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Hornby class 31 TTS sound decoder problems


CovDriver
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Having purchased a new Hornby class 31 TTS sound decoder I have installed it in a Hornby Railroad class 31 this morning and well it's a bit rubbish really the sounds seem okay whilst it's stationary but as soon as try to move the loco using my NCE powercab it cuts out altogether and will not move or play the sounds.

I have to remove the loco from the track and replace it on to the track again to be able to do anything and it's just a repeat of that whole process again.

 

I'm not the best at reading or reprogramming the CV's using my Powercab so I would be very grateful if aybody had an idea what I could do to improve things ?

 

 

Many thanks 

 

Colin

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Having purchased a new Hornby class 31 TTS sound decoder I have installed it in a Hornby Railroad class 31 this morning and well it's a bit rubbish really the sounds seem okay whilst it's stationary but as soon as try to move the loco using my NCE powercab it cuts out altogether and will not move or play the sounds.

I have to remove the loco from the track and replace it on to the track again to be able to do anything and it's just a repeat of that whole process again.

 

I'm not the best at reading or reprogramming the CV's using my Powercab so I would be very grateful if aybody had an idea what I could do to improve things ?

 

 

Many thanks 

 

Colin

 

When my locos lose power when moving off , I find that that is usually down to grimy wheels/ pick ups.

Even worse when they have come back from having been weathered .

Edited by Albie the plumber
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Have you seen this?

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/125527-ECoS-and-latest-tts-decoders/page-2&do=findComment&comment=2849246

 

and this?

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/122713-Hornby-railroad-diesel-jerky-slow-running-under-dcc/&do=findComment&comment=2720196

 

Not exactly the same symptoms as yours but somewhere to start maybe.  It would seem Hornby are aware of a problem and some remedies have been discussed and found to work.

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I have seen exactly the same problem with several of the sound locos I have (all TTS and no others to compare with) and it has always been down to dirty track (slack layout husbandry on my behalf).

 

Once everything was given a good wipe down then no further problems until the next time I try to run on the muck magnet, albeit it does get very dusty out here (Cyprus) even into what appear to be sealed rooms. 

 

​Rob

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Hi all,

 

I have just installed a Hornby Class 31 tts decoder in a Hornby super detail Class 31 using the article in this months H Magazine and, apart from the stutter mentioned above, it runs fine, except: it runs in reverse (i.e. the opposite direction to my controller) and the lights, both front and rear, only operate in one direction! My question is could I have fitted the decoder the wrong way round? I'm loathe to turn it round in case I blow it. I had this unfortunate experience last week when I fitted a decoder to a new Bachmann Midland Pullman and it started smoking. Thankfully it only fried the decoder as I switched DCC off as soon as I spotted it.

Any help will be gratefully received.

Paul.

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If you fit an 8-pin decoder plug the wrong way round all that happens is that the lights wont work at all.

 

CV29 can be used to switch the default direction.

 

Rob

Thanks for that Rob.

I wonder if the decoder is at fault, as the loco was already DCC fitted and the lights all worked and the direction was correct! All I did was unplug the decoder and insert the tts decoder in its place and now I only have lights in one direction, reverse. I've changed the cv29 value to reverse the polarity so it now responds to my controller (gaugemaster prodigy 2) but it shouldn't be necessary, which is why I wondered if I had put the decoder in the wrong way. Maybe I have unadvertantly moved some wires when I removed and reassembled the body. It now runs smoothly since I changed the cvs mentioned above, so I have achieved something.

Still looking for an answer of how to get the lights to work in both directions.

Regards,

Paul.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I thought i'd give a TTS decoder a try. I like the sounds but it turned the loco into a bit of a bucking bronco at low speeds. The noises coming from the loco suggested the gears were going to come out and bounce off down the track in a manner Barnes Wallis wound have been proud of...

 

I thought that maybe i'd left some tools in the loco or done something to damage the drive train. Once apart and inspected no damage was found but the bony performance continued. I put the standard Hornby decoder back and the loco ran beautifully. I swapped back again to the TTS decoder and the poor performance returned.

