TT-Man Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 Why is it that Hornby do not put any information on the packaging or the instruction sheets of locos that says what type of decoder can be fitted?It is most unhelpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTSR_NSE Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 Which loco are you referring to? Most of the recent (DCC Ready) ones include decoder fitting instructions in the maintenance sheet provided.Locos that aren’t DCC Ready e.g. Railroad 0-4-0s won’t, since these weren’t designed with decoders in mind, & require soldering (& sometimes modelling) skills to incorporate a decoder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 The decoder type is written on the box of all DCC-Ready locos. Factory fitted loco show as DCC-Fitted with an X after the SKU (R-number) and sound fitted show as XS or TTS or TXS.Other manufacturers adopt similar labelling.In addition the Tech Spec for each loco tells of the decoder type… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TT-Man Posted March 20, 2023 Author Share Posted March 20, 2023 I think your comments are mistaken and misleading.I have 8 Hornby locos all bought this year. All are DCC ready. None of them have any decoder information written on the box or in the instructions. There is no way to tell from the item bought what type of decoder they take i.e. Next18, Plux16, 8 Pin, 6 Pin etc. You either have to remove the body/tender to look or find information on the web. What’s so difficult about putting information on the box or in the instructions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 Do you know TT-Man you are absolutely right, the ones that contain 21 pin sockets are clearly labelled but I was checking my ones I have bought in the last year and bar the 9F Evening Star and Elizabeth both 21 pin, none of them are labelled on the box. I never noticed. For Class 60 Helvellyn which is very new I read the instruction sheet included and it has a picture of an 8 pin decoder with header but nowhere as far as I can see is there mention of which one you fit. Even the high specification Hornby Dublo ones don't have it and that is December 2022. All Hornby locos up to when they released the purple Elizabeth are 8 pin but then there are some old exceptions where they dabbled with 21 pin, like City of Sheffield and a few others although I don't know the exact list. It is only recently that they have started including diagrams of fitting them. Something I complained about ages ago. So it looks like if it is 21 pin they label it, if 8 pin they don't. I don't have any TT ones so I cannot comment on those, I assume they do as they are a different fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 Just for clarity, so which technical specification are we referring to? It definitely appears in the catalogue but on most of my models no technical specification is included. I assume it must appear in the Hornby documentation housed on the web. There again just lately some models have been labelled as 8 pin and turn up with 21 pin. I am about to receive a Hornby Dublo Nigel Gresley so that will interesting as to which one they fit.The only saving grace is I have checked my models from Sonic, Rapido and Accurascale and again as far as I can see it also doesn't appear on the box although it does mention it in the instructions, but there again I always buy these DCC fitted so there is no need. Dapol and Bachmann it is clearly labelled along with the part number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 TT, I think you a being a little rough on the early answers you have. Everything I’ve looked at lately has the decoder pin configuration info in its Tech Specs in the Shop, just as Rob has posted for you. Sometimes you have to scroll some distance to find it, but it’s there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TT-Man Posted March 21, 2023 Author Share Posted March 21, 2023 TT, I think you a being a little rough on the early answers you have.Everything I’ve looked at lately has the decoder pin configuration info in its Tech Specs in the Shop, just as Rob has posted for you. Sometimes you have to scroll some distance to find it, but it’s there. I wasn’t asking if there was information on the website. The question in my original post was quite clear.If I bought something that used batteries I wouldn’t expect to have to do a web search to find out if it needed AA or D cells.Also there are some DCC ready locos that don't even have the information on the website.Of course if people want to defend this incompetence that's up to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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