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New to Hornby Decoders - Which one?


chuck_hewell

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If just bought new, and irrespective of the R number, it will have an 8 pin socket and any 8 pin decoder will do, Hornby R8249 or R8245 or any other brand. 

If you find yourself back in Perth, a trip down to Stirling and DCC Concepts there would also be worthwhile. 

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  • 2 months later...

Sapphire is a digital loco decoder with a 1 Amp continuous current output and support for the full range of CV adjustment. The other Hornby loco decoder is the R8249 which provides 500mA continuous current and a limited range of CV adjustment. This current is sufficient for all modern Hornby locos.

 

To to learn more, you can download the leaflets for them from the DCC section of this site. These list all supported CVs.

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What is difference from the Sapphire or the digital loco one, and witch on should i use? Are they any different?

I think you may be becoming a little confused Dougal. You loco is DCC ready meaning that it has provision for mounting a decoder but that one is not yet installed.

 

The R8245 Sapphire is just a DCC decoder module same as all the others on sale from Hornby and other manufacturers. It is a 21 pin decoder and a tad larger than some decoders, but it has a conversion harness that lets you plug it into your 8 pin socket in the loco.

 

As Greg99 says it has a few more 'bells and whistles' (but no actual sound - that's another longer story for you to look at later) than say the basic R8249 decoder, which gives the Sapphire more play value.

 

Take a look at the DCC section of Hornby website and look at the decoders and their descriptions. All may become a bit clearer.

 

Edit: I see Fishy just beat me to it...

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