elite owners club

QUOTE (nzpaul @ 18 Jun 2007, 11:53) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>As an Elite owner I'd like to suggest that those of us who have the system start to gather information about the bits n pieces that DO work with it.
All we seem to be getting at the moment is a lot of finger pointing and giggling at Hornby's new toy, but precious little hard fact about what it CAN do.
Many of the shortfalls or incompatability issues may well exist but merely slagging them off is of little help to people like me, so what can we do to help ourselves get around some of the apparant issues?
Fistly my own DCC needs are well within the Elite's scope without any add on bits at all, so as long as the loco decoders work with it, then I'm all good.
I've found that Bachmann's "On Board" (both U.K & U.S models) & Digitrax decoders work well and of course Hornby's are a given.
I'm led to believe that TCS decoders are not a happy match to the Elite so should be avoided but perhaps someone else can confirm this for certain.
As far as expansion of the system itself goes, my own inclination is to wait for Hornby to release the required gizmo, be that a reverse loop module or a walkaround controller, same as if I had purchased a Digitrax or Lenz unit ,I would stick to the brand as this should increase the chances of success.
The idea here is to put aside the crap that's been thrown at the Elite and find out what makes it work well, perhaps we could find a way of making a database to keep all the info in one place, that would be quite useful aye.

Cheers
Paulm

Great idea. We could put together an area - perhaps a sub-forum of the DCC section or create some pages in the Resource section.

Keep track of Elite topics and posts and we can link them all together.

To be fair we did suggest this several weeks ago. I think we recognise and accept that the Hornby system has it's own unique requirements and problems.
There appears to be no acknowledgement that the Hornby system needs to be improved to make it compatible. Just an arrogance that they have a system, they are right and if Gary is to be believed everyone else's system is wrong, including the NMRA.

The latest review in Model Rail hardly highlights any problems with the system, which I find misleading. It rubber stamps every thing which is a poor review. Given the amount of advertising Hornby place with model Rail I'm hardly surprised.

So by all means separate true DCC and the other sort of system

I never used the term DIY did I

QUOTE I never used the term DIY did I


David

I'm glad I went for Digitrax, because I wouldn't like to get on the wrong side of MMAD.

QUOTE (Makemineadouble @ 19 Jun 2007, 05:42) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>To be fair we did suggest this several weeks ago. I think we recognise and accept that the Hornby system has it's own unique requirements and problems.
There appears to be no acknowledgement that the Hornby system needs to be improved to make it compatible. Just an arrogance that they have a system, they are right and if Gary is to be believed everyone else's system is wrong, including the NMRA.

The latest review in Model Rail hardly highlights any problems with the system, which I find misleading. It rubber stamps every thing which is a poor review. Given the amount of advertising Hornby place with model Rail I'm hardly surprised.

So by all means separate true DCC and the other sort of system

I never used the term DIY did I


This is true, we did suggest this. A designated area for Hornby dcc users would be best for all concerned.

The reviews in the mags tend to be sychophantic by nature. I couldn't believe the Pendolino review, it missed out all of the problems even though some of them were obvious from the photographs in the review. I don't think a magazine review can be taken seriously especially one that has full page add's of the review subject matter.

I certainly wouldn't be arguing with MMaD either. It is pretty clear from his posts that he knows what he's talking about.

QUOTE (nzpaul @ 18 Jun 2007, 19:53) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>As an Elite owner I'd like to suggest that those of us who have the system start to gather information about the bits n pieces that DO work with it.
All we seem to be getting at the moment is a lot of finger pointing and giggling at Hornby's new toy, but precious little hard fact about what it CAN do.
Many of the shortfalls or incompatability issues may well exist but merely slagging them off is of little help to people like me, so what can we do to help ourselves get around some of the apparant issues?
Fistly my own DCC needs are well within the Elite's scope without any add on bits at all, so as long as the loco decoders work with it, then I'm all good.
I've found that Bachmann's "On Board" (both U.K & U.S models) & Digitrax decoders work well and of course Hornby's are a given.
I'm led to believe that TCS decoders are not a happy match to the Elite so should be avoided but perhaps someone else can confirm this for certain.
As far as expansion of the system itself goes, my own inclination is to wait for Hornby to release the required gizmo, be that a reverse loop module or a walkaround controller, same as if I had purchased a Digitrax or Lenz unit ,I would stick to the brand as this should increase the chances of success.
The idea here is to put aside the crap that's been thrown at the Elite and find out what makes it work well, perhaps we could find a way of making a database to keep all the info in one place, that would be quite useful aye.