 

After a look through RMWeb i altered some CV's namely CV150 to 0, CV151 to 255 and CV152 to 1. The performance is considerably better at slow speed and i no longer wince when trying to couple up to a train etc. There is still room for improvement compared to how it drove on a standard Hornby decoder. Is there anything else i can tweak to improve things further?

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I thought i'd give a TTS decoder a try. I like the sounds but it turned the loco into a bit of a bucking bronco at low speeds. The noises coming from the loco suggested the gears were going to come out and bounce off down the track in a manner Barnes Wallis wound have been proud of...

 

I thought that maybe i'd left some tools in the loco or done something to damage the drive train. Once apart and inspected no damage was found but the bony performance continued. I put the standard Hornby decoder back and the loco ran beautifully. I swapped back again to the TTS decoder and the poor performance returned.

 

After a look through RMWeb i altered some CV's namely CV150 to 0, CV151 to 255 and CV152 to 1. The performance is considerably better at slow speed and i no longer wince when trying to couple up to a train etc. There is still room for improvement compared to how it drove on a standard Hornby decoder. Is there anything else i can tweak to improve things further?

 

I don't know if this is the Railroad or Full Fat version, but having encountered this problem when trying the TTS decoders in other locos/makes where with some the motor control was fine and others dire no matter what I tried with cv adjustment, if there is the room available, you might like to try what I have done of 'piggybacking' the TTS onto the loco and keeping the original decoder for motor/lighting control. Basically it means adding the TTS by connecting up the track feed inputs - hardwiring -  but with the only output being to the speaker. Give the TTS the same address, and the same acc/dec rates and it should sync the sound fine. You can prog the TTS first using POM just by connecting it to the track feed. You don't need a motor in circuit and it all seems to work okay. You can test the sound this way as well. It's just like running it in a loco, except there isn't one! This may be an option you could consider if all else fails.

 

Izzy

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  • 1 month later...

If you fit an 8-pin decoder plug the wrong way round all that happens is that the lights wont work at all.

 

CV29 can be used to switch the default direction.

 

Rob

 

Incorrect advice!

I plucked up the courage to turn the decoder round and guess what - it now runs in the right direction and the lights work too.

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Incorrect advice!

I plucked up the courage to turn the decoder round and guess what - it now runs in the right direction and the lights work too.

Thats because the blue wire is now porting positive voltage to the lights, and the switched negatives are connected to the lights negatives, wheres with the plug in the wrong way round the positive is sitting on one of the switched negatives, hence the lights dont work.

With the plug in reversed the motor brushes are effectively also swapped from normal, so loco will run wrong way. Plug orientated correctly and if loco is wired according to convention then loco will run the right way.

Rob

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Just been fitting a TTS chip to a super detailed 31 - swapped the speaker for an iPhone 5 and it ran beautifully on my ESU test bed. However as soon as I installed it it moved about an inch and the z21 cut out. Now it will only play sounds in forwards with no motor and in reverse the sounds play for about 5 seconds then the z21 trips out. I fear it's fried. Dropped a line to Hornby UK as Hornby US don't deal with the TTS chips. Woe is me... :banghead:  

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If the problem only manifests in the loco, not on the test bed, then assume it is the loco motor overloading the TTS decoder which has self protection and cutting drive.

 

Does the loco run well with a standard decoder of low current capability.

 

Does the loco have lights drawing highish current as the TTS decoder has low current capability on its function outputs. These are NOT protected.

 

Edit: it may be the TTS decoder is one of the batch that needs a program reload by Hornby.

Rob

Edited by RAFHAAA96
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If the problem only manifests in the loco, not on the test bed, then assume it is the loco motor overloading the TTS decoder which has self protection and cutting drive.

 

Does the loco run well with a standard decoder of low current capability.

 

Does the loco have lights drawing highish current as the TTS decoder has low current capability on its function outputs. These are NOT protected.

 

Edit: it may be the TTS decoder is one of the batch that needs a program reload by Hornby.

Rob

Unfortunately it's exactly the same on the tester now - so I have dropped a line to Hornby. However as of this morining, it has become moot as the chassis has snapped - it sems that it is infested with Mazak rot...

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