point motors, with DCC

[Yelrow]

greetings, having finalised track, wish to start wiring up point motors, for Railmaster?elink operation. Do i install the accessory hornby controller first, or fit all the point motors, EG, fit accessory, and then add one at a time, to RM, i have 14 to put in, have 2 accessory, controllers, but only 1 is hornby, Have to give you guys something to write about until forum returns, thanks, john

[96RAF]

The choice is yours John.

You have to install the point mortors and connect them to the acc decoders and you will also have to program the decoder adresses so take it a stage at a time to suit your schedule.

The essential thing is to get the eLink to recognise your acc decoders which may mean connecting them temp to a prog track (or direct to the eLink Prog connections) usually before you connect each point motor  to them.

A matter of accessibility really.

I have always addressed the acc decoders first, them hung the point motor wiring onto them to suit the physical geometry of my layout. i.e whatever points number I would like or what ever point motors are closer.

Rob

[96RAF]

GRRRRRR - motors not mortors

[Yelrow]

RAE96, high, elucidate abit more on connecting the decoders, please, do i wire to programming track, or to the elink, which way did you go. All my motore are surface, so a lot of holes for wires. I just wondered whether you , tested as you go, eg wire  decoder, then point, test, and so forth. You will gather, reading instructions, patience, and wiring, not my strong points, coupled with 34 degrees today, and 38, over next few days, john

[Fishmanoz]

To program the Hornby accessory decoder, you must connect to the programming output of the eLink, either directly or via a programming track if you have one setup connected to the programming output. Follow the instructions for programming using group addresses. 

For the non-Hornby, this may not be necessary if it has learn mode programming where you just move the inbuilt switch to Learn and throw the point you want it to operate. 

We can only tell you more if you tell us what brand of decoder you are using. 

Once progrsmmed, whether you connect to track output of eLink or to the track is irrelevant as they are the same thing given they are connected together. So wire them in wherever convenient. 

[Yelrow]

Fishy, hi, thanks, will look at otherdecoder, and let you know, how many points can i run with 2 decoders, john

[Fishmanoz]

The Hornby decoder has 4 ports and can actually operate 2 points on a port. But you would only do that if it is something like a crossover from one loop to another, or a passing loop,  and you always want to operate both points at the same time. And to be able to do this, you need to set up both points in RM with the same point number. So the exact number it will operate will depend on your point configurations, but it will be at least 4 and not more than 8. 

As as for your other decoder, you will have to check it. The most common configuration is 4 ports, so again up to 8 points, but there are some decoders with only 1 port, some with 6, and one with 8. 

[Augustus Caesar]

Your last point there Fishy is interesting about two points on one port.... didn't know that! It's something I will have to keep in mind because my own layout will almost certainly have two points that switch at the same time...

 

Thanks for that bud! :-)

[Fishmanoz]

Seems to work reliably with all motors except Seep AC. These use more current then others and a port will only handle one. 

[96RAF]

Hi John

Fishy has covered it well.

My method is to connect the acc decoder to the PROG terminals direct, program its address group per Hornby instructions (if Hornby, else per your decoder instructions), then swap it over to the TRACK terminals and connect a point motor to each port making sure the wiring code is correct for the type of point motor. Operate each point to make sure its OK, then install to your track.

I also put a label on my acc decoders telling off the group and point numbers.

Only 31 degs here today, almost warm enough to take my cardy off.

[Yelrow]

hi, again joined decoders to track via elink, trains wont run tried hornby one connected to  bm one still no go. How do i wire them to track, john

[Fishmanoz]

I think this has been answered elsewhere. Check the thread where I told you how to wire the Switchpilot. I suspect you may have connected TRKA to PwrB and vice versa, rather than A to A and B to B On the unit.