ECoS - Not recognising RailCom

[WIMorrison]

2 hours ago, Hibelroad said:

Well I spent the morning fiddling with the CVs on the Bachmann 158 but no luck so I think the problem is a lack of Railcom plus as above. I did learn a bit more about the ECoS in the process and speeded up the 158 acceleration rate (which was pitifully slow) so the morning was not wasted. 

if you are looking for Railcom Plus on a Zimo decoder then it will be a long search as the don’t have it built into them

 

They do have railcom which I find invaluable for running my layout, but I know there are others here that disagree with the value or usefulness of Railcom  

[Nigelcliffe]

5 hours ago, WIMorrison said:

if you are looking for Railcom Plus on a Zimo decoder then it will be a long search as the don’t have it built into them

 

 

Zimo had a legal disagreement with ESU/Lenz about 8-9 years ago over RailCom, and RailCom Plus.    Unless there's some serious change of hearts, I don't see Zimo including RailCom Plus in the future. 

[reggie]

Sorry for delay in coming back on this.

 

Railcom & Railcom Plus are both enabled on my ECoS, as is Always Automatic Address Assignment,

 

So still at a loss as to why it is not working...

[55020]

26 minutes ago, reggie said:

Sorry for delay in coming back on this.

 

Railcom & Railcom Plus are both enabled on my ECoS, as is Always Automatic Address Assignment,

 

So still at a loss as to why it is not working...

 

As explained by GoingUnderground in an earlier post, that eliminates half of the obvious issues.  Now we need to check that Railcom and Railcom Plus are enabled in the troublesome decoder.

Can you read the value of CV 28 and CV 29.  Let us know what they are please.

 

 

 

Steve

[reggie]

16 hours ago, 55020 said:

 

As explained by GoingUnderground in an earlier post, that eliminates half of the obvious issues.  Now we need to check that Railcom and Railcom Plus are enabled in the troublesome decoder.

Can you read the value of CV 28 and CV 29.  Let us know what they are please.

 

 

 

Steve

Yes will do tonight and come back to you. Thanks.

[reggie]

Checked the settings on my Hattons Clas 66 789 BR Loco:

 

CV28 = 131

CV29 = 62

 

I did find the ESU Loksound Manual online and it says default CV28 = 131, and CV29 = 12. 

I haven't altered any CV's so not sure why CV29 on mine is 61. 

 

The Bachmann 158 with Plux22 decoder is made by Zimo and Railcom CV 28 = 3

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

 

 

 

[Nigelcliffe]

I hope the Class 66 has CV29=62 (because that's sane) whereas 61 isn't sane.

 

The calculator I wrote years ago, explains CV29:

http://2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29 calculator.htm

 

The ESU default of 12 is in their manuals, but its a bit wierd!  It means the decoder is set to 14 speed steps (which isn't usually sensible).  BUT, in the middle of the manual is a bit which says that on many systems (which includes the ECoS), the ESU decoder will automatically adjust to the speed steps it sees, so that setting shouldn't be a problem.   However, a value of 12 is a short address, not a long one. 

 

So, in theory, the Class 66 ought to auto-recognise on the ECoS.   

Do you have a loco in the ECoS roster with the same running number ? 

 

If the ECoS is set correctly, and not detecting an LokSound V5, then I'd be talking to South West Digital about what else could be wrong. 

 

 

A Zimo doesn't do RailCom Plus (see earlier in thread), so won't auto-recognise. 

 

 

 

[reggie]

Thanks Nigel for your reply, typo on my behalf CV29 is 62.

 

I don't have another Loco in the roster with the same running number.

 

Understand re the Zimo decoder.

 

I am also registered on the ESU forum so I might ask ESU if they know what's going wrong. As said previously it's not a major problem, but I would like to know why it did work and now doesn't!

[55020]

As Nigelcliffe has indicated, your CVs are set such that both Railcom and Railcom Plus are enabled.  So that isn't your problem.

 

Another possibility is if the address on the errant 66 is already in the ECoS "roster".  My experience is that it simply won't do anything with the second loco when the address is already registered against another entry.  Maybe have a look through the stored locos in your ECoS to make sure there's no conflict?

 

Apologies if my suggestion has already been covered, I haven't gone back through the posts to see if this has already been mentioned.

 

EDIT - I've just read the rest of NIgelcliffe's response and he makes the same point as above.  Please ignore

 

Steve

Edited September 25, 2020 by 55020

[reggie]

Thanks for your reply 55020, I will do this too.

