elink flashing with a loco on the track

[Bundi]

Hi all,

I was allowing my Bachman 33 class to run in after weathering it. Left it to for a while. Came back and it had stopped.

When I place the Class 33 back on the track the green light on the elink flashes. Other locos dont have the same effect. Could the Class 33 be fried?

Railmaster (recently upgraded to Propack) off course at the same time has decided it wont speak top the laptop. I get an "Unknown USB Device(Device Descriptor Request Failed)" under USB Controllers in W10 and tried uninstalling that device several times. So I cannot even test the class 33 on the programming track, let alone run anything else.

[P-Henny]

Don't have an eLink myself. But I have seen that eLink error message reported before on forum. IIRC in those cases it proved to be a faulty eLink USB Interface circuit and had to be sent back to Hornby for repair. Just a theory, but I suggest the loco went faulty (possibly a motor fault) and took the eLink with it if the 'eLink self protection' didn't kick in properly.

Although the eLink is a piece of DCC hardware, all eLink issues are normally posted in the Railmaster forum as the eLink cannot function without RM and is where those members who know more about eLink are likey to frequent when visiting the forum.

[96RAF]

2 contra statements there - the 33 makes the green led flash, but other locos don’t, however you cannot connect to the laptop.

I tend to agree with Paul the 33 has failed and taken the eLink out.

You need to go back to basic fault finding and prove the 33 does/doesn't have a problem (multi-meter) and then try to sort the eLink comms out by disconnecting from the layout to get rid of any external factors.

[Bundi]

Sorted.

Actually it was Heljan 33

Took it to a specialist train store. The TTS decoder was causing the fault and was hot. The guy said the loco was drawing amps on DC rinning close to the limit of the decoder on DCC. A stall on the track probably over stressed the decoder. Paying to get an ESU decoder with a 31 sound file installed.

[P-Henny]

But what about the eLink, has that error message cleared too?

If you are using the eLink supplied 1 Amp supply, it is highly recommended that you upgrade that to the Hornby P9300 4 Amp power supply, particularly if you are going to run locos with higher current draws.

If the eLink USB error message has cleared, then it is possible that the current being drawn by the Heljan 33 was not high enough to trigger the eLink 'short circuit' protection, but high enough to lower the power supply voltage and that affected the eLink's USB circuit capability to communicate correctly, initiating the USB error message.

P9300 Digital 15V 4 Amp Transformer

The TTS decoder is known to have a current capability that is too low for some locos and brands of loco. It is recommended 'best practice' to perform a stall test on all locos prior to fitting a decoder. Note that the new Hornby TXS sound decoders have a much higher current capability compared to the TTS and is considerably cheaper than the ESU Loksound you are having installed.

How to do a 'stall test' is posted in the Hornby DCC forum 'Useful Links' pinned sticky thread.

[Bundi]

In UK pound terms, I have now found that the ESU is about 50 dearer with installation. I think if I had the TXS installed and the loco tested the difference would be 30 pounds. TXS must going to hurt sales of the likes of ESU going forward eh?

I now know that the TXS could have been the way to go, as they are compatible with throttles like Digitrax if not eLink. I will look into them in the future, especially when I get to buy another 9F (One of mine- tender driven-that was 2nd hand when I bought it might be suffering from Margate rot bent chassis issues).

It took me I reckon 9 hours to get eLink back up. For some reason the Comm Port was corrupted and after multiple removals of the port; changes to the Railmaster system settings; about 3 tries of reinstalling the program (once I found how not to trip the download errors messages that RM was a security threat) about 3 system restore points of the laptop, it now seems to be working. sigh.

[P-Henny]

It took me I reckon 9 hours to get eLink back up. For some reason the Comm Port was corrupted......

 

 

Sometimes these kind if issues can be resolved just by plugging the eLink/Elite into a different USB port on the PC. This forces Windows to reset the USB comms port data and reload the driver, thereby clearing the percieved corruption. It then also becomes necessary to manually edit the comms port data in the RM Settings Screen to match the new Windows comm port data.

This, of course, requires the PC/Laptop to have more than a single USB port. Some Laptops don't.

[Fishmanoz]

Sounds like a very convoluted process Bundi.

For future reference, uninstalling and re-installing RM hardly ever fixes anything, in fact often causes problems. You have to remember to de-register and re-register correctly for a start and get your ini file correct (see FAQs).

Downloading the latest version (only needs to be done once) and installing over any previous version is usually all that’s needed.

And system restores on the laptop? Wow, haven’t done one of those in 10 years.

But you are the one doing it. Would you like to tell us exactly what you did, why you did it and what you found it fixed please?