BritInVanCA Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Just to balance the forum a bit I thought I’d post something positive. I just set up my new legacy dongle with 5 non-Bluetooth locomotives. Very easy and pretty intuitive after the second one. Most of my decoders are simple ones with no sound or lights so I didn’t have functions to add. I’ve got one TTS in a Hornby A1 Great Northern but that locomotive has lots of problems so I’ll hold off for now. thanks Hornby for a great product 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 I think the forum scales are way on the side of this being a good piece of kit. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pendragon Sailing Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 They certainly look to be a great piece of kit, with plenty of folk out there very pleased with the Bluetooth functionality they bring to older decoders. Sadly though, I’m not able to use mine, as my DCC controller is Digitrax which doesn’t have the necessary Xpressnet interface. 😔 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brew Man Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Yes, I used mine for the first time a couple of days ago. I just set up one loco and all went very smoothly. As it is the only non-bluetooth loco I have on hand I will wait til I go back up to the loft before adding more. But no problems so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulleidboy Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 (edited) I only have two loco's added to the Legacy Dongle at the moment, one with sound and lights and one just movement. Set-up was very straightforward and both loco's working perfectly. A great piece of kit and I will add more loco's when I can. Due to new replacement double-glazing be installed in the next few weeks, a large area of my layout has had to be removed so I have very limited "running" space at the moment. Edited March 3 by Bulleidboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveM6 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 (edited) Agreed, it's a great piece of kit that will only improve as more functionality is developed. I have around thirty TTS and other sound locos on mine with another twenty eight TXS decoders running happily alongside. All fitted with stayalives of one flavour or another which make all the difference to overall performance. Edited March 3 by SteveM6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 40 minutes ago, SteveM6 said: Agreed, it's a great piece of kit that will only improve as more functionality is developed. I have around thirty TTS and other sound locos on mine with another twenty eight TXS decoders running happily alongside. All fitted with stayalives of one flavour or another which make all the difference to overall performance. I must get round to making some for my TTS locos which suffer from take off stall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilbo2 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 It is good and I hope the development continues into the future. For me there are benchmarks in place such as the functionality of RailMaster / TGG / Loco Detection / Program Control / Layout Schematic etc which I hope we may see at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveM6 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 32 minutes ago, 96RAF said: I must get round to making some for my TTS locos which suffer from take off stall. When you do, you won't regret it. Three of my dongled sound locos were sound fitted from the factory (Dapol and Rails) without stay alive - a real pain to use compared with the others. I must investigate what could be added to those at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 12 minutes ago, SteveM6 said: When you do, you won't regret it. Three of my dongled sound locos were sound fitted from the factory (Dapol and Rails) without stay alive - a real pain to use compared with the others. I must investigate what could be added to those at some point. I would agree, I will add though, the choice of "stay alive" is important. Some I fitted you couldn't read anything back off the decoder, but the modern ones seem perfectly ok and transform performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brew Man Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 The stay-alives are a valuable add-on, it's just a pity the locos that need them most are often too small to fit them. Two cases in point are Terriers and my R1 on Dean Goods chassis. It's got Train-O-Matic non-sound in it at the moment and while I might be able to fit a TXS sound chip with speaker - just about (I'll have to investigate that further), there is no chance on the planet that I'll get PB as well. I think the same goes for the Terrier. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilbo2 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 13 minutes ago, Brew Man said: The stay-alives are a valuable add-on, it's just a pity the locos that need them most are often too small to fit them.... That's my experience too, in particular with the Lion. My modelling skills just couldn't do it that tiny . In fact I find the Lion works best in DCC mode as it will quickly recover after a power loss but BT tends to drop the connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brew Man Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Yeah, it's worth considering for anyone think of fitting BT non-sound decoders when they become available. Might be better sticking legacy decoders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveM6 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 40 minutes ago, ColinB said: I would agree, I will add though, the choice of "stay alive" is important. Some I fitted you couldn't read anything back off the decoder, but the modern ones seem perfectly ok and transform performance. I believe that depending make and maybe CV settings, some stay alives will 'suck' the power from a programme track preventing the decoder from powering up. Personally, my mix of power banks and home brew stay alives have never displayed this behaviour. I think it's probably best practice to fit stay alives via a plug so they can be easily disconnected should they experience programming issues. On