BagEndJct

Railmaster loaded and connected with my eLink without issue having updated to this latest version. So 'Check Controller' is still =1. I have not had to change anything for it to work correctly.

I installed this latest version on my laptop last night and can confirm that no changes were made to the .ini file. Check controller was left at =1. I will test it later to see what happens. At least I know now I can change that to zero if there are problems. I always copy the .ini file before installing a new version!

The thought that crossed my mind was that maybe they couldn't get the thing to work properly?!

I have just had a reply from Hornby Customer Care re the release of the "Selecta-Link" cable. Here's the bad news:- "Dear BEJ Thank you for your reply, may I suggest that you hold off on the update. At present the release of the cable is looking very unlikely to happen."

As I was in Email contact with Hornby about this earlier, I have resurrected the Emails and asked them what the latest position is with regard to the cable. When they reply, which I'm sure they will, I will, of course, pass it on.

Thanks. <The eLInk has no Xpressnet port so the RJ11/12> I was assuming/hoping that there would be a USB cable and that is what I could connect to my laptop and then use the Select as a walkabout. It would seem not so there is no point in wasting my money in getting my Select updated.

I cannot find an answer to this, though I've tried and maybe I'm missing the point, which happens quite often. I'd assumed that when the upgrade for my old Select (which continues to gather dust and gecko droppings!) was availabe, I'd somehow be able to use it as a "walkabout" controller. (I don't have an Elite. Just an eLink and trusty laptop). I fear I may have misled myself over this?

I was torn between posting this here or in the DCC forum but, as this scenario affected my eLink, I plumped for posting it here. I have mentioned before how impressed I had been with the smooth running, non-stalling, and ‘sounding good’ performance of my Hornby R3504TTS Class 08 'DB Schenker' '08623' shunter. I loved it, even though it was too modern for my chosen era. A few weeks ago, it suddenly stopped and my Railmaster reported a short on my eLink. Investigations pinned the shorting down to the Class 08. I contacted Hattons but it emerged it was one year and a day since I “purchased” ie paid for this loco, they suggested I contact Hornby. Hornby were most helpful and suggested I try resetting the decoder. However, placing the loco on my programming track then trying to perform a reset, also tripped the E-Link. So Hornby told me to return it to their repairs department. Considering I live in Spain, the “repaired” shunter was returned to me remarkably quickly, with a note stating that the decoder had been replaced and the loco tested. However, its performance was nowhere near as good as it had been. It juddered a low speed, it stalled where it had never stalled before and the sound was not as good. I was able to compare it with a new one I had found at Rails of Sheffield and bought on an impulse. I gave it a run-in but within 15 minutes, it had stopped and, once again, was tripping the eLink. I called Hornby again and they were mystified and told me to send it back to them again. I wondered if anyone can suggest what has been happening with my favourite shunter. (Fingers crossed my 2nd one is performing without a hitch). Thanks!

OK. I changed the address of the shunter to 44 and have done a few tests turning sound on and off without trigerring anything on the VV. However, I had cause to reboot the E-link and the Vent Van started "air spannering". When I opened the throttle window I was surprised to find the the appropriate button highlighted as "on". I pressed the button and it went silent. There have been no more random incidents but will continue to test.......

<RM is infamous for getting the throttle function buttons display out of synch with what the actual vehicle has in its memory.> That's part of the problem, knowing what sound is playing. I find it very difficult controlling the sounds of the VV in RM. As you say, it does not know or remember what sound is playing and many sounds take a while to "turn off". Maybe I should be more patient when trying to narrow down which sound it is! It would be nice if the STOP button could be used to turn all sounds on or off, or even just have an F button to do same! So far the VV has provided more frustration for me rather than pleasure!

Thanks for all the input on this. I have been sidetracked over the last couple of days but will get back to this little poser tomorrow. Meanwhile, I did a bit of running yesterday. The first thing I did was turn on the sound on the Class 08 and, guess what, on came the air spanner (I think!) on the VV. Hopefully more on this tomorrow.

Interesting thoughts, Eric. No the vent van is not hardwired, just standing at the end of a siding, and, no, I don't have a choke on the bus, so you may well be right! This morning it started a sound without my operating the shunter. Though, more times than not, starting the sound on the shunter does trigger a sound from the van. I'll try positioning it somwhere different for starters! And another obvious thing I'l try is to change the two addresses.

Thanks! Yes, running RM and have a bus.

This has been driving me midly barmy. I have not really been able to pin down what's been happening until today. I have a Hornby DB Schenker Shunter (TTS Sound - R3504TTS) set at loco ID 004. I also have a Hornby Vent Van (R6888TTS) set at Loco ID 020. When I turn the shunter sound ON (F1) this sometimes also triggers a sound on the Vent Van. (Not absolutely sure which one but it's either hammer or spanner - I have a problem pinning this down). Any ideas why this is happening, please? (It's only today that I linked turning the shunter sound on to a sound starting up on the Vent Van without my triggering it).

