Why I hate 8 pin DCC sockets

[ColinB]

I was thinking long ago why is it I hate 8 pin DCC sockets so much. I mean I am always fitting them into my old converted non DCC ready locos and today really summed it up.

I was fitting a sound decoder into a Hornby Rebuilt Royal Scot/Patriot loco. I had moved the DCC socket into the tender so there was enough room, then you start hitting all the issues. For a start you have a huge length of wire that you have to find room for, then you have that flying lead that you must insulate as it is a port and it touches the body, the decoder goes bang. Then if you don't like the speaker, you could try resoldering the new speaker wires to the decoder if you have super steady hands and a decent soldering iron but generally it is cut the old one off and solder the new one to the leads and insulate with heat shrink. Then the next issue is with a Hornby tender because of that huge length of wire you spend ages trying to make sure it is coiled out the way. So the 5 minute fitting job is nearer an hour. With the 21 pin socket you just push the decoder on, making sure that the missing pin is in the right place, 2 minute job. If the speaker is wrong, you just solder the new one to the large pads on the 21 pins socket PCB.

So what do other people think?

[96RAF]

I have always thought the 8-pin socket was a bit of a gash job, certainly it doesn’t appear to have been a well thought out engineering solution to mounting a decoder. Also why not make the decoder a direct plug device instead of relying upon that harness, which as you say when not being troublesome with the odd wire falling off, needs to be stowed. Fitting a header like the six pin decoder would have been a better mounting.

[RDS]

It works both ways. I have been grateful for the flying lead versions at times, because to fit a Decoder to Loco's that need direct wiring, it is simple to just snip the plug off and solder the wires as required.

[ColinB]

I suppose that is the difference, I never hard wire the decoder. It makes maintenance more difficult and if there are issues with the decoder, it is not an easy job to substitute another one. Generally if space is tight I use a 6 pin socket. I have one Hornby loco City of Sheffield that has Hornby's attempt at a 21 pin socket, really nice circuit board that is well engineered. Why they replaced it with a poor 8 pin pcb that whenever you solder to it creates solder bridges, defeats me. The latest T version of the PCB is much better and is easier to solder to, but you have the issue that you have a decoder with effectively 9 wires, connecting to a socket that has only 8.

[96RAF]

Blame NMRA for the 8-pin standard Colin. I suppose they could have used a 10-pin socket with a blank pin and gone for a direct fit, which would have catered for the purple wire.

I only have one loco that is hard wired for TTS, the rest of the pre-DCC Ready ones have had sockets fitted (NEM652 headers).

[ColinB]

I just wish Hornby would have sold those 21 pin PCBs as a spare part. They obviously did at one point because most of the spares stockists have them listed as a spare part but even if they had them in stock the price is horrendous. I did pickup a couple second hand, hence how come I realise that they were a good part and they fit on the same two posts as the 8 pin one.

[Bulleidboy]

Most of my loco's (all?) are fitted with 8-pin TCS DP2X-UK decoders. They work well enough for me and there are no harnesses to find space for.

[Brew Man]

Yes, I like the TCS DP2X UK decoders too. It is unfortunate that the UK wing of the company folded as their price was over a tenner cheaper. It is good to know though that they are still available from a couple of suppliers in the UK, albeit at the US price.