ColinB

I assume you have tried reading values from the decoder when in programming mode to check that there isn't a fault with the programming output.

Now I don't know if this is fixable but it does seem to happen on any other site I visit, When putting a response into one of the forums when you press the "Post Reply" button, if the website is busy then there is no visible response to indicate that the "Post Reply" has been pressed. It is human nature to think "obviously I didn't click it properly" so you press it again. So basically you get multiple entries in the forum. Today it took over a minute for the post to accepted. So unless the administrators enjoy removing multiple posts, is there no way to fix it. Oh and on my desktop PC running chrome the delete/edit keys don't work when looking at the post. So when people ask me to delete the extra post I created I can't.

Thanks for the info on the sound maps.

Thank you, useful link. Is there a link anywhere to the sounds that are supported currently?

Yes I know 96RAF about the scan I got a substantial number of devices when I did mine once I had setup the Bluetooth to be a different type. I just assumed the app store provided a pointer to the Hornby Website to run the install package but I must admit I am not an expert on this.

I will admit 96RAF I don't read HM applications posts because generally they are not relevant to what I am doing and as far as I know these terms have not appeared on the normal DCC posts, but then I generally I just gloss over those. Anyway why would I need to know it is not relevant as long as it works. The only time I want to know is when I load the app, I mean I don't expect to load the Wetherspoons app when trying to log into my bank. I have not got into a pickle I am just pointing out that there are issues. Now I know you are deeply involved with this project, so it is your baby. You probably know that a few tweaks here and there and it will be perfect, which it might be in a few weeks/months. Been there done it, I just am just being devils advocate for those people that just buy a product and expect it to work out of the box, followed by a call to "Watchdog" in the old days when it doesn't. I await the release of the the new app. One thing you could do if you haven't done it already is do something to stop the QR Code pointing to the wrong install software. I am not buying anymore for the moment and I have only one so not really a big issue for me. The other interesting thing was I searched the documentation that came with the product, no mention of current limits for the driver, I assume this is listed on the Hornby site somewhere. Virtually every other DCC decoder I buy it comes with the printed documentation because it is important.

95RAF I think you are missing the point. Most of us that are not deeply into this project don't know what a HM6K app is. We just link to the QR Code in the install manual which then runs the install package, which we now see is the wrong one. Now if I had just "hacked" around the Hornby website and got an app, then that would be entirely my fault, but I didn't.

Yes LT&SR_NSE I have and I accept it because I know that it is because I haven't bought the latest version and generally there is something out there that will fix it. This is an entirely different scenario, the app doesn't work at all and worse still the QR Code links to an install package that is the wrong one and from what 96RAF says can mess things up. Incidentally it isn't an incompatibly issue, the app at the moment just doesn't exist end of story.

From what I read Google are the same. I assume that they have to approve them to run on their respective platforms. I have a gripe that I spent over an hour trying to get the software that the QR Code links to, to run, which I gather was the wrong app. Do other companies release products, where the app has yet to be approved? Now one response I got was "well it is a DCC decoder so you can use it as such", unfortunately so is a LaisDCC one which costs a fraction of the price. I have waited 3 years for some of my locos to arrive so I suppose this is the same.

Ok here is a radical idea, when you buy the decoder it comes with a QR Code, so why oh why does it point to the wrong app, why not just point to an app which tells you the app is not ready. For once I read the instructions which pointed me to to wrong app, is it my fault that it doesn't work, I don't think so. No I am not into releases apps to Google or Apple but then if that is an issue then there is more than one way to inform the user that the app is not available, not every one that buys the product will be on this site. Yes I am surprised incompatible software doesn't work, you shouldn't have incompatible software, it is something you do in development not on a released product, according to the Yesterday program it was all working in Beta form. As to the Bluetooth obviously Hornby must have designed the commands to be very similar between the decoder and their existing DC controller as if I remember rightly when I wrote software to control Bluetooth on a CD changer it didn't turn the phone off because the command structure was totally different. Obviously there is something seriously wrong if when it does a scan it thinks a decoder is a DC controller so obviously they didn't change the id for the decoder, I assume Hornby couldn't be bothered or the lead time for raising a request for a new id was too long. Either way it doesn't matter, I can wait.

You are talking to someone who used to design software for a living, that is what program management is all about. You write the app check it works then on the day the decoders become available you make the app available to the user by downloading it to the server. We used to do it all the time. Anyway, surprisingly although the app doesn't work, it is actually linking to the decoder, as when I am connected to it I cannot control it with the Elite, soon as I disconnect the link on my phone I can revert to controlling it with my Elite. As to delivery I must admit I was incredibly surprised when Hornby told me it was available, when I ordered it I expected there to be a much longer delay given the complexity, it appears I was right. If the current menus in their app are anything to go by, they have an awful lot more work to do to make it easy to use.

Actually it would have been worth putting all this info into the user manual that comes with the item. I think I had better put it back in the box. Why release the thing if none of the supporting software is there?

Well 96RAF that would explain a lot. All I did was scan the QR Code and it then loaded the app. To make things worse the app says that I am connected to a HM7000_D850 although I don't have one. The "RESUME OPERATION CONTROL" I assume makes it all work but when I press it nothing happens.

Can someone also explain to me why Hornby are so obsessed with layouts, I look at the app and it keeps asking for a layout. Some of us couldn't care less about the layout just the control of the locos on it. I don't know if the app is a Beta version but it is definitely not very good.

Ok, I have bought the decoder, now some relatively simple questions. I have it connected to a DCC decoder tester via an Elite. Now I have loaded the app onto my Samsung phone. Now should this app work like this because occasionally it links with the decoder but more often it doesn't. So will the app work in this mode or do I have to buy the HM controller? All I want to do is update the sound profile. I was hoping for a drop down menu to do this but it appears it is not that easy. All the YouTube videos seen to reference interfacing with the HM controller, I thought the Blue Tooth was supposed to link to the decoder directly.

