TTS and Heljan locos

[hendom]

Fitting a Class 31 TTS decoder to a Heljan Class 26. After just a minute or two, and with limited or no sound the decoder seems to induce a short circuit (flashing light) in the R8311 eLink black box. I've tried to follow the advice here and returned the decoder to Hornby 3 times for resetting/renewal. The fourth one has just failed. Apart from resetting CV1 to my loco address I've not tried to rewrite any other CV address on the last two decoders. (I tried resetting the first one by entering 8 in cv8, with limited success). When I refit the DCC Concepts decoder to the loco it runs fine again. Is there a problem with Heljan and TTS?

My Hornby TTS equipped Ketley Hall, which I've used to check the layout and programming track has been fine too.

 

[Rog RJ]

Some Heljan locos are known to take a lot of current so you would be best to do a stall current test to make sure you are not overloading the decoder.  Look at Brian Lambert's site, http://www.brian-lambert.co.uk for details of how to do the stall test.

[96RAF]

TTS decoders are not heavy duty decoders - see spec sheet for motor , function and overall current limits.

Rob

[hendom]

Thanks for the advice guys, and sorry for the delay in replying - layout was soaked by a burst pipe, which unfortunately took priority. Stall/full load test results as follows:-

                                                          Full Load                               Stall

Heljan Class 26                                   0.75A                                   1.1A

Heljan Class 16                                   0.70A                                    0.8A?

Bachmann Class 20                             0.33A                                   0.82A

Hornby Ketley Hall with TTS                 0.22A                                   0.50A

So the max. combined load (motor and functions) quoted for the separate Hornby TTS decoder at 800 mA probably caused my problems. Have purchased a Hornby Railroad Class 31 with TTS fitted instead, - a bit basic but at that price I don't mind inproving it a bit.

[Rog RJ]

Thanks for the update.  Always good to get some feedback.  Was your layout badly damaged by the water?

[96RAF]

On another forum people have successfully run heavy current draw locomotives using a suitable decoder for motor control with the TTS decoder piggybacked for the sounds.

 

Rob

[96RAF]

Further to my previous post I should add that while piggy backing works reasonably well for diesels which take their engine sound cues from a speed step requested/achieved bracket setting, whereas steam locos rely on BEMF to control the chuff/coast as the chuff rate increases according to the road speed not the throttle requested. I.e. You can't spin the wheels on a steamer except by use of that slip spot sound but you can manually notch up or thrash a diesel regardless of road speed.

 

Rob

[Howbi]

I have a Heljan class 47 fitted with a class 47 TTS decoder which works exactly the same as the Hornby Class 47 TTS using the Elite controller.......HB

[hendom]

Thanks for the update.  Always good to get some feedback.  Was your layout badly damaged by the water?

Managed to intercept most of the water on a pile of old towels but none of my locos or rolling stock affected as I'd packed them away while doing scenery and scatter materials. Card kits managed to escape too. About to expand onto a handheld as a mousepad is a bit slow moving between locos so a touch screen may save me relying on the ALL STOP button. Interesting that some users have problems with different set ups while others seem to get away O.K. with them. e.g. Windows 10.