SealionSteve

Tried a reset of the Select - no difference. I spoke to Hornby. They think the chip has had it (following some attempts at cv reads etc by me, using Sprog/DecoderPro) and don't supply replacement 7 pin chips. Hey ho. Pendolino seems to have died now anyway. 8 pin socket and chip on order, soldering iron at the ready...!

Ta - might give that a go tomorrow!

I see. But it worked fine when the Pendolino was not involved - a consist of Class 57 and Sentinel worked fine, so doesn't that indicate a problem with the chip in the Pendolino? Or maybe the consisting logic in the Select and the 7 pin Pendo chip don't communicate properly? I will be interested to see whether putting a better decoder in the Pendo (the bar isn't set too high!) works. Regards Steve

Thanks for the advice, RAF96. Will go for a 7 pin to 8 pin wire harness and a better spec 8 pin decoder I reckon! Cheers Steve

I dissolved the consist, reset the Pendolino to its adress. Worked ok on Select. Sprog/Decoder Pro was unable to identify the Pendolino as existing in the roster (there was a roster entry for it; it identified another loco in its roster ok, and I cleaned the Pendo wheels and retried with no luck). I deleted the existing roster entry for the Pendolino and set it up again. Sprog could not identify the Hornby chip, so I set it up manually using the Hornby Pendolino chip type (shown as a pop-up on one of the Hornby decoders from the list in Decoder Pro). Pendolino worked ok using Decoder Pro (throttle and lights) when selected from the roster. However when I asked Decoder Pro to identify the Pendolino it still reported "no roster entry found". Retried the "identify" function and again got the "255 unknown manufacturer" message again. I am thinking of just replacing the chip (they are an odd 7 pin one I think?) - or even replacing the power car with a trailer since I only want to use the Pendolino in "drag" mode anyway 😏 Are the chips fitted in the trailer cars the same as the power car ones?

Have found the SPROG and will investigate cvs - thanks again!

Thanks RAF96. I tried that with the same result. I do have a SPROG 3 somewhere but rather red-faced to say I seem to have "misfiled" it! I'll have a look at the cvs once I have found it. The Pendo's chip is "losing" its address once the consist is dissolved, and has to be reprogrammed, whereas the Class 57 is reverting back to its address of 03 without needed reprogramming. Regards Steve

Hi I have a Hornby Pendolino which I want to use in a consist with a Heljan Class 57 - obviously this is going to involve surgery to the 57 and adding a coupling to the front of the Pendolino! For now, I am just trying to set the two locos up as a consist using my Hornby Select and I have run into a problem The Class 57 is initially address 03 and works fine by itself via the Select. The Pendolino is initially address 04 and works fine by itself via the Select. Both locos respond the same direction-wise. I want to set up a consist addressed as 34. Following the instructions in the Select's User Guide, I put both locos on the programming track, pressed 34 then "select". Display showed 34. I then held down "function" to get "A1" flashing, and entered 03, then "select" to add the Class 57 to the consist. Display showed "A2" flashing, I pressed 04 then "select" to add the Pendolino to the consist. Display was now showing 34. That all appeared to be as expected according to page 14 of the Select's user manual. However, on subsequently entering 34/"select", the Class 57 responded to the controls but the Pendolino appeared dead (no movement or light). I dissolved the consist as described on page 15. Reprogramming the Pendolino to address 04 restored it ok. I went through the same consisting process using the Class 57 and a Hornby Sentinel shunter which was programmed as 04 and it all worked perfectly. Is it possible that the chip in the Pendolino has a fault which makes it work ok "solo" but fails to work when it is included in a consist? Or can anyone suggest anything else I could try please? Thanks in advance, Steve

Thank you for the suggestions. I could find nothing obvious when looking "under the hood". As I had found that: Scenario 1 screws + magnet in the plastic holder = problem Scenario 2 screws by themselves (no plastic holder) = no problem Scenario 3 magnet in plastic holder without screws = no problem I realised that scenario 2 was not entirely eliminating the screws and needed to be modified in case it was the extra thickness of the plastic magnet holder which was causing the screws to be at a different depth into the loco's baseplate (possibly missing something which they were touching before, thereby causing a short or open circuit). So I tried screws and empty plastic holder, kind of hoping it would bring back the problem as then all would make sense. However there was no problem when I tried that 4th scenario. Looks like the villain is the presence of screws plus magnet in this particular loco. I am a bit hazy on the relationship between electricity and magnetism but I know that they are related...can anyone with more know-how than me (probably the majority out there!) confirm or deny that it is possible that there is a current flowing between the screws via the field of the magnet when both are present and that might be causing the problem? Thanks.

