Goathland

As a Railmaster + eLink DCC user I would like Hornby to look back at their halted plans to put an Xpress socket in an eLink (this information is somewhere in the forum which is where I got it from) so I could use the dongle. Even better would be a cut down Elite with no knobs, no display, existing PCB (as no development cost needed), Xpressnet socket, track and programming outputs, maybe an single emergency stop button, all housed in a simple case like the HM6000 controller. It would replace the eLink but add an Xpressnet socket for the dongle or Select controllers. If the dongle was built in it could be marketed under the HM700 banner. Given that this is all based on existing hardware and firmware, how low could the price be and still make a profit given that you have simplified an Elite down to the bare minimum.

This does inded look very similar to the Hornby r8237 select cable, after all why wouldn't it - it is just an RJ12 female to two RJ12 male and it makes sense to use the existing tooling. But as with all cable things Hornby do they differ in the number of wires and/or which pins are connected? For twice the price I would hope the new one has all the pins connected.

If I understand correctly how ABC works, then if you are using the DCC chips that support ABC (so the latest Hornby HM-DCC ones will do) then instead of completely electrically isolating a section you could cut one side of the track in two places an put in an ABC module for that section that you bypass with a switch (DCC controlled if you want). That way any trains entering the ABC section will gracefully stop until you flip the switch and let them proceed.

No problem for me either, so it it not a generic issue. I have linked home signal (17) to distance signal (16) with the above settings and when I click on the home signal (operating screen shown above with overlay from design screen) the distance signal moves as well. All is working as it should. Difficult to know what is wrong with your setup.

Deactivate any add ons (like PRO or HandHeld) before de-activating the main non-pro licence. Re-activate with the non-pro licence first.

Or you could use 2 of R618 Double Isolating Track connected together. Pick one side of the track to convert. On one piece use the 2 connecting points on one side to plug in the two wires of your ABC unit (observe correct "polarity") and on the other piece leave the track isolated. On the side of the track you are not converting fix the link wires across the connectors on each track piece. Extend the middle of the ABC section with standard track pieces to the length desired for train stopping distance. Ensure the DCC decoder is programmed to match the side that was converted.

4GB RAM is going to hurt. In the under £300 bracket It has been standard on most phones in the UK for a couple of years but 5 years ago it was 2GB or 3GB RAM. Out of 4 phones purchased in the last 2 years for family members 4GB was standard and 6GB or 8GB models were manufactured but not available in the UK. We had to order one from the Netherlands to get a 6GB model. For tablets I think the situation is even worse. Obviously for those who splash out £600 for their phones/tablets they will be fine.

Another piece of information if I may. The power is picked up by the wheels (loco and/or tender if applicable) and fed to the motor. In the case of a DC loco this is all hard wired. In the case of a "DCC ready" loco the power goes from the wheels to some pins in a DCC socket and a blanking plate is inserted which just links some of the pins so the power goes across the blanking plate and out via some other pins to the motor . In both the cases varying the voltage applies to the tracks will change the speed of the loco as track/wheels/motor are directly linked. In a "DCC fitted" loco the blanking plate is removed and the DCC decoder installed in its stead (you can do this yourself with a suitable decoder or purchase a "DCC fitted" loco). The DCC power from the track (15 volts in a controlled square wave) now goes through the wheels into the DCC socket and into the DCC decoder. The DCC decoder then routes the power back into motor pins in the DCC socket and on to the motor. The DCC decoder alters the power going to the motor based on the signals encoded in the controlled square wave. If you take the blanking plate out then keep it as you may need it later.

Just knowing the RM codes will not be sufficient if it does go pear shaped. HMRS will know that the old installation has not been de-activated and will not let you activate another one with the same codes. You would need to raise a support issue with them to sort it out. Make sure the email you originally activated RM with is still working. If not send them a support request from within a working RM to change it (I presume they will do it if so contacted).

Be aware that DCC Ready means that it can take a standard DCC decoder. This does not mean it is TTS/TXS (sound) ready! Although you will be able to fit a TTS chip there may be no place to put the speaker that comes with the decoder. The TXS decoders are slightly bigger so check the space available first - but they do come with a sugarcube speaker which is smaller.

I use them for playing music, station announcements, and selecting which loco I wish to see in the large popup throttle control. One of my music sounds is "silence", a zero byte .wav file. If I abort one of my programs that is playing music then the music continues. Playing "silence" from he floating key will stop it. I also use that trick to stop a long piece of music as the last item in my programs.

Thank you for the correction. Sorry to put up misleading information.

A search of the internet will find the correct femail 5.5/2.1mm power barrel jack plug which you would need to solder to the existing wires that connect to your track. This should take the male power plug from your hornby transformer. Ignore the HM7020 psu harness.

I use a very thin layer of "Black Tack" to seal my sugar cube speaker enclosures to the speaker as well as using it to stick the enclosures to the roof of the loco.

No intention of ignoring Rob's advice, sorry if I gave this impression. When I said that I could live with the unreliability I meant that it did not make the product useless if used in this way with circumspection. As you say this advice has been repeated many times - I was just enquiring as to the reasons behind that advice.