ColinB

BritInVanCA is not in the UK so I imagine sending it back is an expensive option. I have to agree though speakers shouldn't blow and if I remember from my audio days, if they go short circuit they take out the audio stage of the driver.

I know I did all that, I found it to be a big issue with 6 pin decoders, put in one make and the loco hardly moves put in another and no issue. One of the first things I generally do is check the current rating, plus on virtually all my steam locos there are no functions used. That is why on older locos I exclusively use Zimo decoders.

I don't know what your setup is, in that do you have a DCC controller? If you do then what I suggest is after you have converted your older locos to DCC, test them with a decent high current decoder. I am going to say a Zimo one because I have found to be the best at driving older locos and believe me I tried many when I converted mine. I will add I have no financial interest in Zimo, I just find them to be the most reliable. If if works with one of these then it proves your conversion is correct. Then try it it with the HM7000. On a lot of my old Hornby 0-6-0 locos I use a 6 pin connector for the conversion and initially because they were cheaper I would use cheap N gauge decoders mainly because Zimo ones are in the order of £30 plus. Surprisingly a lot would exhibit the behaviour you are getting. For some reason certain decoders don't always work. On all of them I checked the maximum output current in the specification but come to the conclusion that there might be some artistic license in there somewhere. I have only ever used HM7000 with my brand new locos from Hornby, so I can't really comment as to whether they will work with older locos.

No someone else said that, probably why you can't find it, I thought they were wrong but I just thought I didn't want to correct them. I am pretty sure on the LaisDCC Kung Fu ones I use, they don't, as they use 4 capacitors and on the one of mine where the wires fell off there was no voltage doubler device (it needs more than 3 pins). By using ordinary capacitors that is how they can sell 5 different sizes. Also if they used a voltage doubler device they would be more expensive than what I pay. Looking at the PCBs Train O Matic use them, as do Zimo on their more expensive "Stay Alives".

Of course it works, they wouldn't sell it if it didn't but given the description I suspect not as described. This is my last comment on this as I just think it is not all that it is made out to be. Normal "stay alive" has two connections which normally would go to VRef and Ground, so if there is no logic on the decoder Powerbank must have the same, so unless you have some supporting logic on the decoder which connects to Vref there is no way you can control the charging current with a port on the decoder. As I say they work, so that is it. I did read a lot about all different ways you could implement "stay alive" by using voltage doublers as in the case of the Train o Matic ones (looking at the components on a LaisDCC pcb they don't do it this way). So I will leave it at that.

I know I have racked my brain with all the electronics knowledge I have learn over the years and it doesn't make sense. To control a transistor on the powerbank you need a separate input. The Powerbank only has two, you would need three to make it work.

Great thanks that is how I suspected it worked. The decoder I also assume contains the diode that feeds VRef when the "stay alive" is in operation.

I understand that there are no charging components on the decoder but are you saying that the transistor that controls the charging is on the decoder pcb?

I think in virtually all cases it is cheaper to buy the loco with the DCC/DCC Sound option fitted. Normally the saving is £10 to £20 and you don't have the hassle of taking the loco apart to fit it. Also with special releases it is quite often difficult to get the right sound decoder separate.

To be fair I don't think any of the other manufacturers do either. I think the only ones I have got with the DC header (blanking plate) included are the ones I have bought from Rails where they have done the conversion. Mind you I have loads of the 8 pin headers. Every time I buy a DCC socket it comes with its own header, which I very rarely use. Trouble is a lot of the newer ones have diodes and smd components on them to make the lights work when running on DC.

Thank you for the information. The Lais ones I have, actually have 4 devices.

That is why I said 5 volts maximum, I knew it was less than that but thank you for pointing it out. Either way it is not 15 volts.

Hornby put 3 in series because they are only rated at 5 volts maximum, so you get 15 volts, you are not really meant to do that. I assume AE do as LaisDCC do and put them in parallel with the right voltage across them.

I am not promoting them, I use them because they are useful and it appears a lot of people don't know they exist, if the evidence from most of the posts is anything to go by. I have bought many brands than don't actually work, that ended up wasting my money, I would like to stop other people falling into the same traps. I have no financial interest in this firm and I pay the same price as anyone else so what is the issue?

