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I hadn’t seen that part of the manual. Thanks for letting me know. Ray

@pd91223 Hi Paul, As far as I know, RM doesn’t have a command line parameter facility to automatically run a program at startup. However, provided you allow RM to “set points at startup”, then you should be able to configure each of the “signals” 82-88 to set the necessary “aspect” at startup. Ray

@pd91223 I’ve just noticed your reply above - it must have been delayed awaiting the image to be approved. You could create a RM program to switch them all off. Alan, Could you post an image of the configuration you have done in RM for one of these devices? Also how many controllers are you using with RM? Ray

Hi Alan, I’ve never had a Select controller, only ELink and Elite. However there are a few people on the Forum who are very expert with the Select controller and I am sure one or more of them may be able to help. So watch this space!! Ray

Hi Alan, Do you have a local model shop who may have a DCC controller you (or they) can use to test the device? Are you using the default addresses or are you trying to change an address? Ray

Hi Alan, I hadn’t heard of these until I saw your post, so I downloaded its manual to take a look. Assuming you are sticking with the default addresses for each sound, I would suggest using 8 pairs of the red/green points buttons in the Railmaster layout designer. You can arrange these pairs somewhere on your layout, for example, in a column, with a label against each pair describing the sound. Then configure each pair by right clicking one of each pair of buttons in the layout designer. For each button pair enter one of the default addresses. Choose R8247 as the decoder, maybe set the start position as Red. Give that a try and let us know how you get on. Ray

Absolutely fine. The packet of data sent out by the DCC controller is different for accessory decoders to locomotive decoders. Accessory decoders ignore loco packets and locomotive decoders ignore accessory packets. Ray

This is devastating news about Chris. Our thoughts go out to his family. Chris was a dedicated contributor to the Forum. He must have spent many hours composing his detailed replies to technical queries and he will be greatly missed. RIP

If anyone is interested in downloading my RM Utility program, mentioned above by @96RAF, it can be found here... https://1drv.ms/u/s!AhG7bX4H0NOtgYV_UUSBYStwFKS98g?e=b2XquC Does the Forum no longer recognize hyperlinks? Ray

Although I don't use Hornby points, I do use Hornby surface mounted point motors. Is it possible to mount Hornby surface mounted point motors on either side of a Hornby point? If so, this could affect the polarity of the red/green +/- connections. Ray

@westernwill Do you have the latest DCC Concepts ADS n SX decoders which I believe can remember the last settings of points attached to each port. Presumably these remembered settings are reset as soon as the decoder receives power at the next eLink switch on, and that could be what you hear? Ray

This afternoon I connected my DCC monitor to my accessory bus and started the monitoring before switching on the eLink. No DCC commands appeared on the monitor at eLink power on. Not until RM was loaded and it went through the “set points at startup” routine, did any DCC commands appear on the bus. What you are seeing has to be down to the decoder itself reacting to having DCC power fed to it. Are all of these point motors connected to the same decoder unit? Otherwise I can’t understand why it is the lowest numbered motor which is activated. There must be something in the setup which is capable of recognising which is the one with the lowest address. Ray

Is DC running switched off in CV29? Ray

Hi, What information is displayed when you "hover" your mouse cursor over the Controllers icon at the top right of the main window ? ...... Are both controllers shown as active with version 1.07 firmware? Are you able to measure any voltage on the track output terminals of eLink 2 ? Ray

@Brew Man "I have read that Hatton's decoders don't work well if at all with Hornby controllers" How can that be ? What are Hornby Controllers doing differently to other controllers to account for that ? Ray

Without that screw, isn’t the loco pulling the tender (and train) by the wires? Not a desirable situation I would have thought 😔 Ray

@BagEndJct No need to change the points address. This “multiple of 4” problem only applies to TrainTech signals operated by a program. The rule I would use for any new TT signal I installed would be to choose an address which was even but not a multiple of 4. Ray

@BagEndJct If you have any signals with an address of 197, 198, or 199, you would probably find that changing them in a program would cause 196 to change as well!! Ray

@BagEndJct Hi John, Are you a gambling man? I bet you that the address of the misbehaving 2-aspect signal is/was an exact multiple of four. If you have any other signals which have an address which is an exact multiple of 4, give them a try from within a program, too, and see what happens. If I am correct, then this is a fault which I reported back in 2015, then again in 2020, when another Forum member rediscovered it, just as you have. Here is the text that I sent to HRMS in 2020 ... "This fault was reported about 5 years ago, but still hasn't been fixed, so I am reporting it again as the result of a new Hornby Forum member having re-discovered it. When a TrainTech signal is operated from within a Railmaster program, an extra DCC command is sent after the main one to an accessory address which is the next lower exact multiple of 4. If the target signal itself has an address which is an exact multiple of 4, this extra instruction is sent to that address." Ray

@BagEndJct Yes, I believe so. Ray

@BagEndJct ”It's certainly the case that some (most?) TT signals start off as green in which case the green button would have worked” The thing to realise about TT signals in learn mode is that, not only is the signal’s address being set, but also the DCC code (0 or 1) which will be used thereafter to switch that signal to GREEN. Now I would have thought that logically a 0 would mean stop/red and a 1 would mean go/green. I don’t know whether there is a DCC convention for this, but I believe that RM was intended to use that system. Unfortunately, the RED test button sends a 0 to the signal, which is the opposite. Hope that makes sense. Ray

@BagEndJct Hi John, I’m pleased to see that it got you around the problems. The “reverse polarity trick” to which you refer is necessary due to a bad decision made by the software developers a few years ago, namely, that they decided to use the RED testing button in the signal configuration window when setting up the signal in learn mode. If they had chosen the GREEN button, everything would have been ok. I think that they realise this but are unwilling to change the software for fear of adverse criticism. Have you considered “routes” as a possible alternative to programs? Are you going to report these things to HRMS, including your latest observation regarding points? Ray

@Ducky1 I have more locos than that, but the Quick Select window is one I never use. If you have more than 24 locos defined, you can see nothing at all of those past the first 24. What it needs is a vertical scroll bar down the right hand side. It would make it "not so Quick Select" to access those later locos !! Ray

@BagEndJct Hi John, It's a long time (and therefore several RM versions ago) since I played around with this sort of configuration. I've been having a look this morning, and I think you have uncovered yet another fault with TT signal configuration. The right hand column of the "Other Signal/Point" window should give you all of the options for the target (3-aspect) signal, but it appears that if the current signal is only a 2-aspect, then this column only gives red or green options for a 3-aspect "other signal". So this needs to be reported as a fault. However, there is, I think, a way around it. If, temporarily, you make the current home signal into a 3-aspect in its configuration window, then try out the right hand column of the other signal options, you should find that, not only yellow but double yellow also, are now available as options in addition to red or green. Choose the single yellow as appropriate, but before closing down the configuration window, change this signal's type back to 2-aspect. You will find that the single yellow chosen option for the other signal remains selected. Close the configuration window and save the layout changes. I don't have any 3-aspect signals on my layout to fully test it, but it seems to work with the icons I set up on a trial layout. By the way, in the "Other Signal" window, I selected the base address for the target signal, not the base address+1 option which is also there, but is in my opinion confusing. Ray

@BagEndJct Hello again John, In my opinion, the best way to get synchronisation between layout icon, and actual 2-aspect TT signal, is to proceed as follows when giving the signal its address ... In the layout designer, right-click the signal icon to open the configuration window.Set Reverse Polarity - i.e. ensure the box is checked.Set the signal into learn modePress the RED test button in the configuration window.UNCHECK the Reverse Polarity box before closing the signal's configuration window. Give this a try, and let us know what happens. Ray