ColinB

What decoders are you using? I did find some perform better than others. It might be that the DC voltage you are using is higher than the DCC. DC is rectified AC, if the controller does very little smoothing of the AC, as say in the case of a really old H&M or the like then you get a much higher voltage than DCC where the decoder is using a much better regulated supply. The other thing is to remove the capacitor across the locos motor, this can sometimes have an adverse effect.

If it is the same controller I got with my boxed Pendulino set, I know what it is. There is a plastic lever inside that connects the forwards/reverse switch, to stop you changing direction without the control setting being at zero. This seems to make the forward/reverse switch dificult to operate. Just remove it, it only stops you going from forward to reverse with the knob at the zero setting. As I have said in previous post and got criticised for, Hornby aren't too good on electrics, the lever looks like a bodge, you could have done the same thing with electronics. I only noticed it when I took the controller apart to fix the same issue you are having. Incidently, I use DCC, but used the Pendulino controller to test the locos before I convert them (my H&M finally died, and it is too old to bother fixing). The thing is slider switches aren't the most reliable of things, so why attach a lever to it.

No, it was an MX616. I bought the one with wires, but the MX617F is not much bigger and a lot cheaper. I use the MX617F in a lot of my old ringfield motor based locos, as you can add KAM to it. Really good decoder and no I don't have any interest in Zimo, I have just found that they are really good decoders for slow running. The telly is rubbish on Christmas day, although Kyle is on at the moment.

Zimo do a really small one. I got mine from YouChoos, I fitted one into an old Dapol Terrier which was not DCC ready and had absolutely no space.It is a lot more expensive than the normal ones though, but good.

I think I read a thread on this site that said that the lights were always on, on this model and not controlled by the dcc chip. So what I gather from your post it works with a normal decoder, but when you add the TTS sound decoder it just runs at full speed and you can't control it. I had this happen with one of my TTS decoders, it transpired that I had damaged it with one of my duff locos (the capacitor failed short on a 6 month old loco). It sounds like yours is damaged, but you say that when you put a normal DCC decoder back in, it works, so it sounds like there is nothing wrong with the loco, but the TTS decoder might have a fault. Does it give any sound at all? As my predecessor said, it sounds like a return job to Hornby, good news is the unit is covered by a guarantee. Contact Hornby Customer Service and they will give you a return number. It doesn't really matter now, but check that there isn't an issue with the speaker wires. If a normal DCC decoder works, then a TTS will, I even fit TTS to really old (1980's) locos, it does not depend on the loco. The only thing you should check is when you put all of it together, that you aren't "shorting" the circuit board out, as it is slightly larger than a normal decoder.

Are you sure it is not the power supply damaging them? If you are using an old power supply, I think the voltage is a lot higher than modern ones so that might be the cause. I know my H & M power supply blows up locos with DCC decoder that are supposed to run on DC. When I took the power supply apart I found it was using wire wound variable resistors and was supplying rectified AC with no smoothing. It is just a thought. I suspect the older motors probably used thicker wires and could take the higher voltages.

I would agree with RAF96, even if the speaker won't fit there are plenty of smaller speakers that would fit. The only issue I can see is the dummy car, if it doesn't have pickups then DCC will be a bit difficult. I don't know enough about this model, if it was the old model Peters spares has pickups, but then the relevant model shop should know this. I mean you definitely can fit a TTS sound decoder in the power car but perhaps not the dummy car without extra work. The model shop could have even done a deal, where they saved the second one for the next customer. Fitting sound in the power car is still better than no sound at all. It might be that the model shop thought it was not cost effective, or that you didn't buy it from them (some model shops get upset when you buy from the box movers). It is still business. As I said before, powering the dummy car is the most difficult bit.

The comment where you think I should be advising Hornby, although I know a ton about electronics and software, I know nothing about their business. As to the rest of it, what I was trying to say is a TTS module is totally different to a loco, basically they are are the same hardware it is just what is programmed into it to make the sounds, totally different from building a loco where there are lots of different parts. So they could effectively have 3/4 of the same batch as A4s and 1/4 as class 66s, that is the advantage of electronics. So next time they order a batch of 2000 there is no reason not to have 500 of them, one of the items that has run out. As to the price hike, no they don't do it, but if they are like other company they know as the product gets scarce the price goes up. By doing limited production runs, it makes second prices higher and tempts you to buy the item quicker, in case it runs out.

