 135 until it flashes green, throw the point and you are done. Output 4 will be set to that point number, and outputs 3,2,1 to the next consecutive higher addresses. And this is clearly done on the track, not the programming track. Is this what you did? How far did you get and what did you see? Just on one thing in the manual - it suggests programming output 4 to a multiple of 4. I suggest you don't, rather do it to a multiple of 4 plus 1. The reason is it will then give addresses that are compatible with the group addressing conventions of other decoders its obvious if you start with your multiple as zero, your point addresses will be 1,2,3,4. For other forum users, the PLS-135 is part of seemingly complicated arrangement of 3 circuit boards. The main board is designed to run 4 servo motor point motors, plus frog switching and route indicator LEDs. The second board programs the position speed and throw details for the servo motors (must be done by this arrangement and not under DCC setup as far as I can see), and the 3rd board is the PLS-135 used for DCC address programming only. It uses the increasingly common method of putting it in programming mode, throwing the desired point and it's done for all 4 ports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HFM Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 hi done all that you say and as the manual also says also running as Administrator. i get to the flashing led on the decoder throw a point in rm and nothing led stops flashing and then nothing.at this point rm drops all coms with other acc decoders and locos.do a reset and still no joy.i then close down rm unplug elink wait a few mins then restart .at this point rm will work for 10 mins then drop coms again.also removed pe-o decoder from dcc bus and still having com problems. this morning on first start up all locs now running in reverse.any ideas thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Suggest you email RM Support from within the Help window of RM and explain this to them. This will also include in the email to them your log file which will allow them to see what is happening in your RM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Let us know how you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HFM Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 Will do and thankyou for your help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delthebat Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I've not tried to program one using RM but I can tell you they work ok. I am using the ANE version as I bought them before peco picked them up. I found them easy to program using thier own buttons and believe it or not, with the Hornby select controller. I am sure hornby will eventually support the smartswitch, they really have to support as many 3rd party products as they can if they want to become a serious player in the DCC market. So far I have not been overly impressed with the elink because of it's unreliability to obtain and maintain a connection with the pc and also the rather too frequent software crashes (on my windows 8 laptop). Saying that, if they can fix these problems and add support for more 3rd part products then it could actually be a good product and a good way into DCC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Del, if you are having reliability problems with eLink and RM, suggest you email RM Support from within the Help window of RM. It should not be as you describe. Also, you don't need to find the decoder in the drop down list for it to work in RM. Suggest you just use the 8247 and set it up with the addresses you have already put into it and it will be fine. You will have to change the pulse length to what is set in the 135 I think. And you should be able to program them this way too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_A Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Well I was going to bite my tongue but can't! First of all it's clear to me that Hornby, sensibly and fairly, don't, in spite of what people seem to continually ruminate, always have a problem with competitor products, especially when they are used in conjunction with Hornby products. In addition some of these competitor products are designed into RailMaster software, and Hornby themselves have given advice on how to use them. Secondly, I have to say my experience with Hornby support has not been positive. On one query I never received a reply (other than the automatic mail), in spite of a reminder. When I had problems with the Elite upgrade, once they ran out of ideas the e-mails just stopped. Finally, while I appreciate they were gracious enough to offer assistance with my query about a ba***ann loco decoder, again the e-mail replies stopped when they ran out of ideas....though they did try to call me when they knew I had sorted the issue! I missed their call, so mailed the solution. I didn't even get an acknowledgment, let alone any thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRB49 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 In answer to the original question, I have managed to get this working. To test it I disconnected the dcc supply to layout and wired it straight into the smartswitch decoder. I operated point #1 on Railmaster mimic and then pressed the programming button on the PLS135 decoder. All 4 servos then worked by operating the first 4 points on the Railmaster mimic. This particular layout was setup using the standard Hornby accessory decoder and I did not need to alter the settings for the smartswitch. One thing though, the Auto/Manual switch must be switched on for the dcc operation or alternatively wire a shorting link across the "USER" terminals. Reprogramming to a different address was carried out after the test. As Fishman says, "use N+1 for the address". I hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HFM Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 Thanks drb almost given up on these tried everything you suggested wired straight in to elink set auto/manual on then tried to programme decoder nothing happend again, then I put a link on the user terminals pressed the learn button threw a point in rm and hey presto it all works fine.so thank you very very much for your advise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Hi HFM, I'm a little unclear as to what you have done differently to 25 days ago when you said this didn't work. What extra was needed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HFM Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 Fishmanoz said: Hi HFM, I'm a little unclear as to what you have done differently to 25 days ago when you said this didn't work. What extra was needed? the xtra thing I tried was to put a link across the user terminals as suggested by drb59 without the link I could not get them to work at all.i havd reread the p.e.c.o manual and cannot find any reference to the link regarding dcc operation also if I remove the link they stop working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Thanks HFM, clear as a bell now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRB49 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 The subtlety of this link might have been missed by others contemplating using the Smartswitch. By connecting a switch across these terminals it is possible to change from "local" switch control to "remote" dcc control e.g. Railmaster. This is particularly useful if the Smartswitch is used for point motors. Up to now, using other systems you would have to use diodes etc, if you wanted two independent methods of point control. It would be great for testing or those occasions where you just wanted to use your Elite instead of powering up your PC to Run Railmaster. I've got a feeling I haven't explained this clearly, so please don't hesitate to interrogate me for further clarification. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete172 Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Hi, I find this very complicated & not that easy to follow, with too many potential difficulties if trying to use other makes of accessory decoders for servos within Railmaster/Elite setup. That is why I mentioned earlier in this thread, that if only Hornby would extend its range of accessory decoders to include a servo decoder - then things would be easy !! and would work properly. I would be inclined to go out and buy a few to move my signals, shed doors, gates etc, knowing that the decoders would work as they were designed to be used within the Hornby DCC system. Oh well, I can only wish... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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