Trouble with this video the guy eventually got someone else to fit it for him, so not really much help. If you are going to use a Zimo decoder generally you can get away with just adding a capacitor which is what is usually supplied. So instead of using the supplied one from YouChoos you can couple 4 surface mount tantalum capacitors together which will fit in a much smaller space. If you want to use "stay alive" LaisDCC market one that is incredibly small. Mod note - guideline #1 - no active promotion of other brands although discussion is allowed.

Should be roughly the same, a lot depends on the capacitors they use. I use LaisDCC ones with my Zimo decoders and the time is roughly the same. The HM7000 doesn't have one but the Zimo and Train O Matic decoders have a CV for setting how long the long will run without a DCC signal. For the HM7000, I imagine 0.5 of a second should be good enough.

I know, Detroit is opposite Windsor in Canada, just crossing the bridge or tunnel from Detroit that separates the two countries, is like going into a different world. The beer is also better.

I know I read a lot of posts like these on this forum. What people don't understand is that all you need to do, is feed the same DCC signal to all sections so basically paralleling up the feeds to one source. The separate isolating sections are really useful if you have a short you cannot find.

I have converted many of my old models to DCC that includes many Ringfield motors and Bachmann split chassis. The ones I don't convert are my Wrenns because why butcher a collectable loco and some really old Triang locos where the pickup arrangement is not that robust and it is so easy to short the motor to the pickups taking the decoder with it. The big issue is that a lot of these locos use high currents in Model Railway terms so a good starting point is to test them with a decent decoder that has decent motor control. I used Zimo ones for my conversions, I found Hattons, Hornby and many others had a habit of blowing up even though according to the specification the current limit should be ok. I have never tried with a HM7000 but to be quite honest if you want to convert your old locos, convert them to DCC first, check they run ok then add the HM7000. I have seen a number of posts saying that these decoders are not as reliable as they should be, one of mine just failed for no valid reason. As to the Blue Merchant Navy, I converted mine, in fact the new ones Hornby make to this day are no different except they have put the decoder in the tender. When I converted my one I decided the area inside the loco was too cramped so I I added the 4 pin connector between loco and tender and put the decoder in the tender with a socket so it is easy to test and upgrade decoders if you ever need to. I forgot to add adding extra pickups as you have, improves things a lot, with the class 29 ( I have one ) the big issue is that the ringfield has traction tyres so you cannot pickup current on these wheels. I also added extra pickups to the trailing bogie by using later Hornby parts.

Can you let us know if they work, I suspect they will. The big one will be if you can read back CV parameters while in programing mode.

Unless AE have reversed the connections in the plug, nothing will happen. I am not surprised at the failure rate, I must admit all mine work. The good thing about Hornby is generally there is no quibbling. To do detailed analysis of a broken decoder takes time and I doubt they would bother doing much other than checking if it works. DCC Concepts are marketing this device, if they didn't think it worked they wouldn't sell it.

As I said in your other thread how are Hornby going to know. The AE "Stay Alive" has the same connector, so you just remove the "Stay alive" before you send it back. Anyway I really do doubt you would blow the decoder up anyway.

I read the data from DCC Concepts and the AE "Stay Alive" has the same 3 pin connector as the Hornby Powerbank. This means you will not be soldering directly to the HM7000 so you will not invalidate the warranty. If by chance the decoder dies (which I very much doubt it will), you just unplug the "Stay alive" and return the decoder to Hornby. How are they ever going to know. I doubt DCC Concepts would be advertising it as an alternative if it didn't work or damaged the decoder, it is not like they know nothing about DCC. The bigger issue is size, it is bigger than the Hornby Powerbank. Perhaps long term AE will make a smaller pack, which I suspect will sell quite well.

I glad you did that, I was wondering what the comparative sizing was. Compared to a LaisDCC "stay alive" the Hornby one was pretty big.

Past recordings and merging sounds. So they might take the sound of a similar engine and then add whistles from another one. I must admit I would like to know what file format they use.