Class 40 TTS Decoder

[rpjallan]

I notice that Hornby have listed in their new items for 2018 a stand alone TTS decoder for the Class 40 diesel. Having said that, I'm actually a bit disappointed that more stand alone TTS decoders weren't made available in the coming year. I would have thought this would have been a great market for Hornby in these tough times!

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Anyway, I mostly operate steam but I have the Bachmann/Rails Of Shefield LMS 10000 & 10001 diesels. I bought my first TTS fitted loco, R3382TTS 35023 Holland-Afrika Line just before Christmas and was so impressed I am now considering the TTS class 40 decoder for my LMS diesels. There doesn't currently seem to be a TTS class 40 model available so I'm just wondering if anyone who has one of these can give me some insight on the sounds of this model. Thank you in advance...

[96RAF]

I think it was on RMWeb forum DCC-Sound where there was a demo of a Class 40 TTS sounds.

 

I have used TTS in #other# locos by trying to match the engine type as this is the most common item, then its down to finding the one with the right horns - e.g. Class 47 horn is distinctive.

 

I think you will find that in time Hornby will expand the retro range to include everything released in a TTS loco. They are popular and it makes sense to have a full range. Now what about a Deltic.

Rob

[Lodge]

I have fitted the Class 40 TTS Decoder and speaker to a Bachmann Class 40, model 32-477. The earlier Bachmann's came with an 8 pin decoder socket, so it is a straight fit. I also have a Loksound 4 decoder in another Bachmann Class 40, and I must confess they sound and drive in a very similar manner.

For driving, I set the TTS decoder to Motor Algorithm 0, CV 150 to 0 with the default value of 8 for CV's 151 and 152. You may also have to tweak the other sound values to suit your chosen speaker enclosure, I changed most of them.

I have also fitted a Class 47 TTS Decoder to a 12 year old Heljan 47, again a straight fit, but this heavier model did require some tweaking of CV 151 and 152. These CV's appear to have a similar role as the dither functions on the Gaugemaster Decoders. CV 151 seems to affect the frequency and 152 the amplitude of the starting pulse of the motor, I ended up with CV 151 at 40 and CV 152 at 2. These values smoothed out the tendency for a jerky start and now the 47 is very controllable at starting and at low speeds.

Other points to note is that I found the acceleration and deceleration rates needed to be set at slightly higher values than those I used in the Lenz decoders that were previously fitted, to get scale speed right I have set CV's 3 and 4 at 50 and 40 respectively. I may also change the speaker as the Hornby one is a little thin on the base notes. Perhaps a Sugar Cube or similar. However, this is a quality sound chip for less than half the price of an ESU or Zimo decoder, well done Hornby! I am pleased with both conversions.  

I use JMRI Decoder Pro software on a Win 10 Laptop interfaced through a Hornby Elite for programming.

John

PS. to Hornby, a Class 20 TTS Decoder would be very welcome.

[TrainDriverJ]

Hi John. 

I am in no way knowledgeable about trains and really am just playing compared to all you very knowledgeable experts here but hasn't Hornby got a class 20 TTS decoder for preorder no R8118.  Don’t laugh if I missing something.