Hornby Select Digital Unit

[TAH]

Hi,  I wonder if anyone can help please.  I have the Hornby Select Digital Unit and am having problems getting the engines to run on it.  I have two diesels that just go a few inches and then stop,  one engine that will only go backwards, one of the engines works fine-ish amd a class 37 diesel that really does work ok on it.  I am hoping that someone can help me please with lots of advice etc.  Unfortunately I had a stroke about 18 months ago which has affected my sight and my dexterity and  I struggle as a result.  My wife "helps" where she can.

[2e0dtoeric]

Are all these locomotives new, as in just out of the box, or have they been standing unused for a long time, due to your personal problems? If they have been standing, clean the track and the wheels, - the easy and safe way to clean the track is to polish it with an off-cut of hardboard, used rough side down.

Check that your wires from the Select to the track are properly connected, and not loose in the clips. (Someone else had this problem - a faulty clip!) and that the plug-in connector to the track is a DCC one, not an analogue one. Pop off the clip-on plastic top and look inside. If there is a little round thing in there, (a capacitor) connected across the terminals, remove it!)

If that isn't the problem and the loco's are new new, take them back to where you got them from, and explain your problem to them. They should be able to sort you out.

[Fishmanoz]

The little round thing may be a little square thing too.  No matter, if there is anything connected across the wiring to the track, remove it by cutting off its legs.

[Yelrow]

As an aside, the prog track, works fine, changing cvs etc, with DC connector rail. I only know this, cos i forgot to cut off, resistor, or whatever, and only noticed it, some days later. john

[RDS]

@TAH, welcome to the forum.  

Could you provide a bit more information please, for example as 2e0d says, are all the items new?

[yozzer]

Help anyone please. - I have a Select controller and have tried to change the loco addresses on both the 'silent' and the 'sound' engines. Being a techno dinosaur I read the instructions in the Select manual carefully before starting my first one. I got all the correct red led flashes and then tried the engine in its new number nothing happened no movement at all. I had started with a sound engine and expected some sound but nothing. I tried my other sound engines and whilst they worked under address 3 no sound was heard. I had just bought A4 TTS Gadwell from Rails of Sheffield as I was in the area made it a point to pay a visit. The engine was test run whilst I was there and worked fine with sound but when I put it on my layout whilst it ran no sound.

All my engines had run fine with both movement and where appropriate sound prior to trying to change a locomotive address with the exception of Gadwell which I tried for the first time to-day since purchase 2 weeks ago.

I have read the Select manual front to back, including the duplicated pages, looking for an answer. I have tried resetting the unit back to factory settings but still only moves the engines and produces no sound.

Has anyone any ideas or advice?

Thanks

[Chrissaf]

Yozzer,

For the engines that work but without sound. You have to switch the sound on first to get sound. First of all get to a situation where the Select controller is controlling the loco movement i.e move forward, stop, reverse is all OK with the loco on the main track. This will prove that you have selected the correct loco address with the Select. When that status is confirmed then press the 'Function' AND the '1' button together for one second and release. You should see the characters 'F1' appear briefly on the LCD screen and the loco sound should start. To turn sound off, do the same button pressing again. You will have to do this for each sound loco in turn each time you run them.

.

In order to change the loco address from the default 03 address to a new address follow the instructions on page 7 of the Select manual under the heading "Second Loco Programming". I openly admit that the choice of heading made by Hornby could be more informative as it is to my mind misleading. There is no separate programming output on the Select, so it is important that the loco having the address changed is the ONLY loco placed on the track. I would go a step further and disconnect the output of the Select from the main layout track and connect it instead to a short separate piece of track that is used purely for loco programming functions. Having a direct short connection between the Select and the loco to be programmed should provide a cleaner DCC signal less prone to external interference. This may improve the ability of the loco to accept programming input at the same time as eliminating the need to remove all the other locos (decoders) from the main layout track.

.

[yozzer]

[snip]

 

Hi Chrissaf,

 

Many thanks as simple as that - all sound engines have restored sound functions. I have pasted your reply in my Select manual on one of the duplicate pages for future use.

 

Thanks again Yozzer

[Chrissaf]

Yes Yozzer, as simple as that.......It is actually documented in the manual on Page 17, but because (as usual) Hornby manuals are written so abysmally, it is not clear. The manual on Page 17 gives you the outline procedure for entering a Function number. What it fails to tell you, is that you have to look at the datasheet shipped with the loco to determine WHAT function numbers to enter to do things, like for example entering F1 for sound on/off. Look at your A4 TTS Gadwell loco datasheet, it will give a Function list something like:

.

F0 Lights

F1 Sound

F2 Whistle

etc

etc

Try pressing Function AND number 2 and see what happens. After that, then Function AND 3, then Function AND 4 etc up to 9. Leave a few seconds between each Function as the loco may not accept sound commands given too quickly after each other.

.

Yozzer, have you used my tip to resolve your loco addressing issue as well? Or is it only the sound that is resolved?

.

Note: that your locos will typically have more Functions available than the limited Select controller can handle. I believe the Select can only use F0 to F9. I am also led to believe that the latest Select firmware (version 1.5) addresses this limitation and provides access to functions higher than F9. Hornby charge £15 to upgrade a Select to version 1.5 firmware.

.

Yozzer, note this extract taken from a TTS loco datasheet in regard to the Select controller sound toggle status.

.

"Some controllers only offer ‘toggle’ control for function activation. i.e. Once the function key is pressed it remains ‘On’.

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If a specific sound is designed to play once for a predetermined duration,the function key will need to be pressed again to return the controller to ‘Function Off’ status before it is possible to activate the same function again.e.g. the Hornby ‘Select’ operates in this manner while the Hornby ‘Elite’ has both ‘toggle’ and ‘momentary’ control of functions, which is ideal for controlling both ‘Play Once’ and ‘Looped’ spot sounds."

.

Again Hornby's documentation leaves a lot to be desired, where the extract above says press the Function Key, it means press the Function Key PLUS the appropriate function number together. So using 'F2 Whistle' as an example, you would press Function AND 2 to sound the whistle, but with the Select you have to remember to press Function AND 2 again to reset the Select before you can use THAT particular key combination again later.

.

Yozzer, Just a suggestion, but as someone who writes long posts. I know the other readers here would appreciate it if you didn't click the 'Blue Quote' button just to write a few lines of reply text. It makes it far easier for others to follow the gist of the thread if you scroll down to the bottom of the page and just write your brief reply in the great big white reply box and click the 'Green Reply' button. Using the 'Quote' button duplicates all the previous text unnecessarily in a great big yellow text box, plus your written reply text got trapped in the yellow box too, making it even more difficult to read.

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There are times, when using the 'Quote' function is appropriate, but this is not one of them.....as your reply is directly below the posts you are replying to.

.

This post is an example of using the 'Green Reply' button.

[Chrissaf]

A correction to my last post. An error on my part, according to the Select manual the supported Functions on a Select (assuming not a version 1.5 one) is from F0 to F8 a total of 9 functions. There is no F9, even though there is a 9 on the keypad.