Nick_ Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 My 4 month old E-Link has just died :-(The power supply is still producing 15v but no green light on the E-Link and no power from the outputs even when fully disconnected from the tracks. I posted it back to Hornby's Repear centre yesterday, I'm hoping it won't take too long for them to fix it. Have other people had reliabilty issues with the E-Link, or was I just unlucky?I was just in the process of developing some multi-minute RailMaster programs to run 4 locos both simulataneously and in sequence and with lots of point switching , so now I'll have to think of something else to do unitl I can start running again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Have other people had reliabilty issues with the E-Link, or was I just unlucky?.Yours is the second eLink this week to be reported with the same fault symptoms. There have also been reports of two Elites with LCD screen faults within a similar time period too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Blame it on weather... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_A Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Nick, is it new and are Hornby repairing it free of charge? In law the responsibility for repair or replacemnet lies with the place you bought it from, so if you do incur any costs, these should be refunded by the seller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_ Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 Michael, it was bought new directly from Hornby. I rang customer services, they asked a few questions and then gave me a reference number and asked me to return it to their repairs department for repair or replacement. I'm now just hoping that their turnround time is not too long... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_A Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Then all is well Nick, that's good. Hopefully you will get a repalcement soon (Pretty sure they are not cost effective to repair) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainlover23 Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Michael, it was bought new directly from Hornby. I rang customer services, they asked a few questions and then gave me a reference number and asked me to return it to their repairs department for repair or replacement. I'm now just hoping that their turnround time is not too long...Why moan on here then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB51 Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Your missing the point TL23. The fact that the E-link has failed with similar symptoms to another is worth posting. I didn't read it as a moan, just a factual report. R- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_ Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 @trainlover23Because as I said in the post "Have other people had reliabilty issues with the E-Link, or was I just unlucky?"As I did not get a slew of "mine too" type replies I can now assume I was just unlucky and that its not a generic fault, which is reassuring... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_A Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 I agree, sharing and questioning is the whole point of this forum. I posted a similar thing about a loco I purchased and a decoder failure. I too was looking for feedback, not moaning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teedoubleudee Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 I'm afraid you get a lot of that on here Michael. I only hang around to learn the good stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augustus Caesar Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 Guys... can I have a moan... aaawww... go on let me...! Thanks guys... my tea tasted awful this morning... must be my taste buds... or the eLink controller used up too much electric and stopped the kettle boiling properly!!! Sorry... couldn't resist... :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_ Posted July 8, 2015 Author Share Posted July 8, 2015 Ah, i think you've solved it. All the tea I've been making took all the electricity away from the e-link. Must cut down on tea :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augustus Caesar Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Good jooob... Not sure how to print that with an American accent.... :-)Yeah, tea does no good to you at all... bad for the insides... but the stuff tastes great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWR Greg Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 I had a similar problem with my Elink some while ago. Returned it to Hattons who replaced it. No problems since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloter Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I bought an eLink in early June 2015. A couple of days ago when I plugged it in the power light didn't come on then there was a bang, a spark and a puff of smoke from near the eLink's power input. Fortunately I was near it at the time so it didn't get a chance to start a fire. I'm seriously concerned about the safety of these units especially if a child had been using it. Fortunately it doesn't appear to have damaged the PC it was connected to. Is this a similar issue to laptop and other chargers blowing up because the internal wiring isn't secured with silicon adhesive? I'm now sending the unit back for a replacement. Not happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augustus Caesar Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Nick, is it new and are Hornby repairing it free of charge? In law the responsibility for repair or replacemnet lies with the place you bought it from, so if you do incur any costs, these should be refunded by the seller. Not quite correct if I read you rightly. The