St1ngr4y
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Posts posted by St1ngr4y
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On 2/20/2024 at 3:00 PM, 96RAF said:
No it doesn't work with a Mac direct but may work thru' Parallels. Ask @St1ngr4y
Sorry- I know nothing about Mac or Parallels
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Hi Joe,
If by “ (Select 2 for the elink in the .ini file)” you mean “Reset elink on startup=2”, then I would try setting that value back to whatever it was before you changed it. It is an undocumented value, and it might have an effect on your group problem.
Ray
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As Paul says, a screenshot of the point configuration window would be the most useful in helping you. However, the only consequence of not snapping the red/green buttons into place relative to the point icon, is that the route indicator on the point icon will not react when the red or green button is pressed. The actual point on the layout should operate provided the configuration behind the red/green is correct, even if the buttons haven’t been snapped into position.
Ray
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Just tried sending a reset command to an Elite, but nothing happened, so Elite firmware not setup to support a reset via XPressnet.
Ray
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Has anyone considered the fact that the 65 limit imposed by RM might reflect the memory storage capacity within the Elite and eLink controllers. Each loco will need 7 or 8 bytes to hold the information necessary to control the loco. Once a loco is accessed by the controller, either by the Elite "manually", or by either controller via RM, then the controller will continually churn out this data for each loco onto the track bus for the duration of the controller's session. For reasons best known to the designers of RM, RM during startup sends to the controller a speed of 0 and all functions "off" for each loco in the current roster, so even before any loco has moved or had its sound switched on, all of these DCC commands are being pumped out onto the track bus. In my opinion, the more locos there are in the roster, the less efficient will this set up become.
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I wonder what would happen if a “reset” command is sent to an Elite 🤔
Further to my earlier observation of the use of Value 2 as the parameter for the.INI file entry “Reset eLink on startup”, I noticed that the reset takes place after points have been set (if that option has been chosen). This might cause problems if there are electrofrog points controlled by ADS decoders. These decoders have an onboard latching relay which is used to switch the polarity of the points frog. However, these relays are held in one direction by the application of current but are switched to the other direction by a spring when power is removed. When the eLink is reset this might cause some points decoders to switch the frog polarity using the spring without the points themselves switching. The result would mean a short circuit would occur after the reset.
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I have just carried out three startups of RM, each with a different setting for the .INI file parameter "Reset eLink on start". My normal setting has been =1, but then I tried =0, and I noticed no appreciable difference in the amount of time taken for the startup process. Finally, I tried =2, and this was the only setting which caused RM to physically reset the eLink.
It could be that =2 is designed to cause the eLink to clear the table of locos, so that the list only grows as a fresh loco is selected (in the current RM session).
I didn't have my Arduino DCC track monitor running for any of this, so I can't definitely confirm what is happening, however.
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@gilbo2
That's a very interesting fact about "Reset eLink on start=2". I don't know if you were aware of this, but, when RM starts up, it sends out to the track bus, a few commands for each loco in your loco group, ensuring that for each loco, the speed is zero, and all of the functions are off. Further, as part of the DCC protocol, the controller for locos (whether Elite or eLink) will thereafter continuously send out commands for each loco it has so far encountered, repeating the current speed and current settings (off or on) for all functions.
I am wondering whether the "=2" setting causes the RM startup procedure to skip past sending out the initial commands for all locos in the group for the eLink, so that the output traffic to the track bus only grows in the number of locos whenever a new loco is selected during the current RM session. This would mean that the eLink might spend less time maintaining the output message traffic, or have more time to handle incoming commands from RM. Might also reduce the amount of memory used inside the controller itself.
Just a thought or two !
Ray
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I don’t use RM any more but when I did, I added “on/off” to every spot sound on every loco, simply to get around this problem. I operated using programs so I had to change all my programs to repeat the function a few seconds later to “switch off” the function.
Ray
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If you still have a problem seeing your layout, I have a utility program which might help.
Ray
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Have you tried activating it on your new pc?
Ray
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@Padders
The DCC protocol for accessory decoders only allows for one of two values to be sent to an accessory DCC address - 0 or 1. So for a set of points they will control left or right, or for a signal, red or green etc. So if you configure your accessory decoder as, for example, a Hornby R8247 decoder, that should be good enough to operate your decoder. On my layout I have a set of level crossing barriers operated by servos and an appropriate decoder. That decoder receives commands 0 or 1 to raise and lower the crossing barriers.
