TTS Decoder Class 47 R8103 - V Trains

[johnbet]

I have just fitted Hornby R8103 to a fairly old V Trains Class 47 (albeit it is DCC ready - 8 pin). All the sounds work fine. The two problems I have encountered are;

1. The lights work fine in one direction - Head and tail lights. But in the other direction all lights flash (head and tail lights at both ends). The bulbs are LED

2. When engaging the main motor sound F1 there is an intemittent sound in addition th the main motor sound and when the sound occurs the locomotive edges forward a fractio each time. the inremittent sound appears to be at a regular interval.

Anyone any ideas?

Thank you - John

[johnbet]

Just noticed that if i add movement in the direction which the lights are flashing the flashing stops -  also in this direction there is no intermittent sound on the main engine sound or creep when stationery.

Seems to be a faulty decoder?

[johnbet]

Just fitted a Class 37 TTS decoder to the same Loco and same thing is happening  - therefore likely the loco has some issues, or there was a bad batch of decoders. Will try on another loco shortly - hornby or bachmann - to test futher.

[Chrissaf]

1. The lights work fine in one direction - Head and tail lights. But in the other direction all lights flash (head and tail lights at both ends). The bulbs are LED.

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Now it would have been helpful if you had clarified which direction of loco travel is the good direction and which direction of loco travel is the bad one. But never mind, I will give two options to compensate for your lack of posted detail.

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Get yourself a fresh fully charged PP3 9 volt battery and a 'wire tailed' battery clip, and clip them together to obtain a temporary 9 volt DC testing supply.

Examples below (other brands of battery are available):

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Now remove the TTS decoder 8 pin plug from the Loco 8 pin socket. Touch the red wire (positive) of the battery clip to Pin 7 (blue wire) of the 8 pin loco socket. Now if the lights worked normally when the loco was going forward, then touch the black wire (negative) of the battery clip to Pin 2 (yellow wire) of the 8 pin loco socket. Do the rear white and front red LEDs come on normally or do they still flash.

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If the good direction (lights working normally) was when the loco was in reverse, then touch the battery clip black wire to Pin 6 (white wire) instead. Do the front white and rear red come on normally or do they still flash.

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See drawing below for where on the loco socket the relevant Pins are.

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If in the two tests above, the LEDs come on normally as expected and don't flash, then suspect that the decoder might have an issue.

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However, If using the battery, the LEDs still flash or do not light up 100% as expected (i.e battery negative (black) on white socket pin lights up loco front white LEDs AND battery negative (black) on yellow socket pin lights up the rear white LEDs), then suspect something is wrong with the loco wiring.

[johnbet]

Hi thankyou for your reply - have undertaken the test as described and the lights work as expected in both directions.

Interestingly i have a Class 40 TTS sound loco (no lights) and that too makes the intemittent sound on main engine when stationery.

As such i have 3 decoders now in total which do the same thing.

Time for a word with the supplier or Hornby I feel.

[Chrissaf]

Probably a 'red herring' or 'wild goose chase' or any other metaphor that you might care to think of, but this might possibly have a bearing on the issue. Particularly if you are using a non Hornby DCC controller (you didn't say what controller you were using, but looking at your posting history you did indicate that you have used RailMaster / eLink in the past. Maybe still so today).

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https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/hornby-tts-decoders-reported-problems/

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In essence the post linked above relates to a bad batch of TTS decoders with faulty firmware, that Hornby are upgrading 'free of charge'.

[96RAF]

Which controller are you using?.

 

Another couple of suggestions...

 

Try each ‘duff’ decoder in another known good diesel with lights. Does the fault follow the decoder or not.

 

If your controller allows it reset each decoder by writing value 8 to CV8. After a reset is the fault still apparent.

 

Rob

 

[johnbet]

Chrissaf/RAF96

Thank you for the input. The culprit appears to be the controller. Initially I was using the ESU Lok Programmer drivers cab.

I then tried e-link and railmaster and all is well.

Unsure as to why TTS decoders don't like the ESU control but as I use e-link for my layout it is not a problem. I generally use ESU decoders, hence the Lokprogrammer,  and find them more flexible than hornby TTS but they comes at a price.

At least this may be helpful for others to know. Sorry for the 'red herrring'

Many thanks again.

John

[96RAF]

I was asked some time ago to try to program TTS decoders using a Lokprogrammer - didn’t work, b e c a u s e TTS decoders are not supported by the ESU programmer software. The package does support a small range of other decoders than ESU but not many and certainly not TTS.

Rob

[Fishmanoz]

I wouldn’t treat Chris’s last post as a red herring and would contact Hornby as per the instructions in his linked post. I think there is a good chance your decoders have faulty firmware. 

[96RAF]

Fishy

Lok Programmer is an ESU device for programming their own sound decoders. By programming I mean building and installing the sound files. Part of the associated software is a virtual cab so you can try out your changes. It is not designed to nor will it program TTS decoders or indeed any decoders not on its own listing.

 

The OP has said his decoders work fine with eLink / RM so I doubt any or all of them are affected by the TTS core programming error.

Rob