Just a quickie from a Dapol semaphor user. Yes, the signals to get out of "sync" with the display on the layout diagram. I usually solve this by ticking "reverse polarity" in the layout signal setup box. For my creaking old body, a lot easier than crawling around under my board from whence I may never return! For some reason, the "out of sync" situation usually clears itself (I've never fathomed out under what circumstances) when I merely untick the reverse polarity box.

Chris Yes, that worked! Thank you. I suspect it will also work for the Lenovo so I can set "Check Controller" back to 1! Thank you. John

Chris I'll try this tomorrow. Odd it occurred quite early on for others (before the latest update I believe) but for me, this has only just happened. I'll report back asap.

I reported above the experience I had setting up my new Lenovo with eLink and Railmaster: https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/railmaster-170-revision-2-now-available/?p=5/#post-289816 With the latest incarnation of RM it was turning off my eLink as it was testing it on booting. I assumed this was down to something to do with the USB port on the Lenovo. However, back to my trusty Toshiba laptop today, on which I have been running RM via my eLink since the year "dot" and realised I had not updated this to the latest version of RM. On booting up, having done the update, it too knocked out my eLink, the first time this has ever happened. So there is something in this version of RM (size 68,041Kb) causing my eLink to "power down" which, as I said, has never happened before. I guess I could set "Check Controller" to zero but then I would lose that little red reset button that I find useful from time to time so I'm going to revert to the previous version for the time being. Maybe in trying to fix one problem, the support people have caused another (for me!). I'll do an Email reporting this to RM support.

Back in October I'd asked advice about a new laptop to replace my venerable 6 year old Toshiba. Despite misgivings about connectivity I went for a Lenovo which has 1xUSB3, 1xUSB2 and 1xUSB-C ports. After much humming and haahing I decided to keep my Toshiba dedicated to running the Bag End Jct layout via my eLink. In effect I put off the day of having to try and connect my new Lenovo given the problems I'd read about. I have the latest version of RM installed. Today I grabbed the toro by the horns and decided to try and connect my new laptop in case my Toshiba gives up the ghost. With little expectation, as my other two USB ports are taken up with a thumb drive and a mouse dongle, I thought I'd first try the USB-C port with USB converter. The eLink was seen by Windows 10 (64bit) and the driver was installed (COM3). However, Railmaster did not see the connection. So I swapped the mouse dongle to the USB-C port and tried the USB2 port. Again the connection was seen and the driver installed as COM4. I told Railmaster about this and it connected and I was able to control my layout. Blimey! However, when I closed and reopened Railmaster, the eLink shut down as it was connecting. I powered it up again and all was well, This happened on another reboot so I edited the railmaster.ini file (last two lines) to Alternative comms=0 Check Controller=0 and all seems to be well. I just thought it worth recording this here in case it helps another Lenovo owner.John

Q. Where would we be without you Chrissaf?A. Not updated! And lots besides.....

@Chrisaff Got it! I have to say the support guys generally are pretty responsive. I was sending test service messages from within RM when trying to sort out the comms issues I still have with their secure servers and had a response to each one even though it was clear they were test messages. The guy who runs our Internet service here in Spain is on holiday on Mauritius(!). It seems to be an issue with FTP being blocked somewhere and he's the one to sort if out if it can be sorted! John

@Chrissaf Thank you for your attention to this and the tip-off re the 11th March version. How do HRMS expect their customers to be aware of these updates if they're not offered automatically? Most, who do not avidly follow threads like this one, will presumably go on struggling with the inherent bugs for months until there is another "major" update which is offered automatically. I will now go and install the new version on both of my laptops. Thanks again, Chris! PS I just noticed that the date next to the link to the update at the top of this forum states it's "Updated 08-03-19". Needs changing?

@St1R4y I've managed to find time to try a few things to test the update with regard to Train Tech signals. I'm pleased to report that, when altering the settings for one signal, I'm now able to chose "amber" from within "Other Points/Signals" area for the next (three-aspect) signal down the line. This was usually not possible before this version as only red or green were available. Lots more to play with here!

Ray I'm thinking that I may have clicked one of those buttons when I was changing the symbol to "test" it, so that may be the reason the signal was not conforming? John

Just to add something on 2-aspect Train Tech signals. All of my signals still operated correctly after installing v1.70. The only one that went pearshaped did so after I changed the symbol (to one with Route Indicator to see if it worked correctly. It didn't!). Then, when I changed it back to plain vanilla 2-aspect, that is when the problem started, as described above (reverse polarity had no effect). Changing the default sequence got it working correctly again. Good luck Ray!