ColinB

I assume there must be a difference, but is there a difference between a Merchant Navy streamlined loco and the rebuilt version's sound? I would like to buy a TTS sound unit.

Does anyone know if anyone make stickers that I can put on my boxes with "DDC fitted" on them? I know I could write on the boxes, but that defaces them, I would just like a quick way to know which ones have been converted. It is also useful (dare I say it) if something happens to me, and someone has to sort out the locos.

I assume somebody has already done this, but it is an idea. Hornby made different versions of the Merchant Navy over the years, I know on the early ones (80's) they had a different motor, could this be the issue? I know it is a different supplier, but I added a smoke unit to a Zimo unit of a West Country and the loco kept stopping, took the smoke unit off, and the loco works perfectly. Before you say it, there was no smoke oil on the track.

I am thinking of converting my old Hornby Stowe to DCC. It is the ringfield motor version, with the motor in the tender. Having looked at the space in the tender, did you consider putting the DCC chip in the loco, it looks as if there is enough room to even put a socket in. I will need to put a transistor circuit in to buffer the smoke units electrics. So a LAIS decoder is OK for Ringfield motors?

I must admit I have an Elite DCC controller and I am quite happy with it. I also have one from a well known German manufacturer which I got really cheap on EBay which I gather they stop making in 2005, but the Elite is much better. I suspect the newer ones by alternate manufactures are probably a bit better as their design is newer, but I like the way the menus work on the elite.

Actually thinking about it, if you don't want to solder you can buy fishplates already soldered. It is an expensive way to do it, but better than those power clips, Peco do them. I think you will find someone one a certain auction site does a DPDT switch with a screwed connector ( we used call them chocolate box connector), on it. Again a bit more expensive but "do able". You will be amazed at what small PCB boards you get get from China for very little cost.

Having been soldering for years with my job as an Electronics Engineer, I did find that when soldering rails it is a good idea to use separate flux as well as solder with flux in it. The solder seems to take quicker, which means the plastic sleepers don't melt. I also find normal commercial miniture switches are a bit more reliable than those designed for model railway use.

Sounds like a hardware issue, there must be something wrong with the TTS chip. I had issues with a Crosti 9F TTS chip, where over the space of a week it went from working OK to not doing any sound. I would say it is definitely the chip, unless there is some weird interaction with your DCC controller, but I doubt it. The decoder is supposed to pick up its data off the pulse train that gets fed to the tracks, it sounds like it gets it right initially, but then gets all "screwed up", I am surprised the big red button doesn't work, I thought that stopped all the power to the tracks. As I say in my opinion it is the TTS decoder, so send it back. Switching the power off and on allows the decoder to do a "hardware" reset, or alternatively cool down, which is why it probably works for a little while.

Amazingly, I used to design microprocessor based circuits before I retired, so yes, I did check virtually everything with a multimeter. I ran it in another loco, I checked the resistance of the speaker, I always check that track connections are isolated from motor connections after I had one loco that wasn't (that is what blows up the motor driver,so it only goes in one direction, the loco was brand new). It is in the tender, so I took the top off the tender so it had free air, anyway on this one the bottom of the tender is open. I just wondered if anyone else has had issues, just in case Hornby had a bad batch. I have sent it back now, I wondered if by chance the driver had a thermal fault, and I know from bitter experience that when a device fails, the time between failures gets shorter and shorter, so switching off the Elite and switching it back on would get the chip a chance to cool down. I didn't check the functions as it doesn't matter if they work, because it still isn't going to make the sound work, if the micro was blown nothing would work. I suspect the audio driver to the speaker had gone short circuit which would explain it getting a bit hot. The only thing that possibly could have happened, assuming there was not an initial fault with the chip, is that when Hornby soldered the wires to the chip there was a stray strand of wire that occasionally touches, but that seems a bit vague. It worked in the loco for about a week, the joke of it is, I just about to put it back in its box, before I thought I would give it one more test. It couldn't have been a short on the speaker as this tends to blow all the device.

Has anyone else had issues with the Crosti 9F TTS chip. My one has just suddently stopped making any sounds. The DCC function still works as it goes backward and forward, but the chip seems a bit warm, but normally it is inside the tender so I don't know if that is normal. It has been a bit weird since I fitted it, occasionally losing sound, but soon as I do a power reset on the Elite it started working again. I have only had it a month so it is going to have to go back, but I wondered if anyone else has had a problem. It is also not because it might have got shorted out as I insulated everthing, I even covered the device with sellotape as it says, even so the device is surrounded by plastic (it is in the tender). As I say it was working last night, but not today. I have done several resets on the device, but still no change.

I must admit I changed the 2nd and third unit around and this cures the problem for the moment, but good idea to put carriages on their roof.

On my Bachmann Electrical Multiple Unit the swiveling couplings under each carriage have a habit of jumping out of their slots, which has the effect of the carriage derailling. Is this a common problem. I took the carriage apart to basically clip it back in and I noticed that there is a clip to hold them into a cutout, but it looks too small. Does anyone know if Bachmann modified this on later models, mine was one of the first released.

If anyone else has this problem, there are a couple of Sellers on the popular auction site that do ones with slightly thicker wire. They are also a lot cheaper. I bought some, so that I can convert my older locos, to put the electronics in the tender (less chance of breaking things).

I fitted one of these to my Bachman EMU and found it worked perfectly. The only issue I had was initially installing it, but that was more to do with the 21 pin arrangement, I am more used to 8. I am using an Elite. I did have issues with fitting one in a Hornby Schools, where I didn't think it had sufficient drive to power the motor, but I think that it was more an issue with the loco.