TTS Sound decoder R7141 Merchant Navy (Rebuilt) not working

[KarakaBridge]

Hi everyone

I recently bought the R7141 TTS decoder and have fitted it to my old R2383 City Of Nottingham Dutches Class loco. The decoder doesn't register on my DCC controller and I cant manually load it. I  have check all the wire conections and they seem fine. I do get an electrical static sound coming from the tender other than that it seems like its dead. I did at one stage have sound coming from the speaker for about a minute even though it hadnt been loaded to the controller (wierd)

The engine was working fine on DC pre installation of the deocder, I had also cleaned all the wheels, pick ups and tracks but nothing. 

Two weeks earlier I fitted the R8117 Princess Coronation class decoder to my old R2271 Princess Coronation Princess Alice and that went without a hitch.

I spent 6 hours trying to work it out, any thoughts on what I might be missing or doing wrong?

[Chrissaf]

The decoder doesn't register on my DCC controller and I cant manually load it.

 

Please be specific .... which DCC controller?

 

Please define what you mean by the term 'register'?

 

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/

 

[ColinB]

I hate to say it but they sound like the symptoms of a dead TTS decoder. What you need to do is backtrack and fit to the original loco it worked with and see if it still works. You say City of Nottingham Duchess loco, I am not an expert, but from the ones I have seen on EBay this is a tender driven loco with a Ringfield motor. The ringfield motors current can draw more current than the the TTS maximum current so that may be the issue. If it has been damaged return it to Hornby under their "no fault" guarantee. I recently bought a cheap decoder off EBay made in Taiwan, it had current limit on the motor drive, so if they can do it on a cheap £16.00 decoder, I think it is about time Hornby sorted it out on theirs.

[96RAF]

@Colin - if you read the OP it was a new buy fitted to that loco. The other example was fitted to another loco.

 

This is where a decoder test rig comes into its own as you can test a new decoder and set it up on the rig, then if it plays up in the loco you know its not the decoder.

 

I would guess the decoder is faulty snd should be returned for replacement, but I would also be looking at the loco wiring, especially the underside of the socket to see if there is any solder bridging, or even mis-wiring, etc.

[ColinB]

Yes when I read it the second time, I gathered that but he did mention something about pre installation so I assumed it was fitted in another loco. Yes, a decoder tester is a good idea, I have one and it is great for testing and occasional fixing of decoders. As I say I suspect it has gone "overcurrent", I found my ringfield based locos had a habit of killing Hornby decoders, not always at first but eventually generally once they hit a point or went round a bend. Even my HST that has a 5 pole pole motor killed the TTS on a hot day. 

[KarakaBridge]

thanks for your comments,

Chrissaf, I have a Trix MS2 digital controller which so far has registered all my Hornby TTS Sound Decoders I've installed. On the MS2 you simply put the loco on the track with the decoder fitted, press find and it registeres on the controller. The other option if this doesnt work is to manually enter it with a new address, which I did but it didnt register and the loco wouldn't run.

ColinB, the engine is loco mounted and I think its called a 5 pole motor (see attached photo), I bought the City of Nottingham new back in 2004, its got the same engine as the Princess Alice which is the same age. Had about 3 hours running time over the years. 

RAF96, thanks for the heads up on the decoder test rig.

One last thing guys, do all the TTS decoders have the same max current? 

[Chrissaf]

Now that you have explained the registration process with this non Hornby controller. The probability is that the issue is with the new TTS decoder purchase, as your previous TTS purchases have not had issues.

 

One last thing guys, do all the TTS decoders have the same max current?

 

Yes.... 500mA

[ColinB]

If the loco is motor driven then the only thing I can suggest is check there isn't a capacitor across the motor. These sometimes go short circuit and take the decoder with them or it might just be a duff decoder. I am sure I had one that did this in the past, so it is not unusual. I think it is a return to Hornby case. Email them for a repair number unless you can return it to the person you bought it off. They don't seem to be the most reliable of devices, I can understand when I do something stupid to damage them, but I seem to had quite a few that have had issues when all I had done is fitted them into a perfectly functioning loco (normally one that has a DCC decoder in it previously).