Hornby 2023 - Bluetooth decoders and control system

[spamcan61]

Just now, Pmorgancym said:

That's acceptable are there restrictions on functions etc too?

I'm not sure, I suspect not

 

[meatloaf]

On the subject of power banks, my local Trident Trains has them in. Ive just had 2 and hes got more coming today

[scottrains29]

I do hope Hornby produce some sort of basic dcc controller that links to the app, allowing you to control both standard dcc and Bluetooth locos at the same time from the app.

 

I only have a Hornby elink and the HM7000 app so annoyingly can't even use the dongle. 

Simon K mentioned in a video last year that the system would allow for loco detection and full automation, so perhaps Hornby are working on a Bluetooth enabled elink mk2?

 

Many people may be put off investing in the HM7000 system if there isn't a way to control dcc fitted locos from other manufacturers unless they also invest in an expensive expressnet enabled controller with the Hornby dongle.

[The Meerkat]

3 minutes ago, scottrains29 said:

I do hope Hornby produce some sort of basic dcc controller that links to the app, allowing you to control both standard dcc and Bluetooth locos at the same time from the app.

 

I only have a Hornby elink and the HM7000 app so annoyingly can't even use the dongle. 

Simon K mentioned in a video last year that the system would allow for loco detection and full automation, so perhaps Hornby are working on a Bluetooth enabled elink mk2?

 

Many people may be put off investing in the HM7000 system if there isn't a way to control dcc fitted locos from other manufacturers unless they also invest in an expensive expressnet enabled controller with the Hornby dongle.

luckily i have 2 elites,  one at home and i lent one to the model railway club for their dcc layout,  

 

i do agree that people might be put off,  as i said ages ago, people arnt going to take out their accurascale, Bachmann, cavalex etc sounds out for Hornby sounds to play with hm7000, that one of the reason i got the dongle

[WIMorrison]

9 minutes ago, scottrains29 said:

Simon K mentioned in a video last year that the system would allow for loco detection and full automation,

 

Hornby have been saying this for at least 10 years, actually probably ever since they introduced Railmaster and nothing has ever appeared.

[spamcan61]

31 minutes ago, scottrains29 said:

 

Many people may be put off investing in the HM7000 system if there isn't a way to control dcc fitted locos from other manufacturers unless they also invest in an expensive expressnet enabled controller with the Hornby dongle.

i'm not sure what the long terms strategy is, as i've pointed out the only parts of the system Hornby are likely to make money from are the chips (which are to a large extent not HM7000 specific anyway) and the DC PSUs. 

 

So there's very little investment in HM7000 specifically required from the buyer unlike these other 300-400 quid systems coming to the market.

Edited February 29 by spamcan61

[The Meerkat]

is there a way to save all the function lists to external hard drive like sd card so if you change your tablet or phone etc you dont have to key in all none txs and tts locos?

[scottrains29]

5 minutes ago, spamcan61 said:

i'm not sure what the long terms strategy is, as i've pointed out the only parts of the system Hornby are likely to make money from are the chips (which are to a large extent not HM7000 specific anyway) and the DC PSUs.

Hornby brought out the dongle to allow users to use non HM7000 decoders, so they know people want to use other decoders too.

 

If Hornby do produce a Bluetooth enabled "elink mk2", this could generate more sales including HM7000 decoders, improved Railmaster software package and a possible loco detection system as mentioned by Simon last year. The previous detection system (R8306) announced around ten years ago included the module, tag strips and track sensors and was to retail around £80 with additional items to add on.

Simon recently mentioned the new HM7000 system would make full layout automation much easier, so clearly had something in mind.

[Roddy Angus]

10 hours ago, RedgateModels said:

It's not in Hornby's interests to make it easier for folks to use "Legacy" decoders 😉

I appreciate the point you are making but unless Hornby are going to produce TXS decoders/sounds to specifically fit other manufacturers models, they will be severely limiting the functionality of the HM7000 system.  I would be loath to call the decoders in my Accurascale, Cavalex, Rapido etc. models "legacy decoders"  until they have been superseded by something better, which has not happened to date.  Hornby may wish to have all models fitted with TXS decoders but that is unlikely to happen, so why not make the best of the existing situation?