 

[reggie]

I looked at the roster and all my Locos (I don't have that many) have different addresses.

 

But - I did change CV1 on the Hattons loco, just by 1 digit, just messing around, and Railcom activated, The symbol was shown on the ECoS screen and the green 'DCC ok' symbol came on. It recognised any Railcom enabled locos. However the next time I started the system up it did not display the Railcom symbol. 

 

It seems if I make an alteration to a CV setting on a Railcom Loco it 'fires up', but then forgets it next time...

[Nigelcliffe]

7 minutes ago, reggie said:

I looked at the roster and all my Locos (I don't have that many) have different addresses.

 

But - I did change CV1 on the Hattons loco, just by 1 digit, just messing around, and Railcom activated, The symbol was shown on the ECoS screen and the green 'DCC ok' symbol came on. It recognised any Railcom enabled locos. However the next time I started the system up it did not display the Railcom symbol. 

 

It seems if I make an alteration to a CV setting on a Railcom Loco it 'fires up', but then forgets it next time...

 

There is insufficient information to diagnose.  

 

Changing CV1 on the loco in question seems odd, your earlier reports said it was set to a "long" address, so CV1 should be irrelevant to its operation.  Unless in changing CV1, the system also changed CV29 at the same time?  Or unless you changed the long address (CV17+18) ?   
That the change seems to have caused the ECoS to "wake up" is wierd, hence, suggestion of contacting the distributor (South West Digital) or supplying dealer about the issue.  

 

My next suggestion is you repeat the testing on just a plain single length of track (ie. disconnect the ECoS from the layout, and only connect to a single length of track).   That would rule out any third party devices, or wiring issues, on the layout causing the problem.  Slowly add locos to the length of track, starting with ESU equipped ones.  If the fault recurs it would show the issue is totally "ESU" - the controller is an ESU ECoS, the decoders are ESU.   If the fault doesn't recur, then need to work out what on the layout might be causing the issue.   

 

 

[WIMorrison]

I have seen the issue where a RailCom signal is not sent from a loco until it is 'woken up'. This might be why it recognised it when you changed the address? 

 

sometimes moving a loco will cause the RailCom signal to be generated by all the locos because they have all been woken up when the signal is sent from command station

 

[reggie]

Thanks for your replies.

 

Sorry if i confused re loco address, I change the address of CV1 and then just enter the loco name / number into the ECoS description (I would like to know how to program long addresses...

 

I will have a go at trying on a single length of track as you suggest. Thanks

[reggie]

Hi All,

 

So I hooked up the ECoS to a single length of track, with the same results. So that would suggest there is no problems with the layout wiring, etc.

 

The only way I seem to be able to activate Railcom/Railcom Plus is to change a CV setting in loco decoder, this then activates Railcom and it recognises other railcom locos too if i switch to them or put them on the layout. Turn off the ECoS and restart and it is back to square 1.

 

I'm thinking there is a bug in the ECoS software but don't know why other users don't have the same trouble.

 

I will re-install the latest firmware again see if that helps.

 

 

 

[Jammur]

Hi, I have the same issue with my Realtrack 156 (2x loksound v5s) prog track recognizes it but theres nothing on the main track, no life, lights etc. Anyone have a solution ? 

 

Cheers

 

Jam

[Peanut89]

I appreciate this topic was a while ago now but I seem to have a similar issue with my ECoS and Railcom/RailcomPlus. 

 

A couple of weeks ago I went to move "Loco A" and there was no movement. I tried a "Loco B/C/D/E/F" etc and some worked, others didn't. For arguments sake "Loco A" was a Cl.47.

Locos that were fitted with Zimo or D&H decoders worked fine, only ESU V4s and V5s seemed to be affected.

 

On moving the 47 onto the LokProgrammer, it fired up, no issues at all. Put it back on the layout and zilch. 

Eventually I switched off the RailCom on the decoder, re scanned it onto the ECoS and it worked. I repeated this for say another 30-40 locos with V4s/V5s in and they all now work. 

 

If I get a new Decoder, the ECoS doesn't recognise it until it's had RailCom turned off but again on the LokProgrammer everything works as it should. 

 

It's odd - and frankly doing my t!ts in as one massive benefit is the auto recognition as soon as a new loco appears. Plus at some point i'd really like to use feedback modules.

 

TIA - any thoughts?