Elink with elite slave controller

[Smithy58]

I was wondering if it is possible to connect up the elite single controller as a mobile slave to the elink system?

 

Regards

 

Colin

 

[Fishmanoz]

No you can't Smithy. You can use both on the same copy of RM but they must be on completely separate connections. You cannot have 2 controllers on the same circuit.

[96RAF]

Smithy58 said:

I was wondering if it is possible to connect up the elite single controller as a mobile slave to the elink system?

Regards

Colin

The eLink has no provision for connecting either to a slave or

as a slave. The Elite can have a Select connected as a slave as they both have appropriate RJ connectors.

Never connect more than one controller direct to the same DCC track unless by way of a master/slave arrangement using a proper interconnect cable.

[Smithy58]

Thanks

[Ozbugsy]

I wonder if I could use a Select as a slave to my Elite just to run the points in DCC. I want to eventually use eLink and Railmaster to run my layout. Is this feasible and if not what would you suggest. I don't really want to run the points from my Elite

 

as well as the trains - just too much going on I feel.

Thanks

Dave

[Fishmanoz]

Hi bugsy, would be better to start a new thread for a new topic but yes, you can use a Select as a walkabout form your Elite, with the correct cable. However, your point numbering is going to have to follow Select convention and start from 61.

 

Personally

 

I wouldn't do this, but your choice. Lots of people run locos and points from Elite without problems. After all you aren't usually setting points all the time.

[Yelrow]

HI, just to clarify, if i buy an elite, i can add it to railmaster, use it to control the trains, and use the laptop for design, and points etc. Or. could have a second seperate circuit, controlled by elink. I understand you cant use both on same circuit,

 

but find the mouse control clumsy, given my bad hands. john

[96RAF]

John

I have RM set up as Elite - Controller 1 for locos only, eLink as Controller 2 for points only.

The Track feeds from each controller are:

Elite to the track and eLink to the acc decoders A-B inputs. Never the twain shall meet.

I also

 

have a parallel circuit using relays that allows me to manually switch my points outwith of RM.

The Elite of course also allows loco control inside or outwith RM.

Rob

[Fishmanoz]

I think I understand what you are saying John - use the Elite to do all of the train control with its knobs and only use eLink and RM for other things? Even though the Elite is connected to RM.

 

Well, yes this will work but it has its own downsides.

 

For a start, if you want to put your points and other accessories through the eLink, you have to have the separate circuit as you've noted. And I would suggest you try before you buy because the Elite has its own kind of clumsiness in the way you select locos

 

to control when compared to RM. And you can only have 2 at immediate hand compared to up to 10 with RM. It would be an expensive mistake to make.

 

Then there is being able to program your layout via RM. You will need to use RM to develop these programs,

 

meaning controlling via Rm am while you do it.

[Yelrow]

RAF96, hi, how many locos can you run at same time, your way, thanks. john

[96RAF]

yelrow said:

RAF96, hi, how many locos can you run at same time, your way, thanks. john

Hi John
My layout is fairly small - an L shape end to end 12 ft x 6 ft - essentially 4 parallel tracks with crossovers for versatility of

operations.
I have 2 x mainline trains, a diesel shunter with my cleaning wagon in tow, a short coal train, 2 x locos on shed and 2 x local 0-4-0's - one rigged as a push-pull and the other as freight.
I have RM set up to run them all in a programmed

sequence, trying to keep at least 2 on the move at once. Manually from the Elite I can only manage 2 on the move at once.
With a suitable roundy-round circuit you would only be limited to however many clear tracks you had and the limit of your power supply.
Rob

[Yelrow]

RAF 96, i have not got a big layout either, but am confused about number of locos. Both you and fishy say only 2 at ant time, but instructions of elite say up to 10. Could you have 2 layouts, 1 with elink, and 1 with elite, not connected in any way, john

[96RAF]

yelrow said:

RAF 96, i have not got a big layout either, but am confused about number of locos. Both you and fishy say only 2 at ant time, but instructions of elite say up to 10. Could you have 2 layouts, 1 with elink, and 1 with elite, not

connected in any way, john

Sorry if I confused you John. 2 locos is about all my hand / eye coordination will allow on the move at once.
The Elite will retain up to 10 locos in its operating list memory if you have selected them in a session.

