Baz1205 Posted December 28, 2023 Author Share Posted December 28, 2023 I’ve spent quite a while on the phone to Hornby today. Chris at Hornby walked me through a few possible solutions but all failed. It drew us to the conclusion that the decoder is faulty. I have started the RMA process and will obtain a new one. Hopefully this time it will work first time.Thank you everybody who has chipped in trying to help me resolve this issue.I’ll update this thread when the replacement arrives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaffsTT Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 I have the exact same issue on a TT120 William Whitelaw with a Next18 decoder.Exactly the same! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baz1205 Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 I hope you all had a terrific New Year, Today I decided to install my replacement decoder with a power-bank I purchased. I have done this so many times over the past couple of weeks I think I could do this in my sleep 😂. Installation went well but for the initial test I didn’t install the power-bank. Loco on track, power, let’s go……or not. It moved slightly then stopped just like my previous install. Decoder disconnected and restarted again and again. Okay, check all connections and full steam ahead so to speak. Nope, not a sausage. Exactly the same behaviour as with the last decoder. I installed the power-bank, reset the loco and with a heavy heart tried again. SUCCESS, it started moving down the track, sound on, breakfast cooking and whistles galore, let’s try and bring her back…..yes. It works. Glory be to the powers that be, my prayers have been answered. Or so I thought. Without the power-bank it was a tight squeeze getting all the gubbins in the body so wasn’t confident this was all going to fit. Smallest speaker enclosure used and I gently manipulated everything in. Back on the track and it worked. Okay so let’s get that single screw in the front that holds it all together. On track, sound on…..sound on….no sound. Okay but the decoder was connected so let’s move her along the track. Nothing. Screw out, body separated and discovered that the power-bank socket had come off the board. I gently wiggled the speaker connection as there wasn’t any sound either and noticed this was lose but still connected, just. With over 40 years in the IT industry I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a flimsy design for these decoders. I recall during one of the many calls to Hornby tech support I was asked if the speaker connection was lose so I guess this has happened before with other customers. Time to start part 3 of this escapade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 First time I have heard of the power bank socket detaching but there have been reports of the speaker socket coming adrift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baz1205 Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 I hadn't heard of it either but the quality of the mounts on this particular decoder are very poor indeed. As I slid the decoder back into the anti-static bag the speaker socket came off. Compared to the first version I had this one seems very flimsy. neither socket is glued on, they are simply friction mounted and as the sockets came off the contacts on the decoder came with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveM6 Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 You would have been better relocating one or more of the components to the tender - plenty of room in there. The sockets aren’t ‘glued on’, they are soldered. Soldered joints are not designed to take much in the way of stress or manipulation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalus Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baz1205 Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 The two contacts on each of the ports soldered onto the board are very flimsy. The slightest movement causes the socket to twist and lift and this action causes them to break and detach. The design would be much better if there was a small amount of adhesive under the ports to hold them permanently in place.My initial thoughts were to mount some of the components in the tender but that doesn’t seem viable with this config. The tender is not permanently connected to the loco. Connection is simply a vertical pin on the loco that slides into a bracket on the tender and there is no way to permanently mount it without modification. Routing cables to the loco from the tender and keeping them intact with this configuration would be a nightmare.I have managed to configure the decoder, power-bank and speaker so they none of them are under stress or compromised but we could all do with a little more room couldn’t we 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baz1205 Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 If wave soldering is used the components are glued in place with a porous flux and glue mix the residue of which is washed away after soldering. Sometimes the solder does not flow in all areas and manufacturers can rework with lead/tin solder rather than lead free.Other methods involve sticky flux with solder particles or glue with solder particles and ovens.If the components are dropping off incorrect solder flow must be being missed. Yes that all makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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