wiggy25 Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 I was invited to this show to help out on a traders stand.It was a very nice busy day with lots of people looking around.Hornby had two full full demo displays there one of which was running the demo layout with Railmaster.There was also some promotion material about the V1.4 firmware.It sounds like this is going to be a much longed for release.The function operation as described to me sounds a vast improvement.From how it was explained to me, you press the function button and the display shows F0-F9 while this function group is showing press any of the number buttons will activate that function, so press 2 function 2 activates.Now pressing the function button again the display will show F10-F19 while this function group is displayed pressing the number buttons operates that function number, so pressing number 8 will operate function 18.Pressing the function button again will display F20-F29 as before while this function group is displayed pressing a number key will operate that function so press number 5 will operate function 25.You can also select any of the functions to be momentary or Toggle on/off.I think this is a much needed upgrade and makes function operation much easier, very much like the Lenz system.The firmware is ready we are just waiting for the instructions to be written, as there are a few more menues that have been added for much easier CV adjustment and to make more use of the features of the Sapphire decoder.From what I have heard today it does sound very good, I just don't know when we will actually get it.CheersIan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevecamden Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 Ian - Did you glean any 'tit-bits' on the RM-Elite missing instructions saga?S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregd99 Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 Good to see some information published on the features of a new firmware release for the the Elite.Are these the sorts of features that people are looking for?Are there key features not mentioned that you would like to see? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poliss Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 Why do you still have to press two buttons to activate a function? On my system I only need to press the keypad numbers for functions 1-10 and the shift key +numbers for 11-20. I do not need to press a special function key first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggy25 Posted September 18, 2011 Author Share Posted September 18, 2011 @Gregd99, it's one of the features I wanted to see, it makes function operation much easier.As for making it easier to adjust CV's thats alwasy a good idea.I don't know if it's that much of a useful feature, setting up the auto control on the Sapphire decoder via menues and not CV's as it is now.I have been told that the shuttle operation built in to the Sapphire decoder is a bit of a pig to set up using CV's so maybe they have listened to those that have that decoder.I personnaly prefer sound locos and then use Railmaster for any shuttle type operation, but at least it's been looked at and improved.@poliss, I think you're splitting hairs now and contradicting yourself, you've just said that you need to press shift plus the number keys for 11-20 thats the same thing as pressing the function button plus a number key!This is the same on many mid range systems, so it's not uncommon.It's a fair comment on the first group of funtions, it would have been nice to just press 0-9 to operate the functions but with this latest firmware update(when we get it)function operation will be so much better than it is now.CheersIan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ace10086 Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 wiggy25 said:@poliss, I think you're splitting hairs now and contradicting yourself, you've just said that you need to press shift plus the number keys for 11-20 thats the same thing as pressing the function button plus a number key!from the description of operation given you would have to press function TWICE plus a number key on the Elite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggy25 Posted September 18, 2011 Author Share Posted September 18, 2011 It's probably me not making it clear.Having not actually used the new firmware only been told about it, it's difficult to explain it 100%.Yes I see what you mean.To operate functions 0-9 would need one press of the function button followed by the number key, so yes this is two presses.This is the same as pressing a shift key and a number key as described by Poliss which is what he has to do to operate the higher function numbers.To operate functions 10-19 would need two press of the function button then a number.To operate functions 20-28 would need three presses of the function button then the number.It doesn't matter, Poliss has a different system.I just thought it was strange to imply pressing shift then the number is ok but pressing function then the number is some how bad.Yes I acccept that it would be nice to just press 0-9 to operate the lower function numbers but compared to how it is now it's a huge improvement!When all is said and done this new method of function operation will still be much better than it curently is and will allow the full amount of functions to be operated.CheersIan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poliss Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 Not really. The first 9 functions are the most used. On my sound locos I just need to press one button to sound the horn or whistle. The higher numbers are for different tone variations of the sounds. By using function mapping you can change which key you need to press to operate the functions, so if you liked the whistle tone that was operated by f13, you could swap it to be operated by f3 for example.More importantly, have they made it easier to select which loco is to be operated? Using my system all I have to do is press the arrow key to select the next loco in the stack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggy25 Posted September 18, 2011 Author Share Posted September 18, 2011 Hi PolissI still think this new way of operating functions will be much better than it is now lets be right it couldn't really get any worse :-)As for selecting which loco is to be operated, I have no idea!Struggling to get all of the information.Would be nice to see what they have got planned and what the full update includes, looks like we wait for the release.CheersIan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregd99 Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 Some lively discussion. Good to see some interest.points so far are:-1. Function operation - any improvement iis good.... but is it as good as it could be?2. Loco Selection - has something been done to make it easier to cycle through locos on teh stack (ie recently used)any other comments about what has been published above?Any other "I wounder if it does X?" thoughts?ps - this is my post #200! I hope there has been some useful feedback along the way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poliss Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 Umm, have they increased the number of locos you can have in the stack? That's about it really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggy25 Posted September 21, 2011 Author Share Posted September 21, 2011 Poliss, I really don't know.They have put menus in place to make it easier to set things up on the sapphire decoder.Also the display will show a count down for fuel usage(using the sapphire decoder)Apart from that I couldn't actually say what the full update will give us.CheersIan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poliss Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Thought of something else. :-) Will it be possible to plug in extra Elite units as slaves? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 I have it on authority from Hornby DCC support that it is not possible to link 2 Elites together as you can the Elite and a Select.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poliss Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 But was that with the new firmware RAF? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 poliss said:But was that with the new firmware RAF?@polissApparently the request for Elite/Elite linking was in the v 1.4 wishlist but was dropped as there needed to be a hardware mod to the Elites as well for it to work.You would need to quiz HH support as to whether this mod (if it happened) would be end-user installable or by way of return to works and/or freee of charge or at cost.It's certainly something I would like to see.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St1ngr4y Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 wiggy25 said:I was invited to this show to help out on a traders stand.It was a very nice busy day with lots of people looking around.Hornby had two full full demo displays there one of which was running the demo layout with Railmaster.There was also some promotion material about the V1.4 firmware.It sounds like this is going to be a much longed for release.The function operation as described to me sounds a vast improvement.From how it was explained to me, you press the function button and the display shows F0-F9 while this function group is showing press any of the number buttons will activate that function, so press 2 function 2 activates.Now pressing the function button again the display will show F10-F19 while this function group is displayed pressing the number buttons operates that function number, so pressing number 8 will operate function 18.Pressing the function button again will display F20-F29 as before while this function group is displayed pressing a number key will operate that function so press number 5 will operate function 25.You can also select any of the functions to be momentary or Toggle on/off.I think this is a much needed upgrade and makes function operation much easier, very much like the Lenz system.The firmware is ready we are just waiting for the instructions to be written, as there are a few more menues that have been added for much easier CV adjustment and to make more use of the features of the Sapphire decoder.From what I have heard today it does sound very good, I just don't know when we will actually get it.CheersIanIan,Can you tell me how to "select any of the functions to be momentary or Toggle on/off"Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rog RJ Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 A short push of the number button gives a toggled action. A longer push gives a momentary action for as long as the button is held down. It's explained in the manual for the V1.41 firmware on page 22. https://www.hornby.com/filelibrary/download/?FileID=439 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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