 

I know that some members are assisting Hornby with the HM7000 project and I am hoping that this might be suggested as a potential development of existing soft/hardware.

 

Best wishes

 

Roddy

[spamcan61]

13 minutes ago, Roddy Angus said:

I appreciate the point you are making but unless Hornby are going to produce TXS decoders/sounds to specifically fit other manufacturers models, they will be severely limiting the functionality of the HM7000 system.  I would be loath to call the decoders in my Accurascale, Cavalex, Rapido etc. models "legacy decoders"  until they have been superseded by something better, which has not happened to date.  Hornby may wish to have all models fitted with TXS decoders but that is unlikely to happen, so why not make the best of the existing situation?

 

 

I don't see how Hornby could make money out of these folks, if they've already bought decoders they'll not need to buy TXS ones, where the money is from Hornby's perspective.

 

IMHO what they should be doing is marketing the TXS more to non HM7000 users, after all they're very well specified decoders for the money. Retailers could then (think some already do) offer a service to add a chosen sound file to purchased decoders.

[D3489gibson]

Well, I took my newly delivered HM7040 Legacy Dongle to the club rooms tonight before my final nightshift of the week! What a great bit of kit!!!! Plugged it straight into our Test Track's Xpressnet port and fired up the app. Fast and easy connection to the dongle!! Assigned it to my Sound Fitted Rapido Lion that I'd spent the morning assigning to the engine shed on the app, and after pressing the "Sound On/ Off" Function on the screen, she sprung into life, and pottered away round the circuit after I'd slid the speed bar up to 30%. 

 

I still need to tinker a bit with the function control allocations on it, such as changing some of the functions from push button to switches (safety valves, clanking, etc) but that'll come with further use. 

 

For clarification, our club uses, for DCC, the LENZ system, to which I can confirm there were no issues with the dongle and the system communicating to each other and the App on my phone. 

 

The screen grabs from my phone show the Dongle assigned to Lion, and also the Function map I've created for it. All of the functions worked accordingly when pressed. One thing I did notice, whilst another club member put one of their locos onto the tracks, is that if there is a short circuit on the track, which did occur, the Dongle stays active. This is pretty nice given that the signal in our club rooms isn't that great for 5G or BT for that matter!! 

 

As I've said above, a bit more tinkering with the functions is definitely required, but my next port of call is to trial a loco with more than 8 functions! 

 

Nathan...

[SteveM666]

7 hours ago, The Meerkat said:

is there a way to save all the function lists to external hard drive like sd card so if you change your tablet or phone etc you dont have to key in all none txs and tts locos?

Not yet, but the team have indicated that they know how to do it but it needs some development time (and money) before they can offer it.

[RAF96]

23 hours ago, Pmorgancym said:

That's acceptable are there restrictions on functions etc too?

Ref the Select and limited functions and addressing.

Which functions you can operate is dependant upon the Select firmware state . Original v1.0 F0-F4, v1.1 F0-F8 and v1.5 upwards F0-F28. Update by return to work at Hornby for a small fee.

Now here is a thing, although you can only program loco addresses 1-59 and control them directly from the Select, if you are operating from the app via a dongle it has been noted that you can control addresses 1-127. How strange is that. 

[RAF96]

8 hours ago, SteveM666 said:

Not yet, but the team have indicated that they know how to do it but it needs some development time (and money) before they can offer it.

It has been found that if you have an iOS device the data transfer facility when you swap devices will take everything across for you, but the Android data transfer is very much device dependant, so makes will, some won't. Hell of a way to find out if it doesn't tho'.

[SteveM666]

41 minutes ago, RAF96 said:

 Android data transfer is very much device dependant, so makes will, some won't. Hell of a way to find out if it doesn't tho'.

Tell me about it!!

[Chrisr40]

Just noticed that there are 70 plus new profiles available to download from the previous TTS range.

