New tooling for tts sound

[Dazzler down under]

So now we have sound decoders being released by Hornby I wonder if they will start putting all sockets in the tenders as well as the housing for the speaker to screw into on all their models from here on in. It is a no brainer to me but you never know with Hornby. If they were to do this then I'd take it 1 step further and make it so you can simply lift out the coal insert in the tender and gain access to the socket and housing without having to unscrew the tender. I ask because I have the DoG but the socket is in the loco, so  with a bit of foresight Hornby would have been well down the path of making a decision on selling tts decoders you would think they would have put the socket in the tender like all the latest Britannia's but they didn't.

[96RAF]

Good idea dazz

TTS DoG has the socket in the tender and obviously a speaker mount, so you could swap tenders if you can find the later one.

Its a fairly simple job to swap the socket from loco to tender, rework the loco wiring to suit by joining the wires disconnected from the socket as appropriate and any  existing 4 pin plug/socket loco/tender remains in use. You may have to rework any weight in the tender to make space for the speaker or install a cube speaker.

Rob

[Dazzler down under]

Rob, with a sound loco, lets use the britannia 'clive of india', as the decoder ect is all in the tender, could i swap tenders with another of my brits that has the plug and socket connection and have sound on one of my other brits?

[96RAF]

Daz

think about the electrical connections if you mix and match.

 

a loco with the socket in the loco usually has the tender pickups connected via the post and hook method with those two springy fingers that cause shorts at the drop of a hat - like this

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a loco that has a plug and socket I would expect to have the decoder socket in the tender. Why - there are four wires, two linking the socket to the motor and two taking the loc pickup power across the gap. This loco type will have a fixed drawbar.

 

to make the conversion without moving the loco socket you would have to install a special blanking plug to the socket with wires off it to the tender by way of a new 4-pin plug to match up with the sound tender 4-pin socket. What we are doing here is taking the loco pickups from the socket to the socket in the tender and taking the motor feeds to the tender socket. Then you would have to rework the drawbar as the loco would have a hook with fingers and the tender would have a fixed link.

 

some locos have variants where you can swap the pony truck (is that the right terminology) and/or the hook and springy fingers bit for one with a captive nut for the fixed drawbar link to screw to, so some locos may be easier than others.

 

For those locos that have a plug already then they will have a socket in the tender and a fixed drawbar so they are straight swappable with a sound equipped tender

 

so the answer to your question is yes you can but you may  need to alter the drawbar to suit and make up a link harness comprising a bare pin dcc blanking plug rewired to a 4-pin plug that would plug into your sound equipped tender.