Cheers
Paulm

Paul,

There is already a Yahoo Group which covers this: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HornbyDCC/

TCS decoders are my primary choice in decoders and work very well on my Lenz 100 system and the NCE and Digitrax systems of friends.
I also have an Elite on my workbench and I can confirm that many TCS decoders do NOT work with Elite. Some do not respond at all, some give unpredictable speed control and one or two seem to work but spring into action when a loco is stationary.

I have a few ESU LokPilot decoders. These work well with Elite.

Graham Plowman

QUOTE Elite isn't the horrible, incompatible piece of junk that some are trying to make out. The truth is it works, it works quite well in fact & it will fuction with other manufacturers gear as long as you choose carefully.

With respect - and you must expect over reaction on this type of forum, there are computability issues with the Hornby system.
Why would I or anyone else spend three times the amount on a system - well I've had my system for over 7 years. It's performed flawlessly in that time. It's done everything it was designed to do. I've had great value for money. What more can one say. I've had experience of a DCC system that didn't do the job, one always remembers poor quality and poor performance. It's simply a question of paying your money and making a choice. I'm sure that for folks that simply want to drive a few trains the Hornby system is adequate - if quirky at times. Durable well lets see how it fairs on the time test. When you can come back and tell me you've had 7 years outstanding service from your system I'll sit up and take notice.

Well it looks like I've got a seven year wait before considering DCC...thanks for saving me money MMD.

QUOTE Well it looks like I've got a seven year wait before considering DCC...thanks for saving me money MMD.

Not at all buy yourself a real DCC set-up. A Digitrax DCS50 (Zepher) simply isn't much more than conventional DC and is fully expandable. If you don't fancy Digitrax then go with Bachmann and the Dynamis. I view loconet as the real advantage for Digitrax. to quote MacKays the Lenz dealer here:

QUOTE WHAT IS THE BEST DIGITAL SYSTEM
* There is no answer to this question. Anyone using conventional 2 rail DC should only buy an NMRA-conformal system. Clearly buying a system with a long proved track record is going to be an advantage but having said that, we have not yet come across any 'dud' systems You have to ask yourself what you want from DCC and how much you want to pay

Well said Mackays.

QUOTE I'm not too sure why MMAD is so interested in Hornby DCC when he is getting on so well with his Digitrax system

I'm simply interested in other systems Doug, I've made it very clear I have no axe to grind. I think the most pleasing thing I can think of is for Hornby to straighten the odd quirks in their system or at least given a commitment to doing this. Reading the comments about Hornby on the other forum some were almost verging on slander. If was Simon Kholer I would be very disappointed. In terms of commitment I've seen very few other CEO presumably putting a hard weeks work and then demoing products first hand all weekend that is total commitment and I take my hat off to the him Overall Hornby are producing some tremendous products and so are Bachmann. I think we should be grateful we have competion, and a will to improve products by both major players in a relatively small market.
Summary Hornby product range excellent. Hornby DCC I'm not so sure, as someone else put it " to date probably Hornby have sold more DCC units than all the other makes combined (in the UK). so anyone interested in DCC should have a healthy interest in what other makes and companies are doing it's all part of the knowledge base.

Hmmm, interesting debate. Still not sure as yet, so I'll just stick to drawing my layout plans for now and watch this space

Cudders

I have an Elite as a stop gap measure - whilst I play with DCC.

Upgraded to 1.1


What I've found Works

Lenz Silver Decoders 4 function

The ESU chip supplied inside a Bachmann 66 with Sound

What I've found doesn't work.

Can't get functions to work at all on whatever loco is being controlled by the right hand controller - it always affects the loco under control of the left hand controller.

Other than that, CV programming etc, apart from seeming long winded works fine on the programming track.

The 'useability' is reasonable, and I've yet to have anything unexpected happen (apart from the funtion issue above).

James