RFS

No the LZV200 does not have an ethernet interface, just USB. If you need an ethernet interface (eg to connect a router for wireless operation) you still need the actual 23151.

Problem as in my post above. I thought it might be because the wires connecting 2 of the RS8s together were not twisted. So I fixed that but no joy. I'm awaiting response from Lenz but I suspect I will be returning the SET101 - it's covered by 14-day period for me to do that. Incidentally the software level on the LZV200 is 3.8 and not the 4.0 I had expected.

The problem I have is with the RS feedback bus to which the LDT RS8s are connected. The bus is a U-shape and I have 4 RS8s on each leg of the U with the LZV200 connected in the middle at the bottom of the U. If I disconnect one leg then the LZV200 sees the other 4 and vice versa. I did a simple wiring change whereby all 8 RS8s were on the one leg. Now the LZV200 sees 2 of them but not the other 6. Returning to the original configuration, it sees none of them. But once I plug the LZV100 back in everything is fine. To connect the LZV200 I simply moved the RSPQ plug over so the wiring is identical. I do not know whether I have a faulty LZV200 or whether it's a more serious design flaw. I'm awaiting response from Lenz but it looks like the LZV200 is going back to the shop for a refund ….

I have purchased the SET101 too and it arrived yesterday. However I have a major problem with it at the moment in that it does not recognize my LDT RS8 occupancy detectors. I went back to the LZV100 and everything works again. I'm doing some more testing today but I suspect the LZV200 has either a software or hardware fault. When I start RR&Co Traincontroller it becomes very unresponsive and after several minutes I end up with a switchboard where every single block is marked occupied. I have sent urgent emails to both Lenz and Littfinski.

I'm convinced the PCB is the problem and something on it is causing interference with the DCC signal. My first class 71 ran for 9 months with no problem then suddenly started exhibiting the problem at frequent intervals. I have 50+ other locos which run under TC schedules that never show this problem. The class 71 is temporarily laid up waiting for Hornby to get a spare PCB.

My recently-acquired Lord Nelson had the decoder socket in the tender and the capacitor was amongst the wires there. It's possible there may be an additional capacitor in the loco but I've found Hornby locos generally just have one.

Have you got any other Hornby locos? I found the problem occurred with most of them. In fact it was only when I tried one particular loco that didn't cause the problem that I then realized it was the only one that I had removed its caps from. I believe the decoder for Tornado is in the tender, and with recent Hornby locos the cap is in amongst the wiring. It's easy to see and just carefully cut out. In fact I usually just snip one wire and leave it there.

It's not TC or the CV settings as often it will work perfectly 4 times out of 5 before the issue arises. If TC/CVs were wrong I would expect consistent failure. I had the same problem a couple of years ago with a couple of Hornby steamers - a rebuilt West Country and a King Arthur class loco. Both were also erratic when driven manually outside of TC, which the class 71 isn't. As these locos were both approaching 10 years old and had been extensively used, I deduced the problem was with the motors and that this was causing erratic Back EMF to the decoders. Both Lenz and Zimo decoders exhibited the same problem. So I decided to replace the motors in both with new ones and they immediately started working perfectly again. But this cannot be the problem with the 71 and I'm assuming some component(s) on the PCB are having the same effect.

There are some photos in page 9 of the class 71 thread -

It's not really off topic as it seems the OP is seeing a similar problem to mine. For station stops in TC you merely specify a wait time in the schedule for the relevant block. The train should therefore slow down gradually and come to a stop on the stop marker. After waiting the specified time the train moves off. The problem I am having with the Hornby class 71 with its Lenz Silver Direct decoder is that, just occasionally, it would not slow down properly and eventually come to a stand anything up to 3ft past the stop marker. It would sometimes do this even when no other trains were running. This made it unreliable for automatic operation. No other trains on the same schedule do this. When I first purchased the 71 it ran perfectly for about 9 months before suddenly starting to do this. As it was still under warranty, Rails of Sheffield replaced the loco, but the new one only lasted a couple of weeks before the problem returned. I've tried using a Zimo MX600R decoder as well as a Lenz Standard+ with the 4 accessory wires cut (to eliminate any issue with the lighting circuit) but to no avail. I suspect it's something to do with the class 71's PCB which to my eyes seems extraordinarily complicated and is probably the root cause of the problem. I've asked Hornby about this but replacement PCBs are out of stock.