[SteveM666]

24 minutes ago, Chrisr40 said:

Just noticed that there are 70 plus new profiles available to download from the previous TTS range.

Not as simple as that. The TTS profiles on the app are not sound files,, they are the profile maps to allow the correct function buttons to show on screen when running a TTS decoder via the dongle.

[Chrisr40]

42 minutes ago, SteveM666 said:

Not as simple as that. The TTS profiles on the app are not sound files,, they are the profile maps to allow the correct function buttons to show on screen when running a TTS decoder via the dongle.

Ah okay thought it was a bit too good to be true

[Pmorgancym]

12 hours ago, RAF96 said:

Ref the Select and limited functions and addressing.

Which functions you can operate is dependant upon the Select firmware state . Original v1.0 F0-F4, v1.1 F0-F8 and v1.5 upwards F0-F28. Update by return to work at Hornby for a small fee.

Now here is a thing, although you can only program loco addresses 1-59 and control them directly from the Select, if you are operating from the app via a dongle it has been noted that you can control addresses 1-127. How strange is that. 

Does the total of addresses include the legacy ones controlled by the dongle and those by bluetooth, or are they counted separately so you have 1-59(127) legacy and Bluetooth or is it 1-59(127) legacy plus whatever the Bluetooth limit is?

[Kris]

9 hours ago, Pmorgancym said:

Does the total of addresses include the legacy ones controlled by the dongle and those by bluetooth, or are they counted separately so you have 1-59(127) legacy and Bluetooth or is it 1-59(127) legacy plus whatever the Bluetooth limit is?

The dongle should give you the 127 on DCC then you also get those controlled by bluetooth in addition. The bluetooth controlled locos only take the power from the track rather than control from the until. Ultimately it would be a bit of a moot point as very few layouts would have the space to have that number of locos on track at any one time and the select would not have the power for a layout of that size. 

[RAF96]

Bluetooth uses an OTA MAC address. Dongle talks to DCC addressed locos via the rails. The Select has no OTA capability so can only talk via the rails.

The two paths are totally separate.

Edited March 2 by RAF96

[Michanglais]

I've just received a TT HST power car pack and want to add Bluetooth decoders (with sound) in each power car. 

 

The advice given is to set the power cars up as a 'Consist'. However, I can't find consisting in the HM7000 app. 

 

Could someone point me in the right direction or do I have to set up a consist on my NCE powercab and then just use the appropriate address(es) in the app?

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

[Bob83a]

1 hour ago, Michanglais said:

I've just received a TT HST power car pack and want to add Bluetooth decoders (with sound) in each power car. 

 

The advice given is to set the power cars up as a 'Consist'. However, I can't find consisting in the HM7000 app. 

 

Could someone point me in the right direction or do I have to set up a consist on my NCE powercab and then just use the appropriate address(es) in the app?

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

At present the App cannot handle consists. You can however use the App to configure a consist which you can then use with your DCC command station.

 

see CV 119 which assists in configuring function for a consist.

 

However you must power your layout using a DCC system and not just a power supply.

[Kris]

1 hour ago, Michanglais said:

I've just received a TT HST power car pack and want to add Bluetooth decoders (with sound) in each power car. 

 

The advice given is to set the power cars up as a 'Consist'. However, I can't find consisting in the HM7000 app. 

 

Could someone point me in the right direction or do I have to set up a consist on my NCE powercab and then just use the appropriate address(es) in the app?

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

As has already been said consisting is not currently possible (but it is being worked on we keep being told). The way that I go around it with a OO HST was to set the power car with no motor in to just run then control the powered model. It's not perfect but on a 4 coach Castle Class set it worked okay. 

[JSpencer]

1 hour ago, Bob83a said:

At present the App cannot handle consists. You can however use the App to configure a consist which you can then use with your DCC command station.

 

see CV 119 which assists in configuring function for a consist.

 

However you must power your layout using a DCC system and not just a power supply.

 

Could you not just set both chips to the same address.... ah oops... I guess under DCC you could and reverse direction of one chip via the CV (I did that for TTS). But not the app itself which would see 2 distinct blue tooth addresses.