HM7000 and new P2 PoW

[Robert-371453]

Hi just purchased new P2 PoW 2007 with new HM 7000 and Power Bank. The electrics are in the tender and installation of the speaker and chip are quite easy. Then ether is a problem- there is nowhere in the tender can you fit the power bank without cutting up the tender, which I will not do on a £250 model. I cannot believe that Hornby have made the inside of the tender obviously with the HM7000 in mind. I have tried always and the tender top does not fit with the power bank inside the tender. Well Done Hornby going back to D&H decoders. .

[Pendragon Sailing]

I don’t know the model, but could the PB be led forward into the Locomotive? The PB wire is a decent length, so might work.

I realise that this would require the wires showing under the tender/loco coupling, but a bit of black paint on the red wire would camouflage it.

Just a thought

[Going Spare]

With pick-ups on all 8 driving wheels and all 8 tender wheels, is a Power Bank really necessary?

[Bulleidboy]

Although a different model, I lengthened the speaker wires and placed the speaker in the smokebox on my Blue Coronation - a very simple job to do. The power bank then went into the tender with the decoder. One problems with the speaker being in the tender, it is very obvious that the sound is coming from the back (tender) of the loco rather than the front.

[Ighten 1707822464]

With pick-ups on all 8 driving wheels and all 8 tender wheels, is a Power Bank really necessary?

I would say yes. There's no substitute for covering for dodgy track work or Hornby QC having issues making sure every pickup contact actually does contact a wheel and isn't floating in mid air.

 

 

[Brew Man]

Although I've yet to fit a sound decoder to any of my tendered locos, I am tending to agree with BB, that unless your hearing is poor you will notice the sound coming from the tender. So if you are going to fit anything in the loco, let it be the speaker.

[SteveM6]

This question has come up before and having spoken to Phil Morley (Hornby designer) it is likely that this is another design that predates finalisation of the specs for HM7K.

I found that the PB could be located in the coal space and under the dummy coal load by feeding the wires through the coal hole at the front of the tender, then routing them back to the tender interior underneath the chassis. No cutting required other than cutting the PB wires and rejoining them with solder and heatshrink as the plug doesn’t quite fit through the hole.

During my conversation with Phil, I suggested that the design team include provision for locating the PB on all future models - I don’t think it fell on deaf ears.

[ColinB]

I have exactly this model. I found you don't need the powerbank for this one as it has so many pickups so that is one option. Alternatively what I did on my other P2 is remove the speaker enclosure and replace the speaker with a square one from Road and Rails, which gives you enough room behind it. I fill the coal space with real coal, so putting it there is a non starter. I spent over an hour trying to fit the powerbank into the standard setup before realising there is no way it would fit.

[Cedric HK]

I have the PoW as well and I found a way to install the HM7000 with sound and power bank in the tender. You will have to remove the speaker installation mount, it's only secured by some tape so it should be an easy move, then you'll have enough space to put both the speaker and the power bank in.

[96RAF]

That speaker will offer very poor sound without an enclosure and it needs to be insulated against shorting the decoder.

If the original speaker mount is hollow try to fit the PB inside it.

[Cedric HK]

12 minutes ago, 96RAF said:

That speaker will offer very poor sound without an enclosure and it needs to be insulated against shorting the decoder.

If the original speaker mount is hollow try to fit the PB inside it.

I used the enclosure from the HM7000 pack, will add insulation to that as well. The original enclosure looks too small for the power bank, I'll give it another go tomorrow 🙏🏻

[96RAF]

Be aware the silver bit of the speaker driver is active so shouldn't be hard against anything or taped over. If necessary lightly tape the decoder.

[ColinB]

As I said previously, just buy one of those very thin ones from Road and Rails. To be honest again as I said before, this loco has so many pickups you don't really need it.

[Cedric HK]

10 hours ago, ColinB said:

As I said previously, just buy one of those very thin ones from Road and Rails. To be honest again as I said before, this loco has so many pickups you don't really need it.

True, but I guess I'm too lazy cleaning the tracks, and since I have them I might as well use them. Haven't soldered anything before so putting something that's not plug and play would be a challenge for me.

[ColinB]

2 hours ago, Cedric HK said:

True, but I guess I'm too lazy cleaning the tracks, and since I have them I might as well use them. Haven't soldered anything before so putting something that's not plug and play would be a challenge for me.

You could do what I do buy an old Lima diesel (because they are cheap) fit it with a DCC decoder and "stay alive" (Powerpack as the diesel will run without power for about 20 seconds) so it runs over the dirty track then buy an old Hornby track cleaning wagon or a Dapol one.