No Sound from TTS R8106 sound decoder

[daveb1707822606]

only just started to run my 2 Hornby locomotives Flying Scotsman and Mallard, which I got last Christmas from my wife. Had to wait all this time until I got my ECoS Digital Controller. Both were running ok with sound. The flying Scotsman started to make a grating/distorted sound when chuffing then suddenly sound packed up. Have tried a reset CV8 write 8 but still no sound at all. As far as I am aware they are still under warranty. Looks like the TTS R8106 decoder has a problem. Any ideas?

[96RAF]

If its under warranty then go for an exchange, but my guess would be the speaker is duff.

[Chrissaf]

Hornby TTS speakers have a long history of failing. Sometimes preceded by crackling distortion.

[morairamike]

Speaker 99% sure. My A4 did the same thing even with only ever having 50% volume setting. Hornby sent me a new speaker but I replaced it with sugar cube much better sound and still going 4 years later.

[daveb1707822606]

Speaker 99% sure.......I replaced it with sugar cube........

 

 

Thanks for the tip. Was thinking about the sugar cube speaker. Will see what other response I get from tech support. Many thanks. DaveB

[William-762209]

Hi, slightly off subject, but after a pause of 6 months, I just tried to run a 9F loco that has a Hornby TTS sound card fitted. It took me a few hours to work out that the black plastic board cover, hiding the circuit board and all the wiring, held the problem … I cut the board cover off, and saw straight away, both speaker wires have literally dropped off the circuit board. Must have been poorly soldered, the loco has been stored in a display cabinet since last used.

Problem now is to try to find where the speakers connect to the board … if anyone can post a close up photograph of the speaker connections to the 9F TTS circuit board, or knows where I can see a photo online, I’d be very thankful …

[Chrissaf]

You are more likely to get an answer if you were to post some close up pictures of your board and the unterminated wires. Experienced members are more likely to spot were the wires go.

However, If the sound decoder is a TTS decoder as you indicate, then the speaker wires would normally terminate on the TTS decoder itself and not a different PCB board within the loco. There are TTS images all over the Internet if you Google, that show the speaker termination points.

Note that posted images will be held back for approval and will not appear instantly.

EDIT: Rob has kindly posted a TTS image below.

[96RAF]

If it is less than one year old contact Hornby about a replacement under warranty.

Soldering the speaker wires back on is not easy. They go where I have green circled on this picture (credit as seen) - the red and black wires.

Ignore the red and blue pointers as they are for something else.

If the wires are off at the actual speaker then show us a picture as requested just in case it is a non standard speaker. You should not have had to cut off any cover unless it was a heat shrink tube on the decoder. The speaker cover is held on by screws.

[William-762209]

Thanks both, for your help … here are both sides of the TTS Sound Decoder in question … yes, I had to cut the cover to reveal the board.

Mod note - your duplicate posts removed.

[Chrissaf]

Neither of your two images seem to match the images of TTS decoders published on the Internet. The Internet images all duplicate the TTS decoder shown in Rob's reply which doesn't look anything like your images.

Are you absolutely sure that your decoder is a TTS and not another brand of sound decoder. If it is genuinely a TTS decoder, then it might be a variant that Rob will recognise that is less common than the usual TTS decoders.

Do you know the history of this loco, did the sound work before you put it away on display.

To me, the images in your photo look more like a normal non sound decoder. You say BOTH speaker wires are detached. I can understand one wire being detached, but to have both of them broken seems to me to be rather unusual. If you have never played sounds on this loco and particularly if you purchased the loco second hand. Then my suspicions would be that the TTS failed and the previous owner replaced the TTS with a normal decoder and pushed the speaker wires into the cover to decieve the person they sold it to.

[96RAF]

I had my suspicions as well Chris as TTS decoders have a round blob on the reverse side in a plant on sub-board, usually marked with the sound load code number like this P2, nor are they sleeved, so that flags up user intervention.

Williams one looks remarkably like an early R8249, given the small blue dot in the corner of the MCU chip.

[Howbi]

Definitely a Hornby standard 8 pin decoder R8249.

[William-762209]

Just to clear up some of your questions … the Hornby TTS Sound Decoder was purchased from Hattons, Rails of Sheffield, or Derails.

The loco was brand new. The Decoder was brand new, originally fitted by myself. I have fitted dozens of Decoders over the years, none have had speaker wires drop off before.

The Decoder worked perfectly fine all through 2020 until I placed it in my display cabinet in a spare room. It hadn’t been touched since, not until I ran it last week on my layout. The loco ran fine, but no sound, hence I slipped the body off the loco and discovered both speaker leads were free from the PCB. The only assumption I can give is that the solder joints were never made securely in the first place.

This is not the first instance I have encountered in over 60 years, of insecure Hornby connections. Another recent disconnection of soldered joints was on a Stephenson’s Rocket.

On closer inspection, I can confirm the soldered joints are poorly made, there are no blobs of solder, very little solder used, so it looks to me that the wires just detach themselves, very easily.

Having experience of making my own PCB over a period of 60 years, I do not rate the quality of the workmanship very highly on some more recent products.

I have now taken this up with Hornby Customer Services, and await their reply.

[RDS]

@William

Moderator Note:

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[96RAF]

60 years of Hornby - good going.

The decoder was brand new and worked previously, but unusual in that it was sleeved and doesn’t match a typical TTS decoder blank. Is there any chance you may have swapped the decoder with another type at some stage and forgotten so doing.