I am not an expert on this but have you looked at the pendolino parts. Hornby quite often use the same gears through out all their models, there are some exceptions though. They very rarely change gearing but generally do a gearing fix by putting in a different motor. When I was building bogies out of bits I generally looked to see what was available and if they were cheap, take a chance. I only got caught out once with the new Princess locos where the gears are substantially different. So I would look at class 90, class 66, pendolino and any diesel/electric loco that has a separate power bogie.

Competition is good for the business it stops firms products going stale. I imagine it is Accurascale you are referring to. Generally if these models are like their others this firm makes a better model for a cheaper price, which has to be good.

I know when I was in Detroit many years ago I was staggered by the price of model railways mainly the Lionel ones but it appears from some of the videos on Sam's trains there are some really good budget buys if you avoid the likes of Lionel. Some of the locos he has bought from train world are less than a £100. There again Lionel trains are in a different league to the likes of Hornby and Bachmann and probably even better than Fleishmann or Marklin so there is some justification for the price. I listen to all the arguments about small market and all the extra detail but I still have difficulty accepting the prices for some Hornby locos, ones like the 9F. This gets worse when you compare what you get with a high priced Hornby Diesel/Electric loco compared with one produced by AccuraScale. I think even Hornby have began to notice as they are starting to add things like real steam features and sound fitted and not increasing the price substantially. Of course we still are waiting for the steam option.

That is very worrying, I have one of those due to be delivered in the next couple of days.

I suppose at the end of the day, can you fix it? The answer has got to be no, each controller has been designed and used for many years in its present state, so just accept it and move on. Now if it was an analogue controller you just reverse the output wires in the unit (it is only about 12 volts so no chance of electrocuting yourself), but it is not. To change it you would need to modify the driver software, which is not going to happen. You will only ever use one DCC controller to control your layout so there isn't really an issue.

Well this subject wasn't in vain, I never realised all that. I must admit the way I have always checked it when I am adding DCC to a previously non DCC loco, is to compare the direction with one of my loco bought brand new from Hornby with a new DCC decoder. Forward and reverse do seem to be a bit of an issue with DCC, I mean to me coming from an electronics comms background it should be just a change of a bit in a DCC signal, but on the redesigned Zimo decoders, I had issues with the loco only going in one direction with my Fleishmann controller. It worked perfectly with my Elite and the Digikeijs system I bought to replace the Fleishmann. When I mailed Zimo although they couldn't fix the issue, they did imply that there was a another command associated with forward and reverse. I took the easy option with the Fleishmann and upgraded to the Digikeijs, perhaps one day I will get the scope out and find out what the difference in signals is.

@threelink you may well be right but if that was the case then Hornby should have taken the design for the Rocket tender and then added the 4th side to the CAD. They then should have made the trucks from that design. Their current implementation just says bodge by adding that extra side with a separate piece. As Simon says it is all about the detail.

Actually Fazy Sam in one of his videos did explain about the carpet and I doubt for the little time he runs the trains it doesn't make that much difference. If it was a long (I am not allowed to put its name, this editer can't distinguish) pile one then perhaps it might effect it, but his isn't. We also don't have those open frame Triang motors anymore plus most final drive gears are covered. A lot of people have layouts in lofts and sheds where they can pick up all sorts of things, cobwebs etc. Many of the locos he tests I have and generally he is spot on with his review, the only one he really got wrong was the 9F, but then he was unlucky or Hornby were at fault for supplying one with a duff motor. As to the coal wagons, I got the opinion that was something he had researched because he actually produced a realistic set of wagons and as he pointed out he wasn't the only one to point out the fault, I suspect there is already a thread on RMWeb. Seeing as Simon whines on about detail all the time I am surprised they made that compromise especially when they made all that fuss in the TV program about moving the 9F wheels equidistant to each other, which most people wouldn't have noticed anyway. I definitely didn't when I compared my new one with the original Railroad version I have. Now I am not a great social media fan, but YouTube is the equivalent of reading a journal there are good reviews and bad ones. Sam relies on people watching his channel to make money and generally with most data, if you spend long enough on the web you can find out enough which I suspect is how he knows. So just because he is a Vlogger that does not mean he is brain dead. So he doesn't have to be a historian just read what said person has posted, that is how we learn.

I buy most of my spare parts from a supplier that isn't on EBay. In fact I am finding more and more that EBay is the most expensive place to buy anything. Generally unless you are absolutely desperate then EBay is the place but you generally pay more for it. If the item is on auction then you might get a bargain but for the "Buy it now" items they are generally top price. TMC, Rails and Hattons frequently have sales and their items are generally cheaper than you can get them on EBay, even Hornby has the odd bargain. I would imagine the capital needed to start a model shop must be huge then a lot of them insist on charging maximum recommended retail price and wonder why they don't sell many locos. Generally I would have thought it is best to concentrate on items that are too large to post (flexitrack) or too cheap to justify the price of postage and packing. So good items would be Dapol wagons, where postage is about half the price of a wagon or the Oxford range and of course track. Anyway what did LD do that was so terrible? I got a warning off the RMWEB site for moaning about the price of Hornby locos at which point I thought if the moderator was that petty I didn't want to be involved on that site anymore.

This is the reason I hate tender driven locos, when my one did the same it took ages to find it. Check the cylinder block, the piece of plastic at the front which the valve gear ends fit into, on a real loco it is where the pistons are. On mine over the years it had split where it clips onto the chassis causing it to move and lock the valve gear every so often. They are made of plastic and because they clip onto the chassis with these models, it is easy for the plastic around the clip area to become brittle with age and snap.