First was the occasional run away, on one of my
main loops. The only difference on the two loops apart
from the number of points was how the track was connected.
The trouble free loop had connections made to the track every
metre and fishplates were soldered on short sections of track
The bad loop was only fed in 2 places rewiring solved this,
may be the DCC signal is weaker or the frequency differs
on the Select controller
Second problem was caused by wheels causing a short on peco live frog points the select would reset to the default code 3 fitting insulating fish plates cured this.
Hornby Elite
I have had the Elite for Six years and it has given me hours of pleasure connected to 2 Selects as slave units and also Railmaster. However is has had to be returned to Hornby three times for repair, and to Hornby's credit they have repaired/replaced it twice free of charge. But now it has died for a third time and been returned from Hornby as un repairable. I might have just been unlucky but a average life of 2 years per Elite was not a risk I was willing to take again.
Prodigy Advanced Sq
The Death of the Elite has posed a problem replace with the same or try something new. After much consideration and tired of waiting for Hornsby's loco detection I decided Prodigy advanced was the way forward. I will miss using Railmaster, however the prodigy is now supported by JMRI decoder and panel pro great shareware for computer control. To use computer control a USB interface is required for the Prodigy and also MRC offer free software which is very simple to use but a little basic only offering two on screen controllers.
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Minutes after connecting the Prodigy up I was using it like a pro It is so simple to use and great for sound decoders and even though it is tethered to the base station by a cable it makes operating my layout very easy. There is also a wireless hand controller available which will require an wireless interface.
Computer Control
RailMaster
I had used Hornbys Railmaster since version 1.5 was
released in BETA form, without doubt if you use
the Elite it will be hard find better computer
control. The great thing about Railmaster is
that no programming skills are required. You can
record your train movement then play them back
almost almost like magic you get a replay. If
you want to edit the program or add sound files
you can. Your set up can be as complex or as
simple as required There are a few drawbacks to
setting up a fully automated layout at the
moment but this is only till loco detection has
been released which as far as I understand each
loco will have a small coded tag fastened to the
bottom and the will be read by track detectors.
( IF IT EVER GETS RELEASED I JUST HOPE ITS NOT
ANOTHER WHITE ELEPHANT LIKE THE HAND HELD
CONTROLLER WAS)
Unfoutunatly I can no longer use Railmaster since the Elite died My dream is Hornby might one day be able to include other protocols for other controllers in the Railmaster software.
Right hand panel using Megapoints for servos
Left hand panel using solenoids an Micro controler for servos
JMRI Decoderpro and Panelpro free software http://jmri.sourceforge.net/
PanelPro for control and DecoderPro for programming decoders I have used Decoderpro with the SPROG for a long while. If you do want to use computer control DecoderPro is an excellent program for programming decoders via most dcc controllers If you want to try computer control this is the program to try first. the software also lets you use a tablet or mobile phone as a hand controller
Sound decoders I have a few OEM Hornby and Bachmann sound fitted locos and a few Hornby TTS sound locos The TTS locos benefit greatly if the speaker is upgraded TSS decoders are now available separately.
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