I was not implying that, if you read the last sentence it said it exactly what RAF96 said. Hornby only order a batch of what they expect their sales to be. Hornby's practices are no different to any other commercial firm they only make what they can sell, and storage of unsold items costs money. I know from comments on this site that they "outsource" the electronics as firstly making modern pcbs's require a lot of investment and for some electronics companies a run of 2000 is incredibly small. So no, I was not getting at Hornby, just saying it like it is. I wish that Hornby made more TTS decoders, it seems that generally they make too few, but then again I don't know how big their market for these decoders is. Incidentally, other than a few early issues I have no problems with TTS decoders, generally most of the ones I want, they currently do, if they don't do it, I buy one of the more expensive ones. Other Sound Decoder companies basically configure the device when you order it, but you pay significantly more for the item, probably for the labour invoved in putting the signature in the memory. There was no need for that comment RAF96 again you didn't read the last line. It is a well known fact that the world suffers with electronics and software, it is something you cannot feel or see, so most companies have issues with it, go ask "Crossrail", it does not mean the firm is incompitent it is just that it is a new technology that they are taking time to get their head around. I have no intentention of telling Hornby how to run their business.

I think Hornby actually create the shortage by producing limited batches. Someone on this site said that they have to order them in batches from their supplier. I can believe they do that but I think they actually create the shortage. The TTS electronics is going to be the same for each different loco, the only difference is the signature "blown" into the memory and the type of loudspeaker supplied. So as long as they have the recording there is no reason not to just keeping making a certain flavour of TTS decoder. Either Hornby are Engineering short batch runs to make them desirable or they are being pulled a fast one by their supplier. Hornby are basically a mechanical engineering firm so they probably "outsource" all their electronics and are at the beck and call of their suppliers. It is not unusual, I was a electronics/software engineer working for an automotive company and you would be amazed how many times we were told something was not possible, when really they just didn't want to do it. Have you noticed how towards the end of its release as it becomes more difficult to get a particular type, the price goes up, hence why I think they have limited batches.I suppose the only other thing is Hornby do not want to do a run of 5000 units, and only sell a 100, and be left with the rest. Some though like the class 47 would sell well as it can fit many models, so you would think they would keep making it.

I gather Hornby on the Railroad versions are either using the old Hornby mouldings or the Lima ones. In each case there is tons of room to put a sound decoder, in fact I have just added one to my old Hornby HST with a ringfield motor. For a neat job, you might find the loudspeaker is a bit big, but if you are not worried about neatness then it is OK. Perhaps he didn't want to job, if you are adding a TTS sound decoder and the HST is DC Ready then the most difficult bit is getting the body off the loco. Make sure you insulate the circuit board.

Great, thanks that explains it. Yes, it is the exhaust deflector, the guy that was selling them called them the different name. I must admit, they look better with them on.

That is exactly what I did, my model has sound at both ends. I needed a decoder in both ends anyway, as I fitted directional lighting. So even if I had not bought the twin pack, I would have needed one TTS module and one standard decoder which would have been roughly the same cost as the twin pack, which is why I was surprised it contained two TTS modules.

Can anyone advise me as to what lights a class 29 had? I would also like to know the positions. I want to add lights to my Hornby class 29, which is really old running off a ringfield motor. I have converted it to DCC and now I would like to add lights, but I cannot find from the web which ones it had and their positions.

I live in Essex and my nearest model shop is in an industrial estate and he deals mainly in n gauge, but of late has started doing OO gauge. All his new locos are mega expensive but the second hand is reasonable. I tend to buy most of my locos online, but when I go on holiday to York I find it is great to look round decent model shops. There is a great one in York, I won't name it but I think probably most people know it. and yes it is great to actually see the loco before you buy it. The trouble is unless they are on offer they are substantially more expensive than online. There is also a really good one on the moors just past Goathland, again a really good shop and great for picking up buildings and figures etc., but generally their prices "online" are cheaper than in the shop. The best compromise is really what the one just outside Goathland has, it has a shop you can look around, is in a cheap area, and has invested massively in Mail Order. I must admit their mail order is brilliant. Then there is the North York Moors railway model shop in Grosmont, which is great as anything you buy in the shop supports the railway, and they are competative with their prices.

