Michael_A Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 I recently took delivery of a new Hornby R3225 72xx 2-8-2 As always I ran this in on DC before fitting a decoder, and ran beautifully, but the maximum speed seemed to be about 40mph (I have a 'speed wagon' scale speed device) So I just assumed this was the way the loco had been designed, and went ahead and fitted a Hattons 8 pin decoder. All was fine, until the loco just stopped and the decoder failed with a puff of smoke. Ran again on DC, all OK, so fitted another decoder. So far so good...but... I am worried. Decoders make awfully expensive fuses! Anyone else had issues with this loco? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_ Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 I beleive both R3225 72xx 2-8-2 and the R3222 42xx 2-8-0T which I have were designed with scale speed in mind and thus are geared for a top speed of about 45MPH which is the true max speed for the loco. Having a low top speed makes for good low speed operation too. If you loco runs fine on DC then I suspect you had a faulty DCC decoder. If it's new I'd return the decoder under warrenty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_A Posted July 6, 2015 Author Share Posted July 6, 2015 Thanks Nick, thats helps. And fingers crossed was just a one off with the decoder...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Decoder rating OK for that loco ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poliss Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Hattons own brand decoders are rated at 1.1amp continuous, so more than enough power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_A Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Correct Poliss. At a tenner I used to think they were a bargain, at the moment not so sure, but have to say it's been run in for an hour each direction and then 30 mins at max speed and, so far (touch wood) all is fine. So maybe (hopefully) just a faulty decoder. Not woirth the hassle of sending back as I live in Germany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teedoubleudee Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Michael, I blew up a Hattons decoder in my "early learning" days of DCC. It was caused by a short circuit. Decoders in general and, I believe, Hattons in particular do not like short circuits. Whisch is why I am very careful when installing them these days! Could that have been the problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_A Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 I don't think so, was plugged in and was taped safely out of the way while I test ran it with the body off. I'm thinking faulty decoder. Unusual, because I have used a lot of the Hattons decoders and been very happy with them. All seems well now, it's been running a few hours with the body on, and runs beautifully, even though it is geared a tad too low and can't achieve a scale speed of 45mph....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_ Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 Michael, does the 72xx have power pickups on the trailing wheels as well as on the 8 main driving wheels? Nothing to do with you decoder blowing, just interested. I had to fit a decoder with keep-alive to my 42xx because with only pickups on the 8 drivers it stalled on some of my insu-frog points when running at very low speed. I'm thinking of getting a 72xx and it would be nice not to have to use such an expensive decoder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_A Posted July 11, 2015 Author Share Posted July 11, 2015 No pick ups other than on the driving wheels. Having sad that, mine never stalls even on the very basic Hornby points, no matter how slowy I run it, so maybe some of the pickups are not making proper contact? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkingthedog Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 I think it must be a pickup problem. I have one and has no problems on points or crossovers even at very slow speeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_ Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 WTD - I've checked all the pickups and all are working fine,thanks for the suggestion. The stalling problem used to occur where I have 5 sets of points one after another, 4 Hornby, 1 Peco but all insufrog settrack because I don't have enough room to use Peco streamline points there. The 2-8-0 stalled sometimes but my 'blue box' 0-6-0 was far worse and stalled most times when either were running at speed-step 5. At higher speeds both were fine. Now with stay-alives, both run at speed-step 3 without ever stalling. Maybe i'm just unlucky - or just rubbish at laying points :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_ Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Michael, i've just speed-tested my 2-8-0 and max speed is 41-42mph at speedstep 127, so perhaps geared just a little low but I prefer to run my locos slower rather than faster so pulling 10+ wagons at 35mph cruise looks really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_A Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 Pretty much same as mine then. Bit dissapointed they geared it so it can't even achieve prototype speeds. Thanks though, helps confirm mine is functioning at least as designed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_ Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 As i understand it these locos, particually the 42xx, were designed for hauling heavy freight over short distances and the maximum permitted speed for pulling un-braked wagons was 30mph so there is no problem running them at scale speeds. I like the fact it is geared low because it makes it smother at really low speeds when shunting etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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