TTS Sound decoder

[BullDog pkl]

I would like to put TTS sound decoders in to my

CLASS 5XP duke of sutherland LMS Patriot R357 

CLASS 7P Princess royal LMS  R050

CLASS 38XX Country of Oxford  R390

- I CAN NOT FIND ANY AND DO NOT KNOW WHAT ONES TO FIT?

CAN ANYBODY HELP.

[2e0dtoeric]

Welcome to this mad-house , Bulldog.

Re the TTS decoders, there is only a limited range at the moment, so all you can do is fit one intended for another loco that might sound similar.

ie - same number of cylinders, similar whistle, etc.

Which DCC controller are you using? And which update is it loaded with. That will have an effect on what sounds you can access.

[WilliamDavid]

I, and others, have used the one for the Princess Coronation R8117, on the Princess Royal classes.

Close enough for me.

Looking at Hatton adverts in the Hornby Magazine special 'Express Steam' I see they recommend the following compatibilities .

R8110 Castle - Grange Class, Star Class.

R8116 S15 - King Arthur N15, Lord Nelson,                           B12.

R8115 Merchant Navy - West Country,                                                       Battle of Britain.

R8117 Coronation - Princess Royal,

                                    Royal Scot, Patriot.

R8108 Tornado - Peppercorn A1.

R8106 A3 - Peppercorn A2, B17.

R8107 A4 - Class P2, Duke of Gloucester.

R8113 9F - Clan, Britannia.

[Sootei]

I bought from Hattons sale  a BR 2-Hal  DCC Ready only to be told there is no TTS sound decoder to fit tihis, as an experiment i bought a Class 31 TTS sound Decder to fit to this.It was simple to fit although i had to remove the seats to fit it in.I tested the engine before i  put the body on and it worked perfectly.Put the body on and ran it at first it worked ,went up to full speed and then it would not stop.i had to turn the power off to stop it.Then nothing worked.turned off and left it .Went back next day started working perfectly and then wouldnt stop again and nothing worked.I have a Select contoller are these Decoders just made to fit the engine they are suppose to fit .Any ideas?

[Chrissaf]

Sootei

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I have a Select controller are these Decoders just made to fit the engine they are suppose to fit

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A decoder is a decoder, it has no idea what loco it is fitted in.

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TTS decoders are more sensitive to track power issues than other decoders. TTS control issues come up time and time again on this forum. There is never one specific fix that covers all scenarios. Sometimes it is the firmware revision in the controller, sometimes it is the firmware revision in the TTS decoder itself (but that usually only shows up as an issue when using non Hornby controllers). There is one fix that does come up a few times that fits in with your described issue and that is where Hornby track power connectors are used.

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Now you have not given ANY information about your layout, so what follows may not have any bearing on your situation. But just in case.....read on.

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Now if your layout was originally a DC Analogue layout or is based upon Hornby's Extension Track Packs then you are probably using one or more Hornby power tracks and/or power clips. Two power clips are for example included in the Hornby Track Extension Pack C as part of the R8201 Link Wire kit.

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The Hornby DC Analogue power track / clip products include a capacitor that is soldered across the rails. This capacitor really upsets 'DCC decoder fitted locos' and in particular some of the TTS decoders are more prone to being affected by this than others.

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Regardless of whether you think that your Hornby power tracks / clips are DCC versions or not. Open up the power track / clips of ALL or ANY that are fitted to the layout and remove ANY and ALL capacitors that you might or might not find in them. If you do find that your power connectors have capacitors, this will almost certainly be the cause of your issue. The photos below give details.

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PS - As you have a Select, to get the best out of a TTS decoder. You need firmware revision 1.5. If you have a very early firmware then that too can contribute to being a cause of your issue. When the Select powers up, watch the LCD screen. Three pairs of number will appear sequentially "nn" followed by 30 followed by 03, where "nn" is the firmware revision number 10 = revision 1.0 through to 15 for revision 1.5.

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Tell us what "nn" is on your Select when you power it up.

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Another thing to try, is to 'factory reset' the Select controller using the instructions in the Select manual. This sometimes helps.

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TIP: I write long posts. If you intend to write a reply, it would be appreciated if you didn't use the 'White Arrow in Blue Box' button. This is not a 'Reply to this post button. It is best to write any reply you want to make in the 'Reply Text Box' at the very bottom of the page and click the Green 'Reply' button.

 

Particularly as my reply includes an image. If you use the blue button, any reply you write will be held back for image approval. Even though it is already a previously published image.

[Fishmanoz]

What you are describing with the loco taking off flat out sounds like DC Runaway where the decoder cannot properly read the DCC signal and decides it must be DC.  As DCC puts full voltage to the track all the time, it takes off flat out. If you had a more capable controller, you could turn off DC Running in CV29 but the Select can’t do this. All you can do is keep the track and wheels spotlessly clean, the pickups tensioned on the wheels and remove capacitors as Chris describes above. 

[2e0dtoeric]

or find someone with a higher-level controller, and get them to change the cv for you.

[Sootei]

Thanks for all your tips regarding my problems with the controlling of my 2Hal fitted with sound decoder (DCC)I took the capacitors out and cleaned the track thourghly.Hey presto it works like it should no runaways and sounds good.Any one else experimented with putting TTS sound decoders in engines not designed for them?After christmas i am thinking of upgrading to the Elite controller.Although my layout is in the loft i did make one mistake in running  my Cock of the North at  full speed on one of the hottest days of the Summer oh dear silly me one blown decoder ,so a warning to all .

[Chrissaf]

I wish I had a £ for every time, removing DC Analogue capacitors resolved forum member control issues. It would be really helpful if Hornby would put more emphasis on documenting this issue in their product data-sheets and manuals.

[96RAF]

...Any one else experimented with putting TTS sound decoders in engines not designed for them?

...make one mistake in running  my Cock of the North at  full speed on one of the hottest days of the Summer oh dear silly me one blown decoder ,so a warning to all .

I have Tornado TTS in an 0-6-0 pannier tank and the chuff rate matches perfectly. I also have a CL 67 diesel TTS in a Class 90 electric. I have several TTS decoders matched to other locos only by number of cylinders.

 

TTS decoders have self protection on the motor circuit so it should have shut itself down before damaging itself.

 

Rob

[Sootei]

Well sorry the decoder blew because it was too hot so the self protection never worked.Still waiting to be repaired as Hornby had a shortage of decoders.Hopefully this month.I am only now getting into doing my own little jobs so might attempt changing a decoder if one goes.

[BullDog pkl]

Thanks for all you support with this problem, I have had to put a hold on all my modelling because of family health problems, things are getting a bit better now and hope to get back to doing my layout and trains setup. again thanks for all your help stay safe keep healthy.

I'm using RailMaster with eLink but not setup the layout yet, using small track and maintenance track to test and setup trains.

[ColinB]

I am pretty sure that the self protection is dependant on whether the decoder can get rid of the heat. It seems to happen on a lot of decoders that are supposed to have short circuit protection , that they just smoke on finding a short circuit. Last week I was using a Hattons decoder to power a length of DC track for testing. Unfortunately, there was a short on the loco and the decoder just fried itself. You might have to be a bit careful putting TTS decoders in old Ringfield powered locos, some of those motors draw more than the 0.5 amp limit for a TTS decoder.