You can then scroll through the list using the Elite ESC button.
Programming in RM will allow you to have as many on the move as you have track space and power for.
Yes you can have 2 layouts not connected as you say.

[Fishmanoz]

There are different limitations that apply here, so let's look at them separately.

 

Starting with eLink with the supplied 1Amp, you can only have running up to 3-4 locos at the one time before you run out of power. And if you have this many, accessory

 

operation at the same time will affect them. You've already seen the forum opinion on this. If you now upgrade to the 4Amp, you can have 10 or so running at the same time.

 

With Elite, it comes supplied with 4Amp, 3 of which go to the track and the

 

other amp reserved for the accessory non-DCC output. Again, you can have 10 or so running at the same time, and operate DCC accessories without problems. Just to be clear, a modern loco draws up to the order of 300mA at cruise speed.

 

That's the power

 

limitations, but what about control? Because in both systems you can have 4 digit IDs, literally more than a thousand locos can be separately defined for each and all of them controlled at any stage, but not more than 10 together. Let's look at the practical

 

limitations of each though.

 

Starting with eLink, which means RM, you can put those thousands in your loco list. But trying to find loco 1000 in the list is a problem. In practice, if it is not showing on your screen, you have to go search for it and

 

have it replace one of those on the screen. On the screen, if it is high definition, the number of locos you can see immediately is up to 2 columns of 5. You can get access to control each of these immediately just by clicking on it. But if you want No 11,

 

you have to go find it before you can control it - not hard but takes a little time.

 

Now for Elite. You can run Elite through RM and it is exactly, I mean exactly, the same as eLink. You use RM to do the control and Elite is just an interface, like

 

eLink. But putting RM aside, Elite has 2 knobs and you can have one loco on each. These are immediately available just by pressing the knob and you then have it under throttle control. Then it keeps the last 10 you have been using in its memory and you can

 

access any one of them by a single button press at a time to rotate through those last 10. If the loco you want is at the bottom of this stack, it will take 8 button presses to get to it. Finally, there is a loco selection function whereby you follow the menus

 

with a couple of button presses to get into that function, then you can either rotate the control knob you are using until it gets to the address you want, or you can type in the address you want, and call up any one of the thousands. The new loco replaces

 

the one you previously had on that control knob and No 10 loco in the stack drops off, being replaced by the new one. And then with Elite connected to RM, you can use both RM and the Elite control knobs at the same time.

 

In summary - 2 locos immediately

 

available on 2 Elite control knobs, up to 10 on screen in RM. In Elite, up to another 8 in the stack of 10 and you can simply cycle through them. Then with either, you can call up as many more as you have, but takes some fiddling about, Elite through its menu

 

system and eLink through its stored list.

 

Does that explain it a little better? Can you see why it is said that Elite and eLink have the same capability, both operating through the same RM? If what I've said about Elite is confusing, and I can imagine

 

it is if you haven't used it, you can find the manual for it on the downloads section of the site and go through it. Unfortunately, it is very detailed in order to cover the quite extensive menu system the Elite has so can be confusing too. Just remember it

 

has 2 knobs and a few buttons and, in combination with the correct sequence, you can program and control thousands of locos and accessories.

[mckinnell]

Hi all,

Just found this thread, and, reading on the Bognor regis club site, old very cheap PDA`s can be used as hand held controllers per loco, this being so if correct and its there club site that poses this, what type or make of PDA would be best

 

to use; my layout will be around 16ft by 2 ft in module`s os 8x2, each one that is completed, i will start a new board based on these measurements and so on, so, loco and accessories/ point control will be very very light, but, later on, could go to an 4amp

 

P/Pack for the hell of it, the over control re PDA`s aspect is more important to me at this moment in time..........

