Model Railway Forum

I have a Hornby R8213 DCC controller, which works perfectly with factory fitted Hornby DCC lcocs.
However, if I try and control a N gauge Dapol Pacer unit (straight out of the box), with factory fitted DCC, I get steps in the speed. At about 10 o'clock on the Hornby controller knob, the speed suddenly drops, then goes smoothly up to about 2 o'clock, where the speed suddenly increases, with no more speed increase up to 4 o'clock. The same thing happens when winding down the knob, I get 2 step speed changes.
The Hornby controller is set to 128 speed steps.
Anyone knows why this happens? Is it a problem with the Select unit or the Dapol?

Hi

You need to set CV6 to 1/3 the value set in CV5. Doing this should smooth out progression throughout the speed range This can only be done on a Select that is running firmware at version 1.6 or 2.0.

If your Select powers up and the first two digits displayed show less than 16 or 20 (e.g. 11 to 15) then I would recommend you have the Select firmware upgrade by a return to Hornby. You MUST obtain a returns number first from Hornby Customer Service and then send it back. Currently the cost of the upgrade to the latest firmware is £15 plus VAT and your sending postage to Hornby. Return cost to you is included in their fee.

If its the latest Pacer with a next 18 decoder, i think the select will no doubt have problems with this latest type of decoder.

The controller starts up with a "20" followed by a "30", so I presume I have a version that can set the CV numbers.
However, nowhere in the instruction booklet is there a procedure as to how to set the CV numbers, only specific attributes such as Acceleration etc. Is there more information anywhere on setting CV numbers?

You need to download the additional Hornby V1.6 / 2.0 Addendum Instructions here... https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/downloads/ ... ex/cat/12/

brian1951 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 24, 2020 6:45 pm If its the latest Pacer with a next 18 decoder, i think the select will no doubt have problems with this latest type of decoder.

Why? - is the decoder not NMRA compliant, or is there another theory.

RAF96 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 25, 2020 1:20 pm

brian1951 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 24, 2020 6:45 pm If its the latest Pacer with a next 18 decoder, i think the select will no doubt have problems with this latest type of decoder.

Why? - is the decoder not NMRA compliant, or is there another theory.

The decoder is compliant. The select history is well documented.

brian1951 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 25, 2020 2:07 pm

RAF96 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 25, 2020 1:20 pm

brian1951 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 24, 2020 6:45 pm If its the latest Pacer with a next 18 decoder, i think the select will no doubt have problems with this latest type of decoder.

Why? - is the decoder not NMRA compliant, or is there another theory.

The decoder is compliant. The select history is well documented.

Ancient history at that.
The current updated Select is a far different beast to the ‘bad press’ introductory model.