I've had this problem in the past but with different locos. For example, a Bachmann 2-EPB fitted with a Lenz Silver decoder would not budge until a Hornby M7 stopped moving. The 2-EPB was affected with other Hornby locos moving as well. The solution was to remove the interference suppressor (capacitor) from the M7. But I had further problems with Bachmann's 2-EPBs when two were together in a consist, with at times quite erratic running. However both now run perfectly but with Zimo 21-pin decoders instead. I'm also having problems with the Hornby class 71 I have, also fitted with a Lenz Silver direct. At times I'm finding it difficult to stop the loco and it can overrun station stops when used with automation (Traincontroller). I do not know what causes this problem which is not fixed by replacing with a Zimo MX600R decoder either. I think the 71 has capacitors somewhere on the PCB but I can't see where. I'm using a Lenz LZV100 controller.

I wonder how long it will before the makers of iTrain realize, like Herr Freiwald when he reached version 5.8, that a licence key sent by email for a one-time payment is open to abuse by people passing the key on to their friends. After all, even for iTrain a single licence fee is a lot of money.

Indeed but I'm covering myself against the situation where Freiwald ceases trading and the website goes offline …..

Indeed I still have my 5.8 licence key along with the downloaded file and manual so if I'm ever in this situation again in the future, and TC is no longer being supported, then I have something to fall back on. I had started to worry during this incident that I wasn't going to get a replacement dongle so I did check out my 5.8 version and it still works on the latest Windows 10. But the layout plan would have to be redefined from scratch. I reckon 70-80% of what I use is in 5.8 still.

It started a few months ago when occasionally I booted the PC and TC asked for the licence key. Moving the stick to another USB port fixed the problem most times. But then a few days before it died I would be running TC when suddenly all trains stopped and the dialog box came up asking for the licence key. Just removing and re-inserting the stick into the same port seemed to work but then it died completely. The stick was no longer recognized in this or any other computer. No drive letter assigned at all so I assume it was completely dead. Herr Freiwald did start a topic recently asking people to vote as to whether their railway PC had an internet connection. I assume he's perhaps exploring ways of doing the licencing differently but we'll not know till he announces something. I was asked for €15 and checking back through the forum I found other users were charged the same. But when I said I would pay by PayPal his response was "15 EUR is the cash price. The price for payment by paypal is higher, 25 EUR". Needless to say I was not best pleased but felt I had no choice but to cough up - my railway was inoperable at the time. I posted the stick back making sure it was tracked and signed for. It arrived on the Monday morning, but as I had heard nothing by the middle of the following week I emailed again asking about progress. After 2 more days I got this response: "Could you please forward the tracking information of your parcel to us? This would help us to identify it here. Note also, please, that for certain organizational reasons the replacement of a stick may take several weeks". Once again very worried. It's been in his mail room for 10 days and he's done nothing? And it will take several weeks to process? Fortunately the new stick came through the post the following Wednesday having been posted on the Monday (well done Deutsche Post and Royal Mail!). I then had to confirm to Herr Freiwald I had received it, and 24 hours later got a reply with the licence key to unlock it. I have also splashed out 99p at Ebay to purchase a 15cm USB extension cable: the stick is plugged into that so if I have to move it again I can do so with the cable, so the stick itself is not being unplugged and re-plugged. But needless to say there is still a concern. All of this replacement palaver seems to have been carried out by Herr Freiwald himself. What if his company goes out of business and subsequently your licence stick fails? Hopefully this won't happen ….