Sale of Goods Act states that any item bought from a seller should, in the first instance, be returned to that seller in order to have a replacement or a refund for said faulty item. You don't have to agree to a repair. No problem so far... However, as stated in the above paragraph, "so if you do incur any costs, these should be refunded by the seller" there is a problem. If a unit, like the eLink, is purchased from a company (not Hornby directly) and a fault ensues and a customer then sends that unit to Hornby themselves for repair then postage is to be outlayed by the customer and they CANNOT claim it back from the original seller because the unit should have been returned to them in the first instance. ONLY if the customer contacts the seller and the seller agrees to pay postage costs when the unit is sent to Hornby for repair is their any agreement or grounds to claim that from the seller. That agreement should be in writing. If no contact to the seller is made in reference to postage then there is NO legal repercussion to the seller and they are not, by law, in a position to be told to refund postage. On the same instance, Hornby are NOT legally obliged to repair these units unless they are bought directly from them. The same law applies to the replacement or refund part of that original purchase. A repair is only made when the customer agrees to that repair. Hornby are doing these repairs out of 'good will' to save the customer any hassle with the original seller as the unit will eventually be returned to Hornby anyway from that seller. It may then find its way to a discount seller as refurbished goods. Within the first twelve months of your purchase, unless otherwise stated where the term may be two years, the seller bears ultimate responsibility for any faulty goods. The customer is entitled to a replacement or a refund at all times during this period. The customer is NOT obliged to accept any repair. Postage can be claimed here as the customer, during the warranty period, "is not to be seen to be out of pocket". Outside of the manufacturer warranty you are further entitled, up to five years from date of purchase (electrical goods), a repair of free of charge if the unit fails. It is however down to the customer to prove the failure is a manufacturing fault and not just something caused by the customer. Within this period all that is avaliable to the customer is a choice as to whether or not a repair is worthwhile or a simple purchase of a new product. Postage here is down to the customer unless agreed with the original seller. Sorry for the long winded explanation but I just wanted to clarify the one single point from above re postage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augustus Caesar Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 One thing to look at here if anyone fancies opening up their eLink and carrying out a repair themselves: When pushing the power connector into the socket of the eLink it is recommended to do this gently. Why? As with laptops the power connector may be only soldered lightly to the main board inside and any force may loosen it from that board. When checked upon opening however any looseness may not immediately be noticeable. It may simply be a very small crack or split to the solder connecting the socket to the board that may cause a failure. If there is no voltage regulator inside immediately after the socket and before the juice gets to the main board proper then a short can occur and sudden failure will unsue. When items like these do incur this kind of fault it can be devastating to the customer because poor workmanship should never happen. I am NOT saying this is the fault that is being incurred here nor am I saying this unit is made with poor workmanship... I am simply saying be careful with modern day products when plugging USB, power and any other cables into sockets. the smaller the socket the easier to damage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloter Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 In my case I didn't plug anything in, gently or otherwise. The PSU & USB were already connected. All I did was turn the mains on at the wall socket. It had worked every day for a couple of weeks then one day it blew up. As far as I'm concerned that's a faulty unit, nothing whatsoever to do with how rigourously I plug things in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augustus Caesar Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 In my case I didn't plug anything in, gently or otherwise. The PSU & USB were already connected. All I did was turn the mains on at the wall socket. It had worked every day for a couple of weeks then one day it blew up. As far as I'm concerned that's a faulty unit, nothing whatsoever to do with how rigourously I plug things in. I refer to my own words above Bloter.. "I am NOT saying this is the fault that is being incurred here nor am I saying this unit is made with poor workmanship..." In my own experience of sockets of the types I mention, and not just with things like the eLink or whatever, I am aware that some sockets are not really fixed very well to their main boards. Your case obviously is different in that it took it upon itself to show you it couldn't be bothered to work anymore and blew up while connected already. I merely pointed out to members to be careful with smaller sockets these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloter Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 I refer to my own words above Bloter.. "I am NOT saying this is the fault that is being incurred here nor am I saying this unit is made with poor workmanship..." In my own experience of sockets of the types I mention, and not just with things like the eLink or whatever, I am aware that some sockets are not really