Can the CBUS system be used in conjunction with the Hornby HM6 000 and HM 6010 units

[loco lover]

As I am sure many of you will be aware, Hornby has recently brought out an app to load onto a smart phone which enables the owner to remotely control, via Bluetooth, up to 4 HM 6000 power controllers. Each of these HM 6000 controllers can be connected to up to 3 HM 6010 accessory controllers. Each HM 6010 controller can switch up to 4 points motors. Theoretically, as I understand it, this would allow such a set of controllers to control up to 48 points motors. The layout which I am planning to build will have many more than 48 points. Does anyone know whether one HM 6010 unit can be connected to the CBUS system in order to drive more than 48 points motors? Again, as I understand it, the CBUS system uses a twin wire bus going all round the layout via modules which determine which point the user wishes to switch, and another 2 wires which feed the power to all the points on the layout.
Does anyone know whether this combination of HM 6000/HM 6010 units will interface with the CB US network to control more than 48 points?
All help gratefully received,
Alan

[Nigelcliffe]

Not with anything currently developed.  The first problem will be whether Hornby publish a protocol for the messages from their HM6000 control unit, without that, you're really in "doing it totally blind" territory. 

 

However, underlying this, is, I think a desire to have (a) phone/tablet app which drives train and layout, and (b) DC control (ie. not DCC).    If that's the case, then you could drop the entire Hornby HM6000/6010 stuff, and do it all with CBUS.   

There are CBUS accessory devices, and there is a CBUS DC command station design (not as a MERG kit, but the entire design is available, and likely to be far less work than developing an interface to HM6000's).   To those parts, add wireless server of choice (Raspberry PI with the CBUS-USB interface would be simple and cheap) and there's your server for phones/tablets to drive trains using Apps which support the WiThrottle protocols (readily available for Apple and Android). 

 

More than 48 points strikes me as a big layout, and at its present state of development, I wouldn't hang such a big layout on the Hornby system.  In time it might be able to handle it,  but not whilst they're taking their first steps with it.   ( And I'd point you back to Zero1, admittedly a long time ago, but it lasted about 6 years from Hornby's fanfare launch to being pulled from the market due to lack of sales.  Unless your layout has a shorter lifespan....)

 

- Nigel

 

[RAF96]

@Alan

Before you go off chasing rainbows it pays to get the basic facts right about HM|DC.

The HM|DC app can be loaded onto any suitable device and each device can operate a max of 4 x HM6000 and 3 x HM6010. Not as you say each HM6000 operating 3 x HM6010s.

In order to bust the module ceiling you can simply load the app onto more devices and as stated each device can handle up to its limited maximum number of modules, 

The way this is possible is each device is paired (provisioned in Hornby jargon) with only those modules it will operate, hence in theory given any number of app loaded devices means you can operate any number of points.

Operating a layout like this would be akin to having several cabs possibly located around the layout for conveience of operators - e.g. fiddle yard, up lines, down lines, shunting, etc.

Of course it may be that the module limit is simply an artificial limit within the app and if developed could possibly support more modules. You would need to ask Hornby that, but as we well know they do not generally publish their protocols or other inner details of their kit.

CBUS as I understand it is a hard-wired system and to the best of my very limited knowledge does not use bluetooth so you have no way of interfacing the two systems.

[loco lover]

Hello RAF 96,
Many thanks for correcting my wrong perception about the total number of HM 6000 and HM 6010 units that can be operated from 1 device loaded with the app. Many thanks also for your thoughts on any possible means of HM 6010 unit driving CBUS; you may well be right.
Alan

hello Nigel,
I am very grateful for your reply. I will forget trying to drive CBUS from an HM 6010 unit. As I am completely ignorant of software packages which you mention and have no clue as to how to interface 2 software controlled units, I think I will use 4 HM 6000 units to give me the capability to drive up to 8 locos (on DC) on different tracks and use CBUS solely to control my points; I believe that CBUS can be used to set a complete route for a train to run from a fiddle loop to a station platform and then back to the fiddle loop road.
If I understand you correctly, a CBUS command station would be a fixed station. I require the ability to control trains from anywhere in the room; as I understand it the HM IDC system gives me such ability.
Many thanks for your reply.
Alan