Hornby Networker

[creilly81]

Hi there, I'm trying to get definitive knowledge with a step by step guide on how to fit a DCC decoder to the Hornby Networker. I have a R2001A and an R2001B. Searching the web hasn't provided any real decent results, pretty inconclusive. I've even contacted Hornby who referred me to their specialist about a month ago, and still haven't received a reply. Does anyone have any knowledge with detailed analysis of how to do it? I'm not a complete newbie to DCC and have wired up about 40 locos of mixed DCC and non DCC operation, but these that require directional lights to be soldered have completely baffled me! Any help or advice will be very much appreciated! :)
60163 Tornado - New Steam for the Mainline

[58001]

I presume you have converted the motor without any problem, it's fairly straightforward and there is a convenient location for the chip in the chassis. As you suggest, wiring the lighting is not so easy. I have wired up three networkers so have some experience. The LEDs are on a small oblong PCB held at the front of the chassis by a plastic clip. The PCB has two feeds, one from each rail, supplying two horizontal rails to which each of the LEDs is connected. The orientation of the LEDs determines which ones will light up according to the direction of travel of the train. There are also two resistors in between the LEDs to protect them from the track voltage. Personally I have found it necessary to replace this PCB with a new custom built one using a piece of prototyping board. This way you can replace the Hornby yellow LEDs with more realistic white ones. I tried desoldering the Hornby ones from the supplied PCB but often they melted or broke. The custom PCB has a common +V (blue) along the bottom. -V of the LEDs must be isolated and connected in pairs (red pair, white pair) to the forward and reverse lighting wires from the chip.

[58001]

By the way, don't forget to insert a resistor on the V+ line to protect the LEDs as they are not normally designed to work at 12V.