Thank you so much for the advice, everyone. I followed the suggestions of connecting the common lead to the voltage supply rather than the GND and hey presto - all working fine now. I am fine on the software side but it always seems to be the hardware which flummoxes me! Many thanks again to all for your help. Regards Steve

Hi I have a Hornby "Percy" loco (I know - but it works reliably and I wouldn't lose much sleep if it died so I use it as a test loco). I fixed a DCC Concepts Powerbase magnet under it (between the wheels with no drive cog) using their recommended screws (just a thought - why not brass screws, since the steel ones they sell you are VERY keen on the magnets!) and the plastic magnet holder supplied as part of the package. Percy then refused to budge when placed on my Powerbase test track. I wondered whether the (steel) screws were shorting, so I removed the magnet and replaced the screws. Percy performed fine. So maybe the magnet was messing with the motor? I "black-tacked" the magnet to the chassis and touched power leads to the wheels. It worked fine. Hmmm. I then glued the magnet in its plastic holder to Percy's base. He worked fine on the Powerbase test track. I realise that it's only a matter of time before the magnet defeats the glue, but what's going on here? At the moment I want to say "It's logic, Jim, but not as we know it". 🤣

OK, I have a horrible feeling that this is going to be a "Doh!" moment, but here goes... I want to use a DCC Concepts lever to act as a "trigger" for colour light signals so I can change them via an Arduino. The Arduino controls the operation of a level crossing and the associated signals. I want to connect the lever so that I can set the signals regardless of whether the crossing gates have been told to open to rail traffic. I have managed to make the Arduino detect whether the lever has been moved by wiring an "on/off" output from the DCC Concepts lever to one of the Arduino pins and its ground. It's easy for the Arduino sketch to then invoke a routine which looks at the current state of a signal and change it. The problem I have is that the "common" wire of the 3 from my colour light signal is positive rather than ground. If it was the other way round I could just wire the "red" wire to one pin, the "green" wire to another and the common to an Arduino ground, then set one or the other of the pins HIGH or LOW to set the signal "red" or "green". As things stand though, the only way I can get my "change signal" routine to work is with either the green being on or off (with the "green" lead from the signal connected to Arduino ground) or vice versa with the "red" lead connected to ground. Obviously, connecting both "red" and "green" signal leads to Arduino ground doesn't solve the problem. Any help will be really appreciated, even if I end up kicking myself! Cheers Steve

Thanks everbody, I did as suggested and everything is working fine now. Regards, Steve.

Thank you both - will give that a go, loads of resistors in the bit box :-)

Thanks for the reply. A sketch of the cicuit is attached (I hope!).

Hi I have an analogue layout and want to use some DCC Concepts ground signals on it. I have bought a set of them without the DCC control board and testing individual signals using a 9v battery and a resistor they work ok. Using a DPDT switch to change polarity works as expected – the signal switches between 2 white lights for “clear” and 1 white and 1 red for “danger” (sorry if those are not the strict signalling terms). However, if I try wiring a second ground signal into the circuit by connecting its leads to the first signal’s leads and giving each signal its own DPDT switch, both work OK only when they are both set to the same indication (i.e. both showing 2 white lights or both showing one red and one white light). If I change either of the DPDT switches, only one signal will light. My guess is that there must be some clever stuff going on inside the signal which causes a problem in one signal’s circuit when the DPDT switch is changed or something. DCC Concepts suggest using an “Alpha Sniffer” from their product range if running DC, but I was wondering whether there is a more economical solution. All I have been able to come up with is using a completely separate circuit for each of the 3 signals - a no-cost solution from my bits box, but a bit bulky and inelegant! Any help will be greatly appreciated, thank you.

There are some "sample" 6 inch approx code 100 on that auction site at the moment.

Quite agree...perhaps they could offer samples for a couple of quid, something which is short enough to post out cheaply?

Think I have sussed it. Looking at the service sheet, there is supposed to be a separate "lights" pcb, part number X6425, at the driving cab end, but this looks to be absent on mine. So I guess that explains my problem! I have at least managed to check that the lights do work when they get power. The coupling is a non-standard one and is used to provide electrical continuity through the whole train. Putting a voltage onto the leftmost two pins on the coupling (as seen from above) lights the lamps.

Hi there. I just purchased a used Hornby 5-BEL 2 car unit R3184, 1960s version. I run DC but it is DCC fitted. Runs fine on DC in both directions, but the lamps on the tables do not come on. I swapped out the chip for a Hornby blanking plate. No difference. I saw some older threads suggesting you sometimes have to fit the chip in "wrong way round" to get the lights to come on. Tried that too, even tried fitting the blanking plate "wrong way round". No difference. I don't know whether you need to have both power cars connected for the lights to work...have tried just the power car and both of them connected, with all the above chip/blanking plate permutations. I don't want to return it as it is mint (apart from the problem described) and if needs be, I can live with the problem. Any suggestions for testing the LEDs or whatever please? Thanks in advance.

Yes it is an intriguing structure. Definitely food for thought. I am swerving towards moving the shed to the other end of the layout at the moment, as Killybegs suggested - influenced a fair bit by stumbling across the Modelux (2-road) "Victorian" shed, which looks like a really nice model at a good price. That way I will also as a by-product eliminate the fact that my shed is fed via the turntable (I know this was avoided if possible, for obvious reasons, but I understand thatLancaster Ayre Green was one example).

Thanks for that - as for Uttoxeter suggestion from Stephenwolston, it may be a possibility with a bit of re-jigging.

Thanks - a possibility with a bit of re-jigging!

Thank you, that is a useful example, I will put it on the shortlist!

Of course, my problem reinforces the idea of "measure twice, cut once" :-) Or to put it another way, it's cheaper to alter paper than wood and nickel-silver. I feel a bit of a dolt, but I never realised that the sockets would be a problem until the board was up and I started tracklaying. DOH!!! Steve