Tomasz-1303413

that's for plux22 decoders. What I'd need is a adapter for next18 or 21 decoder going to plux22, I could probably build one from a next18 pinout board and a plux22 plug but chances of it working well and me not frying something in the process are slim.

Unfortunately no, the adapter doesn't provide any external leads. The ESU next18 to plux12 provides 2 leads, but those are for the speaker only.

If you think 4 functions is low, I predominantly use these decoders on plux22 locos and the best adapter I found is ESU for plux16, which only give me F1 and F2. Not sure why there are no adapters from next18 (or 21 pin) to plux22? But in the end I really hope Hornby releases a plux22 compatible version at some point in the future.

json is a JavaScript Object Notation, which basically displays data objects as text. Objects are defined by { } brackets, individual properties are just a list of name:value pairs. Objects can be nested within other objects. Since JavaScript is loosely typed, unlike XML there are no type definitions, everything is assumed to by a text or number type.

The function information is already available in json format, which is how I'm able to display the profile info in the profiles sticky post, however that's only for app use, the actual function code is in the aprom file and is a compiled binary that the cortex cpu on the chip can understand. The issue is that there is no spirom file in the TTS profiles and the app doesn't handle this gracefully.

Ah that makes sense. Still, the app should have a more graceful way of preventing loading of TTS profiles into HM7000 decoders than "corrupt profile".

Those of us who "do tech" make awesome testers because we'll do things that a regular user just would not even consider doing 😄

Honestly, I never understood why the TTS files are even showing up in the app profiles for HM7000 decoders. They should be filtered out.

You don't need to delete the data, just load another profile.

Once the decoder is linked to the app you can install profiles as many times as necessary, no need to delete data. Doing so is what put the decoders in the resettable state again. rtfm.

That's mostly correct, as I posted in the other thread, the NuVoice N570S64A chip used in these decoders has 8 MB (64 Mbits) of built in flash memory used to store the sound and SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) to load it. The "Serial" part of that is the key, it's one bit at a time, so it's fairly slow. You can go to the sticky thread at the top of this forum and actually load and play the spirom files, the loading in the browser takes somewhere around 20-30 seconds or so, much faster than the load times into the locos.

Only time will tell, so far seems to be running ok, but needs some speed tuning...

So I'm an idiot. One thing I didn't check was the ESU next18 to plux22 adapter. It turned out to be bad, despite looking fine to my eye. I tried another one and despite releasing some magic smoke the decoder actually works fine. I'm actually amazed it still works, points for Hornby decoder design to withstand a bad connection and keep on ticking.

visually it looks fine. I don't think I have the dexterity required to manually check the pins on a next18 socket. But I should get a test board. Also from now on I'll test the decoder in a known good loco first before mounting it in a new loco.

After installing multiple 8 pin and next18 decoders I finally ran into one that didn't work. Plugged it in, seemed fine, linked and updated, lights and sound worked but no movement, then of a sudden it let out a bit of smoke. Yikes. Unlike one time before when I accidentally shorted out the motor and got an overcurrent warning in the app, this time no warnings. The body of the loco was still off so I know there were no short circuits. Plugged the analog bridge back in and the loco works fine. The decoder still connects and still has lights and sounds but no movement. I emailed Hornby support but considering I'm in US, not sure anything can be done 😕