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Using TTS decoder without Speaker


Riddles

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I have bought the Tornado TTS decoder but my model is one of the early ones where the decoder is intended to be fitted in the loco and not the tender. I will obviously need to extend the speaker wires from the decoder to the tender, passing them through holes I will need to drill.

My question is: will the decoder still control the motor without the speaker being attached and if so will it harm the audio section of the decoder?

Obviously I would make sure that the two speaker wires do not touch each other when power is applied. I would like to test the loco before fitting the speaker in the tender.

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Q1 = Yes

Q2 = No

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But why go to all the hassle of putting the TTS speaker in the Tender with the issue of drilling holes and extending wires. See this previous similar query and the provided answers....take particular note of the suggestion of fitting a sugar cube speaker in the loco (replacing the overly large original TTS one) and negating the need to extend wires.

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Information on extending wiring from loco to tender.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/r3371-mallard/?p=1

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Information on sugar cube speakers (see Howbiman's post second one up from the bottom)

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/tornado-tts-intermittent-sound/?p=1/#post-228285

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EDIT: Howbiman, just got in in front of me as I was typing.

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Thanks for the very helpful responses. I decided on this occasion to go down the cheap and cheerful route and stick with the supplied speaker. The effect has far exceeded my expectations and is much louder than I expected. I glued the speaker inside the supplied enclosure to seal it and then glued the enclosure on top of the ballast weights in the tender. I drilled about 15 tiny holes up through the "coal" and they are invisible from the top. I might need to adjust the pickups on the wheels as the loco does have a tendency to stall on pointwork and less than perfectly clean track.

There didn't seem to be much space in the boiler for a sugarcube speaker as well as the decoder and I've managed to keep the wiring pretty neat and tidy between the loco and tender.

Chrissaf, when I phoned Hornby to ask the questions you have answered for me, the person I spoke to (possibly Mark) said running the loco with the speaker removed might damage the decoder although I couldn't understand why it should, especially if I didn't turn on any of the sound functions..

 

 

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Chrissaf, when I phoned Hornby to ask the questions you have answered for me, the person I spoke to (possibly Mark) said running the loco with the speaker removed might damage the decoder although I couldn't understand why it should, especially if I didn't turn on any of the sound functions.

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I think that sounds just like someone being extra cautious to cover their backs. I can't think of any audio amplifier technology that would be damaged by an open circuit speaker output.

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I think that sounds just like someone being extra cautious to cover their backs. I can't think of any audio amplifier technology that would be damaged by an open circuit speaker output.

I thought that might have been the case as well, hence my asking the question on this forum and getting a more useful reply. Thanks again.

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The OP clearly stated that he just wanted to temporarily TEST the decoder motor function in the loco before trying to wire the speaker into the tender.

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Keep up at the back........ 😀

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