JWRStation

OK, might be covered before but I cannot find it...!!! I attempted to fit a DCC decoder to an old R374 Battle of Britain class which has the old X03 type motors. Fully serviced and has excellent slow speed response and will creep along with the motor barely turning. Very low Amps needed to move off however, stall test gave 900 mA which means Hornby DCC decoders way under spec so I upped the Spec to Hattons DCR which has 1.6 A max and continious rating of 1.1 A. Fitted, checked and put on the main DCC track, forward movement requested followed by a flick of the motor and a big puff of smoke from the decoder.... Tested again on the Analogue track and even with full output on the speed dial; only 900 mA. Loath to destroy another decoder so before doing anything else, has anyone been succesful in fitting a decoder to the older motors????

Thanks for the replies. Received the spare J36 and fitted it to a T9 with small 'cube' as the large round hornby speaker would not fit; sounds better. Checked all the readings and CV29 is set at 34.. Tried this one out in the T9 and ran correctly with all sounds working though I did have to program the functions manually as there isnt a hornby J36 TTS yet in the Railmaster directory... Reset the J36 TTS decoder and all running fine with sound after manual setting up the DCC functions; amazing what a CV 8 can do. Still not sure why originally it did not work in DCC though I am beginning to suspect finger troubly regarding remembering to set the address after a CV8...

Asked a similar question in the past and basically it needs research.. Cylinder configuration needs to be the same, the black 5 has 2 outer cylinders.. Wheel diameter needs to be the same or very similar so as to achive the speed synchronisation with the 'chuff' in the same place every revolution or at least near enough..Chimney, valve types also affect the sound and so finding U tube etc articles where you can hear the loco's will show if their running sounds are similar.. Depending how close you want the sound will govern fitting, if you are not too fussy and just want the loco to have a 'steam' sound then a wider tolerance can be applied....

I have a new J36 with TTS sound. It has been on display for over a year as i have lots of loco's and did not get round (i.e. forgot) to check it. Now done and it would not work, even on DC?? Did and decoder CV check and reset CV29 from 02 to 38 so as to 'run in' on the Analogue circuit. However still would not run DCC, checked again and noted it said it was a 'class 15' decoder?? I did a force set to Hornby steam (CV7) and set 001 which it then worked.!!! Not sure though that all the CV settings are correct for the J36. Just had a thought after typing this that it probably had an incorrect TTS decoder fitted from new which givwn the time I have had it means that warrenty claim not possible but also thought on that Hornby do not seem to do a Class 15 diesel so why is there a TTS decoder with this setting??? I have ordered another J36 TTS decoder for fitting in another loco so I can probably answer most of what I have put above but still confused over the class 15 question??>

Just to reinvigorate this post. I have a Brand New P2 which seems to derail without any provocation on points However, it is erratic and not every time. The points can be Hornby type standard, which can be a little problamtic for some but also, and especially, new Piko curved points... I have checked it over and the gauges are correct with full side to side movement. I have removed the rear wheels with no improvement and even the tender hops off points as well. One thing I have noted is the the flange depth is very fine and any slight rocking of the loco lifts the front wheel flanges above the rails.... Might have to just be a shelf display "Queen" !!!!!

Chris Thanks for that and I had seen that page of decoder listings as I accidently accessed it one time but could not remember how I had done it... There is no Black 5 in the listing and strangely enough given the time TTS decoders have been about there is only four specific ones.. However; some of my other TTS decoders just return 001 which is TTS generic steam so I set that. Rechecked and all readable CV's were back. Thinking on I have a couple more decoders (different manufacturers) that return incorrect details; I thought they were damaged. Luckily have not thrown them away so I will try the same 'trick' and see if I can find them as well.

I didn't actually say the decoder tells RM it is Black 5 what I said was RM is not correctly identifying the decoder. It is saying it is a basic Hornby 4 function decoder and not the TTS decoder fitted. It appears to be reading CV7 incorrectly resulting then in only reading the applicable CV's for that identified chip. Obviously in a TTS decoder there are a lot more CV's that can be read and changed, they are just not being read...!!! I have close to a hundred loco's all with various control systems and different makes/types of decoder and apart from reading errors, normally due to dirty pickups and the like; this is the only TTS decoder that although apparently working OK on the main track with all sound functions etc normal when asked to read its CV's it will not identify correctly.....

I have a new Black 5 that I set up a couple of years ago but never got round to using. I have recently alter my way of number and so deleted the original loco out of the database and re-enterd it with the new number... HOWEVER, on asking Railmaster to read the CV it came up with a Hornby basic four function decoder number 012 instead of the fitted TTS Black 5... I tried a couple of times and even deleted the entery and reloaded it plus doing a reset on CV8 but still the same result.... I put the loco on the track and everything works as it should for a Black 5 TTS then read again and still says decoder type 012... Obviously happy it still works as it should be any reason why it will not identify the decoder.

Sorry for the delay but not looked online for a while. Yes it was using the XPS virtual printer and I am on Windows 7 Pro... I have now found it just as easy and not particullarly onerous to just copy the CV list by hand to my operation spreadsheet... I have hundreds of Loco's and need this spreadsheet with all their info and operational status otherwise I can never remember which one works with what or needs doing to it.... Joe

I am sure I have seen this problem before somewhere but not sure where????.. I have Railmaster pro but whenever I go to print the CV list the save as screen comes up for the document writer then Railmaster crashes..

Thanks for that.. I am currently updating my Loco database to include cylinder layout etc as I have around 150 loco's. That will provide another grouping function for working this out. My collection of Diesels are simpler as the prime movers are well known, though cross referencing the different engine makes for sound could be interesting.. Many wonderful hours could be spent listening to cold starts etc.....

I am not a purist especially when it comes to sound and whilst I appreciate and it is obvious some engines sound totally different to others; it also follows that some will sound similar. On a large layout with a number of other engines operating then slight difference would not be partticularly noticable. A Castle class might sound similar to a Hall or a Jubilee and so the Castle TTS could then be used.. Similarly for Diesel Locos.. Has anyone looked at this or know where I can find the relevent information as I would like to extend my TTS fitted loco's at Hornby prices and not have to pay £100 a time...

Finally got my refund but only after legal action.. Should not be neceessary for that but there you go.. It is a one man band as an addition to the main job and anyone looking at it I would say steer well clear. If he cannot even supply them properly then think about future support.... Joe

Has anyone received one of these elusive Nelevators or had dealings over the last year or two with nelevation?????