Ray
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@Topcat
I have been thinking of posting a message similar to yours for a while. Back in July, a one-post-only OP asked a reasonable question about semaphore signals in the Railmaster section and I was one of two or three people who replied. The OP hasn’t responded or written any other posts since.
It makes you wonder why we bother.
Ray
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The decoder should have a default DCC address of 3. Have you tried setting up a test locomotive in Railmaster with that address to see if you can get any response simply using the RM throttle?
Ray
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Have you tried the point motor in all four ports on the R8247 or just the first port?
Ray
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Just "bumping" this thread to see if we can get any response from the OP.
Ray
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@Colin-359163
Hello Colin,
I don't have any semaphore signals of any make on my layout, but that doesn't stop me addressing your problem. I have created a new layout containing only two items, a Home and a Distant semaphore signal. This is how I configured the Distant signal ...
This is how the layout appeared on the main screen after I had changed this layout to be the default startup layout in settings ...
After clicking the Home signal icon ...
... and after clicking the Distant signal icon ...
So this seems to work for me as far as the layout display is concerned, but, of course, I have no way of testing whether this setup will work to change the actual signals installed on the layout. Could your problem have anything to do with the configuration settings you have chosen for the distant signal in the layout designer?
Ray
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Hello Clive,
I have spent some time this morning trying various things, including changing some of my INI file settings to match yours, but without being able to reproduce your symptoms. The only thing I managed to achieve was getting a couple of latching sound functions out of sync between the RM throttles and the loco.
I’m afraid I have run out of ideas at this point.
Ray
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Clive,
I have tried all ways to reproduce your symptoms exactly, without success. This could be because one small insignificant detail in our respective setups is different. Perhaps an INI file entry, or something in settings eg setting points at startup.
The only thing I can suggest is that you go through the process again, from loading RM onwards, listing every single thing you do with either the mouse or keyboard, even something as trivial as dragging the large throttle across the screen, then I will repeat the sequence exactly if I can. Could you also list the schedule of programs you are trying to run please?
Other than that, you may have to rely on HRMS for a suggestion.
Ray
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Hi Clive,
I tried out a program containing only a test message command, with a time of 15 seconds. I doubt whether this has anything to do with your specific problem, but have you noticed that when such a program runs, it appears very briefly in the program executing details at the top of the main screen, then disappears almost immediately. However the display message stays on the screen for the requested 15 seconds. The nearest I got to your symptoms only happened once, but I couldn’t repeat it. Having started a two program schedule, I opened the large throttle during the first program, pressed f0 and f1 for lights and sound respectively, the buttons turned green in the throttle, but they didn’t action on the loco itself until the end of the first scheduled program, after which the second program then started.
I will try a few more times later on to see if I can learn any more about what is going on.
Ray
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Hello Clive,
I have been playing with the scheduler in RM using a couple of programs which simply Play chimes sounds every 10 seconds, 5 times. The only difference between the programs is that the chimes file is different in each program. The schedule starts the first program at 00:00:00 and the second program at 00:01:10. While these programs are running in the schedule, I can open a large throttle window for a loco, switch on and off sound functions, and move it. I'm afraid I can't reproduce your symptoms. However, I haven't tried a "test message" program. Where and how exactly do you use this? Do you have this program as one of THREE in the schedule, but only tick it if you want to run it?
Ray
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Clive,
It would be interesting to see what happens if you wait for the first program in the schedule to start, then open a pop up throttle, then see if the second program in the schedule starts ok at the expected time.
Ray
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Clive,
I think you might have cracked it.
Ray
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What is the start time of the first program in the schedule?
If it is 00:00:00, try making it 01:00:00, then use 00:59:50 as the Railmaster time. Also make sure the start times of each program in the schedule allow enough time for the previous program to finish.
Problem downloading RM
in Hornby RailMaster & TrackMaster
Posted
The “Unconfirmed etc” file you’re seeing is the name of the file during the download. When the download is complete, only then will it change the name to rm_setup.exe. So check that the download finished.