the subject of size, I have found that the PB or speaker can often be accommodated in the cab - not ideal but an acceptable compromise. Hornby were quite open at the time of the launch of HM7K that they had designed the decoders with both large and small components, but that the small ones were impossible to source at an acceptable price, mainly due to component supply after the pandemic. Version 2 decoders are likely to be smaller when made available. The same applies to the PB - in its current form, it is an 'overperformer' and as a consequence, a smaller version is being researched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 2 hours ago, SteveM6 said: I believe that depending make and maybe CV settings, some stay alives will 'suck' the power from a programme track preventing the decoder from powering up. Personally, my mix of power banks and home brew stay alives have never displayed this behaviour. I think it's probably best practice to fit stay alives via a plug so they can be easily disconnected should they experience programming issues. On the subject of size, I have found that the PB or speaker can often be accommodated in the cab - not ideal but an acceptable compromise. Hornby were quite open at the time of the launch of HM7K that they had designed the decoders with both large and small components, but that the small ones were impossible to source at an acceptable price, mainly due to component supply after the pandemic. Version 2 decoders are likely to be smaller when made available. The same applies to the PB - in its current form, it is an 'overperformer' and as a consequence, a smaller version is being researched. The issue with a lot of the "stay alives" I have used are that they are just a big capacitor/capacitors, diode and a few resistors. The ones that work properly have a transistor/fet in the circuit plus a few other components. This avoids the capacitor charging up during the short programming cycle. If you look at the powerbank it has one as does the LaisDCC one, both of which work really well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 I’m really happy with the Dongle. I’m using Elite and have added 14 locos so far 9 with sound. I hoped that I would be able to add Accessories (16 points and 4 signals) from Elite but this doesn’t seem to be possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveM6 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 53 minutes ago, JohnH said: I’m really happy with the Dongle. I’m using Elite and have added 14 locos so far 9 with sound. I hoped that I would be able to add Accessories (16 points and 4 signals) from Elite but this doesn’t seem to be possible. Accessory control is not yet available. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 You can only use HM6010 for now for points and signal, etc control, but that is either from the app or from the Elite. There is no way to switch on the fly. The power supply dictates how the device works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritInVanCA Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 19 hours ago, Fishmanoz said: I think the forum scales are way on the side of this being a good piece of kit. 😂 I’m sure you realize I was referring to general negativity not about this particular item 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamDavid Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 How do you download the sound functions to each loco? I have set up three locos, and have downloaded the sound functions on one. All good. However I can’t do it for any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamDavid Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 By function, I mean the correct map. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Its a bug - use this workaround for now. • Unassign any locomotives from the HM7040 in the Manage Device screen. • Create a new 'Temp' vehicle in the Engine Shed. • Assign the HM7040 to it, ensuring that this is the only locomotive the 7040 is assigned to. • Tap on Settings. • Tap on Profiles. • Find your chosen function map. • Plug in the HM7040 / 'Temp' loco. • Tap on Import Function Map. • Go to Locomotive Settings of the 'Temp' locomotive. • Tap on Export Function Map. • Save the Function Map with a given name. • Go to Engine Shed. • Tap on the correct locomotive you wish for the newly exported function map to be applied to. • Tap on Import Function Map. • Choose the Function Map you recently exported. • This will install the function map for another locomotive. • Repeat this process using the 'Temp' locomotive with other profiles, exporting each Function Map out and re-importing them back in to the correct locomotive. • Once complete, go to Manage Devices, tap on HM7040 and assign the HM7040 to all locomotives you wish to control with it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamDavid Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 Thanks for your suggestion 96RAF. It works a treat. Just entered another ten locos. Quite quick when you get a rhythm going. Tempted to get another dongle to use with my Android tablet, just for fun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamDavid Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 This has features not seemingly mentioned in any literature. You can modify the order of the locos in the top panel to your hearts content. You can deactivate all the locos you are not running to simplify those being shown on the top panel, making moving from one loco to another much easier. I wonder what other hidden features there are to be discovered. This is one very well thought out item. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 31 minutes ago, WilliamDavid said: This has features not seemingly mentioned in any literature. You can modify the order of the locos in the top panel to your hearts content. You can deactivate all the locos you are not running to simplify those being shown on the top panel, making moving from one loco to another much easier. I wonder what other hidden features there are to be discovered. This is one very well thought out item. Both of those features have been discussed previously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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