[Brian Considine]

Welcome to the forum Mark,

Have a trawl back on the earlier DCC threads regarding the Select & draw your own conclusions.

Go for Lenz (not the Compact though) or Digitrax - you won't regret it.

 

[Brian Considine]

Hi Mark,

Good advice from Peter !

I suggest you phone the Hornby Service Helpline on 01843 235525 & ask about sending the unit directly to them for sorting out - at least you will have a fully functioning Select to sell if you go for Lenz or Digitrax. Hornby's Service Department is usually pretty good.

Don't forget if you send it back to enclose a list off all the faults.

There should be no "out of warranty" issues as the Select has only been available for a matter of months.

The only other thing I could suggest (& I don't know if it's possible on the Select anyway) is to try a factory reset - often works with all manner of things digital (not just model railways !).

Please keep us informed.

 

[Brian Considine]

QUOTE (Ravenser @ 6 Mar 2007, 23:58) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>My own local shop has been sellling the sets despite the fact that neither the proprietor nor his 2 regular assistants have ever handled any kind of DCC equipment themselves.

Interesting - I wonder if this is typical.

From my own experience both Fleischmann & Marklin (those Germans again !) run factory courses in the UK for their dealers. I have been on both of them. I'm surprised (unless someone tells me differently) that Hornby don't appear to do so.

 

[Brian Considine]

Off we go again - all I did was state a FACT regarding the way Fleischmann & Marklin ensure that their relatively small dealer network in the UK are knowledgeable about the products they sell - not having a go a Hornby or their supporters.

To be quite honest I was hoping to be proved wrong regarding Hornby.

 

[Brian Considine]

QUOTE (Ravenser @ 8 Mar 2007, 00:17) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Lenz , or at least Mackays do likewise.

I gathered this from a retailer in the town where I come from , who admitted that he didn't stock Lenz because the importer required you to do a 2 day course and as they were starting up the business there wasn't time for them to do it.

Not quite as I understand it - they prefer you to, or at least show that you already have some DCC knowledge. On more than one occasion I have been in another retail outlet (who are aware of my DCC experience, & believe me, although it's fairly good I have nothing on Stan @ MacKays) who have "picked my brains".

Personally, IMHO it is almost certain that no one can know everything about DCC. I think the main problems have arisen because of the keen efforts to get the tills ringing (nothing wrong with that either) with intense competition between 2 major UK outline RTR manufactures, coupled with the rapid rise of DCC popularity for "the masses" (or "train set" people as others have called them).

Very different to the more sedate rise in popularity of "traditional" DCC systems such as Lenz, Digitrax et all, with their smaller distribution & dealer networks.

 

[Brian Considine]

Peter,

Connecting the running rails all together for one side of the supply & the OHL to the other will not cause a problem & will work OK - you have to bear in mind the tiny contact area of the panto' bow or trolley wheel to the wire itself. DCC does not "like" interuptions to the signal, even for very brief moments & it can cause some very erratic running as the decoder(s) have to "start up" again.

I would advise you to wire the tracks themselves as 2-rail, then bond them together, use the OHL & then if you have problems you can always revert to 2-rail.

The reason that the DCC manufactures do not recommend that you use the OHL for power is that it is possible under some circumstances to end up with double the track voltage across the decoder - not good !