As you have probably seen from my earlier posts I am upgrading my old 30 year HST. Having solved all the pickup issues by fitting late parts I thought I would add sound. I expected to get a pack with one sound module for the power car, and a normal dcc decoder for the dummy so I could control the lights. To my amazement it comes with two sound decoders, so good one Hornby, the TTS decoders are already good value for money, but this package was even better.

This really weird, I have now added the "Stay alive" to the TTS decoder. When I tried it on the tester it read nothing, so I tried it on a piece of test track and yes using the YouChoos circuit I can read the Manufacturer ID. The only issue is instead of reading 48 for Hornby it sometimes reads 32, which I cannot understand. Anyway adding the YouChoos circuit definitely works OK. I am happy my Ringfield based HST with the TTS decoder works OK, so I am happy with what I have got, so other than changing the speaker, I will leave well alone.

When did Hornby add a smoke deflector on the HST? I have a really old HST and I was upgrading it to DCC with directional lights. To get a better power bogie as mine didn't work very well, I bought a second hand power car as it was the same price as just the bogie, and I could use some of the other bits. I noticed the new "Virgin" one had a smoke deflector whereas mine did not. I got one on that popular auction site to upgrade mine, but I just wondered in the real world if the HSTs didn't have them initially, or did Horny not model them originally to save money.

Yes Chrissaf it was the data from your post that I was originally using. Do you know if there are any suitable points on a normal Hornby decoder.

Thank you for the information, it saves me having to "buzz out" the circuit with a multimeter, it looks a lot easier to connect to the underside. I will see how it goes with the YouChoos device, I am hoping that I will be able to read the CVs with the "Keep alive" attached, as it looks exactly the same as the connections to a Zimo module.

I fitted a DCC decoder to my old Bachmann 08, and there was very little room for a really small Bachman right angle module. I must admit though I didn't want to cut into anything and I did use the existing circuit board as a connection block. YouChoos do a really small speaker that would probably fit, it is not very loud though.

I am wondering if you take the Chrissaf information on where to attach the "Stay Alive" on a TTS decode, and connect the YouChoos device at these points, it will work. I think if you connect the GND or black wire of the device to the negative location in Chrissaf data and the blue to the blue on the DDC connector (positive supply), I think it will also work. As the YouChoos circuit has a "choke" in it, I even think it might solve the issue of being able to read CVs with it attached. I have bought one of these, as I needed it for a "YouChoos" zimo module fitted to a Ringfield motor, so I will try an see if it works. It it a shame that Hornby or its TTS supplier don't bring the GND of the module out to a PCB pad, but they probaby figured there was no need. On the Zimo 6 pin module both GND and VCC are bought out to separete pads which you solder to. The circuit does work extremely well, I tried it on one of my LIma locos (I had a spere 6 pin Zimo module), and it works perfectly.

Yes, I find "Super Glue" seems to work the best. I also found liquid poly doesn't work very well. The biggest issue I found is if you get some of the "Super Glue" on your fingers you have to be careful you do not touch the loco body, as you get a nice glue fingerprint. Unfortunately, "Super Glue" is brilliant at sticking fingers to anything, sometimes better than the thing you want to glue.

I wondered if it would work on a class 47, as when Hornby release a new batch it was on my list to modify mine. It definitely did not work in a Bachman A1 with the chip in the tender. The class 47 has a curved roof, so it gives a bit extra between the mounting position on the top of the weight and the roof. I used the LaisDCC one, I will have a look at the DCC concepts one.

Thanks James, you were absolutely right. The wire looked to be attached to the commutator but when I melted the solder it fell away, so I suspect it was attached but not making connection. I have resoldered it and now I have three working coils. I will try it back in the loco. Very, useful information, thanks.