fixed very well to their main boards. Your case obviously is different in that it took it upon itself to show you it couldn't be bothered to work anymore and blew up while connected already. I merely pointed out to members to be careful with smaller sockets these days. I've had hundreds of devices over the last couple of decades or more which have plug-in PSUs. I have never known a socket that's not well connected. There's no problem with plugging in either power, USB, audio or anything else to any device unless you're particularly ham-fisted. The problem with the eLink is probably not the socket being poorly connected but an electronic component that's under-specified, most likely due to budget constraints. From the reaction I got from the support desk this is a known issue. Unless I get a satisfactory explanation for this problem it's likely to end up with me asking my colleagues at Trading Standards to conduct a thorough safety check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_ Posted July 24, 2015 Author Share Posted July 24, 2015 My unit was actually in use when it failed. Suddenly the green light went out and everything stopped. No bang, no smoke, no sparks, just nothing. Anyway it was sent back to Hornby (I bought it direct) and they've returned it fixed so all is good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augustus Caesar Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 I've had hundreds of devices over the last couple of decades or more which have plug-in PSUs. I have never known a socket that's not well connected. There's no problem with plugging in either power, USB, audio or anything else to any device unless you're particularly ham-fisted. The problem with the eLink is probably not the socket being poorly connected but an electronic component that's under-specified, most likely due to budget constraints. From the reaction I got from the support desk this is a known issue. Unless I get a satisfactory explanation for this problem it's likely to end up with me asking my colleagues at Trading Standards to conduct a thorough safety check. I think a lot of techies have had hundreds of units passing through their hands and maybe some have had no problems. Lucky. I've had a few with dodgy soldering and weak connections. Users I have had these machines from are not what I would call ham fisted either. It's swings and roundabouts bud. A bit like a car mechanic who never gets a car with a dodgy stearing column. You could well be more correct than I in saying that the more likely cuplprit is a lower specified part than would be neceesary to do its job fully. All I am saying is that some connections CAN be weak and some units MAY fail because of that or ham fisted users. Nothing more and nothing less. As for USB sockets... the same applies. I have had one piece of equipment (an MSI motherboard when building a client a PC) which when a USB plug was connected the socket literally just came away from the board. The client wanted that make of board even though I don't recommend them particularly though it was still a surprise to me that this happened. Oh... and I am certainly not ham fisted... lol It happens... If the problem is a known issue then why are the units not recalled as soon as the customer points this out? Simpler than letting users just stew over an issue. Maybe there's more to it than what evreryone is getting back via so called feedback. Maybe a visit to your trading standards office is what is best for you. Then everyone else can share in your final report and Hornby can fix the issue immediately if it exists. If it turns out to be something else like a faulty PSU for example then they can look into that also. It could be a number things and unless it is pinpointed accurately then we are only guessing at this stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Railtownboy Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Hi all, I am a brand new boy at modelling I bought a majestic package, took it home and followed all the instruction, loaded the package into my laptop (after connecting the track) and registered the locos and hoped to see some movement. No luck, so I checked the "com" port, OK then all of a sudden movement for a couple of minutes then all stop. I then got over the next 2 hours or so a variety of on screen instructions i.e. remove SUB connection wait 5 seconds and replace culminating in "there is a fault" oh it also kept showing "internet inactive" which was not true as I kept checking. Any ideas please.regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 RTBoy, welcome to the forum with your 1st post..This is a very common issue. You need to modify your railmaster.ini file to ensure that two additional lines are added if not already there. See the HRMS post (fifth one down) on this previous thread. The lines in question to look out for in the linked thread are for the eLink Alternative comms and Check controller entries. If you work your way systematically through ALL the points raised by HRMS in that post (including the download and install latest version advice), then I am confident that your issue will be resolved..Review page 33 of the 1.63 RM manual that explains how to access and edit your 'railmaster.ini' file.You might also want to review the contents of the locked thread (yellow padlock icon) at the top of the forum Railmaster section titled "Railmaster: Setting Up and Getting Started"..As a new train set user, you might also want to review the contents of my "Getting Started with Extension Track Packs" guide linked to at the top of the forum 'General Section'. There is a wealth of information in it regarding the basics of DCC control (Section 6 of the document). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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