Dcc ready loco to dc track

[Marcus90]

Hi guys’n gals this will to most of you probably be a dumb question, but as a new hobbyist to the world of model railways, and having purchased the Limited edition Flying Scotsman as a special gift to me, will the additional Dcc electronics be damaged if I use it on the most basic oval, sidings and stationed layout, ie dc?

[96RAF]

All that DCC-Ready means is it has a socket ready for you to install a decoder to if you want to control it by DCC. Out of the box it is set up to run as a DC loco.

[Captain Stravaigin]

Hmm, I am afraid I still don't get this. So a DCC ready loco can run on a DC set up OK ?

But if I wish to upgrade to DCC I will have to purchase a seperate decoder for each engine? (I live in Malaysia - so logistics are important). What I had wanted to do was buy a loco from Hornby that was totally 100% ready for DCC. That now sounds like it will not work.

Would a 15v 4 amp R7337 help me at this stage in preparation for DCC upgrade ?

Cheers

Captain Stravaigin

[Yelrow]

Capt. S. Confusing, is it not. Buy a DCC Fitted loco, it will run on both, DCC,and dc. Buy a DCC Ready loco, that means, it’s fine for DC, and has provision for you to fit. A chip, which can be normal, or have sound. Either way, when fitted it will run and make noises on DCC. However, whilst it will also run on DC, sound is very limited, if at all. We have all been there. If you are going to run DCC, you will need a special controller. An Elite, in the case of Hornby, would be perfect. Does that help.

[ntpntpntp]

@captain yes, "DCC Ready" means it is sold as a DC loco, but has been designed to make it easy to fit a DCC decoder (purchased separately) when you want to upgrade to DCC.

If you want to buy a loco which which is sold to run on DCC you need to buy what is usually described as a "DCC Fitted" model. If you want sounds then look for "Sound Fitted".

To run DCC you will need a decoder in each loco (sound or non-sound, your choice), and a DCC command station (or if you go down the Hornby HM7000 route then you need the new Hornby Bluetooth decoders and an app on your phone or tablet, and a power supply to the track).

[P-Henny]

@Captain

Just to add, that the R7337 product you mentioned is designed as a product specifically for Hornby's brand new HM7000 decoder products when used with a Bluetooth wireless control system.

It is not a product suitable for direct DC Control as it does not include a variable speed controller interface.

The R7337 is made up as two physical items. A P9300 15 volt 4 amp fixed voltage output power supply and a R7324 power lead for when using the Bluetooth control option.

The P9300 power supply also comes bundled with the Hornby Elite DCC controller and is also an official upgrade power supply for the Hornby Select DCC controller that ships with the P9100 15 volts 1 Amp power supply. So you do not need to buy the P9300 in the form of the R7337 separately for traditional DCC control.

If you go down the Hornby HM7000 Bluetooth control route, and given you are located in Malaysia, then you are locking yourself in to ONLY (at the current time) using Hornby decoder products.

If you go for traditional DCC control, then you can source any brand of DCC decoder & control products that are available to you locally.

[Captain Stravaigin]

Thx Chaps,

The fog is now thinning. Some very useful replies here.

Will try not to blow myself up !

Cheers

mmd

[Goathland]

Be aware that DCC Ready means that it can take a standard DCC decoder. This does not mean it is TTS/TXS (sound) ready! Although you will be able to fit a TTS chip there may be no place to put the speaker that comes with the decoder. The TXS decoders are slightly bigger so check the space available first - but they do come with a sugarcube speaker which is smaller.

[ModelerXYZ]

A DCC ready loco doesn't have a decoder in it, it just has a socket to fit one. It will be fine running on a normal DC layout.

XYZ

[Fishmanoz]

Wow mmd, you now have 6 replies all giving some or all of the answer without contradiction. They can’t all be wrong, or can they?

And Marcus the OP has his slightly different answer too.

[Goathland]

Another piece of information if I may. The power is picked up by the wheels (loco and/or tender if applicable) and fed to the motor. In the case of a DC loco this is all hard wired. In the case of a "DCC ready" loco the power goes from the wheels to some pins in a DCC socket and a blanking plate is inserted which just links some of the pins so the power goes across the blanking plate and out via some other pins to the motor . In both the cases varying the voltage applies to the tracks will change the speed of the loco as track/wheels/motor are directly linked. In a "DCC fitted" loco the blanking plate is removed and the DCC decoder installed in its stead (you can do this yourself with a suitable decoder or purchase a "DCC fitted" loco). The DCC power from the track (15 volts in a controlled square wave) now goes through the wheels into the DCC socket and into the DCC decoder. The DCC decoder then routes the power back into motor pins in the DCC socket and on to the motor. The DCC decoder alters the power going to the motor based on the signals encoded in the controlled square wave. If you take the blanking plate out then keep it as you may need it later.