 

Thanks and very best regards to all......Tom..

[Fishmanoz]

Hi Tom, if you want to use handheld devices, then they have to run via Railmaster (RM). So first thing do do if not done already is go to the DCC section of this site and find and download the evaluation version of RM. Install it as administrator, then

 

open it and allow it to upgrade to the latest version.

 

Once upgraded, you'll find it has downloaded 3 PDF guides to your desktop, one of which is full instructions for handhelds including which ones are supported and the download and installation instructions

 

for them. Again, you can first install an evaluation version to try.

 

Enjoy.

[mckinnell]

Fishmanoz,

 

Boy are you quick on the replys, thanks my friend, mmmmmmmmm, stupid ME, never thought of that and its in the info had i read it all first what you so kindly outlined to me, he he he, are well, with age comes..................stupidity

 

lol lol lol, i shall do this today my friend.

 

Best regards and many thanks..........Tom..

[Graskie]

Fishy said, "Starting with eLink, which means RM, you can put those thousands in your loco list. But trying to find loco 1000 in the list is a problem. In practice, if it is not showing on your screen, you have to go search for it and have it replace one

 

of those on the screen. On the screen, if it is high definition, the number of locos you can see immediately is up to 2 columns of 5. You can get access to control each of these immediately just by clicking on it. But if you want No 11, you have to go find

 

it before you can control it - not hard but takes a little time."

 

I would just add that you can use the grouping facility on RM, by means of which it should be quicker to access the next loco you're after, rather than having to scroll through the whole

 

lot.

[RDS]

Graskie said:
... you have to go search for it and have it replace one of those on the screen ...

Is this a feature we could add to our 'Desirable features' thread?
e.g. The ability to search for a loco and have the option for

it to replace a loco on the displayed list.

[Fishmanoz]

Already there RDS, if I remember rightly just a click and drag to change the order from your list. Graskie's reminding us about groups is a good thought too, but remember you can't successfully change groups during a session without losing control of those

 

still running from the first group.

[RDS]

Fishmanoz said:
... Already there RDS, if I remember rightly just a click and drag to change the order from your list ...

Oh Thanks. I didn't realise that!
However, I have not got too many loco's so finding them is never a problem

for me.

[Graskie]

Fishy, you don't actually "lose control" of locos already running in a different group because you can always very quickly switch back to the original region. Even if you had a load of locos, as I have, you would still be faced with having to scroll down

 

all of them with no grouping, effectively "loosing control" of the ones you have scrolled up or down from and go off-screen until you scroll them back again. Using the grouping method you don't actually lose control of anything any more than just listing them

 

all. And don't forget that you can even set up a temporary group for just the locos you wish to control in a particular session, which again provides for a shorter list to scroll through.

[Fishmanoz]

My memory and understanding of the problem as outlined to PJ by HRMS a couple of weeks back is that, having set up locos in a group and having some of them running, then swapping to another group, if you come back to the original group all the throttle

 

settings have gone back to zero?

[Graskie]

I'll check that on my setup and report back, Fishy, probably after a night's sleep dreaming about you.

[Graskie]

Fishy, I did in fact do just a quick test before retiring last night. I didn't test sounds but used two sound trains/locos to see, one from my Diesel group and the second from my BR Midland Region Group. They were both non-Hornby and perhaps I should repeat

 

the test with a mixture of makes or just Hornby.

 

Any way, I set my diesel train (not loco) going by choosing the Diesel Group and running it from the relevant RM right side screen double column. I let it run for a short while and then switched to the

 

other group and did the same thing with the selected loco. That set off as well. I then changed back to the Diesel Group, and, lo and behold, yes, the throttle was back at zero, although the train continued to run at its pre-set speed. What was a bit strange

 

was that, if I clicked on the first train to show the larger operating box for it, that box still continued to show throttle speed.

 

It looks like just a minor glitch to me, which may well be fixed in the next RM update. Meanwhile, if you work the throttle

 

of the first recalled loco in the right hand list, you can still reactivate and take over use of the throttle as appropriate.