Chrissaf Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 I had issues where the socket was making intermittent contact. What it might be is the capacitor across the motor, they tend to have a habit of going short circuit, which would explain why your TTS gets hot. On my class 66, the capactor went completely short circuit, the loco was only 6 months old and had hardly been used, because I never suspected it could be that it also took out my other TTS decoder that I was using to fault find. Fortunately, Hornby replaced both. The thing is on the class 66 if it is a Hornby, the capacitor is buried up inside the bogie with the motor on. If it is the TTS decoder, it will eventually die on its own, but I suspect that capacitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 TIP: As a newbie poster on the forum, just be aware that the 'Blue Button with the White Arrow' is not a 'Reply to this post' button. If you want to reply to any of the posts, scroll down and write your reply in the reply text box at the bottom of the page and click the Green 'Reply' button..See also – further TIPs on how to get the best user experience from this forum.https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/tips-on-using-the-forum/. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoop Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 I had issues where the socket was making intermittent contact. What it might be is the capacitor across the motor, they tend to have a habit of going short circuit, which would explain why your TTS gets hot. On my class 66, the capactor went completely short circuit, the loco was only 6 months old and had hardly been used, because I never suspected it could be that it also took out my other TTS decoder that I was using to fault find. Fortunately, Hornby replaced both. The thing is on the class 66 if it is a Hornby, the capacitor is buried up inside the bogie with the motor on. If it is the TTS decoder, it will eventually die on its own, but I suspect that capacitor. Thank you for your speedy reply. Yes it is a hornby and not sure the exact age but looks pretty new. As I bought it second hand wonder if it is still in warranty? or if anyone knows how warranty works? not sure if it is anything I can fix myself or get someone to have a look at. sounds a blighter to get to let alone replace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashbang Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 You don't replace motor capacitors, you cut them out and throw them away. 😆 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 I think if I remember the bogie unclicks, Flashbang is absolutely correct, just cut it out. Fortunately it is across the motor connection so just snip it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Service sheet 369 shows the loco basics even if not the TTS bits.As Colin says the bogie is just clipped into the chassis frame bridge, squeeze the post to release it. Then the motor housing is dismantled by removing the screws and you will see the capacitor(s) on the side of the motor. As advised snip it/them out. The awkward bit will be relocating the pickups upon assembly as they are sure to fall out./media/tinymce_upload/6ea3e0b95e78ae11ea2b255b53827e89.png Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 I remember it was a pain to get to, in my case there was no choice. I would like to know if it is the capacitor, it is very unusual for them to die, but they do. These are a bit new and they are not electrolytic capacitors but several years ago, some Chinese firm made loads of duff electrolytic capacitors, which unfortunately got fitted into PC Motherboards. A few years later PCs were dropping like flies because of unexplained issues. Basically the electrolytics were dying before their time. I used to complain a lot about TTS decoders, they are not the most robust of items but generally of late I have had no issue with them. Most of the issues I have had are lack of insulation and trying to squeeze them into a small space, both my fault. Having a Tester to test them before I installed them, solved an awful lot of issues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoop Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 I Snipped it out was very easy to access once the bogie was out. It was easy to snip it Straight off. And guess what ....works a charm. I have test run it a few times today and continually for about 20 minutes and no problems apart from a bit of dirty track which holted my operations for a few eager minutes. Seems to have done the trick, as it is now responding better than ever. I am making the most of it as I have had my share of problems setting up my layout. Now to sip tea and observe the temperamental fruits of my labour. I took pictures of the process as I thought it would help others if needed but was unable to upload them. Any ideas? Does any one know a way of testing the capacitor to make sure it was the problem? I haven't any special tools to measure voltage etc.. Thanks again all for your help ! would have never suspected that little blighter -happy modelling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 I took pictures of the process as I thought it would help others if needed but was unable to upload them. Any ideas?.Read TIP8 TIP: As a newbie poster on the forum, just be aware that the 'Blue Button with the White Arrow' is not a 'Reply to this post' button. If you want to reply to any of the posts, scroll down and write your reply in the reply text box at the bottom of the page and click the Green 'Reply' button..See also – further TIPs on how to get the best user experience from this forum.https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/tips-on-using-the-forum/. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 I know I am not allowed to say this, I will probably get jumped on, but do you think that they may have had a bad batch of capacitors when they made this run of class 66s. My one went short circuit and appears removing it may have improved yours. Trouble is Hornby will never know because we do the fix for them. As for testing capacitors I think you can buy a tester, but in all my years working in electronics I have never used one, it was easier just to change it. The trouble is that capacitor absorbs all the spikes from the motor in DC mode so if it is slighlty suspect, it is going to fail. If you are using DCC it is a good idea to remove them, although having said that, they are still in place in most of my Bachmann locos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 Of course you are allowed to say that Colin, may even twig a mod to give Hornby feedback there is a pattern of faulty capacitors on this loco, if 2 is a pattern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoop Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 I believe it is extremely possible Colin, there may well be lots of people out there frying through chips without knowing the problem. if it wasn't for your experience I would have burnt through a couple more chips myself. Although it may be difficult to ever know for sure, I am convinced it was the cause of my issues. From now on if I am not using the loco on DC I'll be removing them - you can always wack em back on if needed For selling etc... If anyone else out there can fry an egg on their class 66, or it starts being stubborn and ignoring you . Cut the capacitor out and see if it solves it. Also let us know as we would be very interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 I have just purchased a class 66 with tts sound. It worked a dream for a couple of days but last night it seemed to work a while then stop responding. If I take it off and wait it sometimes leaps back into life again. Very strange sometimes adding another loco makes it spring back into life. My first thought was the track connections. I re soldered droppers etc... And my other logos work fine. Just tested again and the 66 worked a dream for ten mins or so but then stopped. The chip felt quite hot so left it and again started up after resting for ten minutes. Also the horn sometimes doesn't respond and have to ask it a few times. I am using Hornsby select controller. So unable to edit cvs.Any advise will be much appreciated as it is a little frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 @HoopAlso if any moderators out there could change the name of the thread to:"Issues with class 66 with TTS chip not responding and Getting unusually hot- issue possibly solved?".The title is changed but needed to be truncated as there is a limit on the length of the title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2e0dtoeric Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 Although not directly connected, Dapol's DCC sound water tower had a similar problem - a faulty capacitor. When run on a lower dc volltage - no problem, run it on DCC and eventually it went BANG in a big way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 @Ericm0hff That is really weird, RAF96 is going to love this, I don't really know that much about capacitors, other than for smoothing and taking out transients.I have always worked in jobs where reliabilty was more important than cost so I just specified good ones well within the voltage rating, because of the temperature range even the modules in the vehicles used decent components. I would have thought the capacitor would have an easier life on DCC, so should be less likely to fail, but obviously not. Those disc ones were always an issue, people use then because they are cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2e0dtoeric Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 If I recall, they were electrolyic can cap's - rated at 10v, (possibly an assembly or design error?) which on a 9v or less voltage were quite happy, but on 16v pseudo ac, they were overstressed, and literally blew their tops off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 Oh dear, that is a terrible mistake to make. A 20 volt would have been better, but again the higher the voltage they get bigger and more expensive. Probably in Dapols case they wanted it small, I had the same issue when I was looking for capacitors for "stay alive". Even normal DC is 12 volts, so they were still 2 volts off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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