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Hornby X9659 4pin decoder, comments please.


w124bob
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Just picked a Sentinel and the above decoder is reccommended, I have no experince of this(cheap decoder) or Hornby decoders in general, I assume its tunable, just lacks certain non motor CV's. So do I have a trial or fit a better spec Lenz/Zimo micro. The loco will remain without working lights and silent.

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Think your assessment is correct, both of mine have TCS M1s in them although at the current price of those decoders would make me look for something else if I was doing one today. One thing to watch out for is the capacitor being buried under the motor so its a near complete strip down if you want rid of the cap.

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The Hornby decoder is basically to enable the Loco or any Hornby loco to be converted to DCC usable.

 

If you use Railmaster and have updated the Hornby list of Locos you will find that by using this it will be speed profiled as per the software (ie. top speed, shunting speed.)

 

Ok if you use Railmaster  but doesn't really help if you dont. Same applies to all Hornby issued loco's no matter what decoder used.

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Comment:  We can't bl@@dy well get them!

Aren't Hornby saying they expect a batch in February.

 

If you know a loco is coming out and requires a specific decoder isn't it wise to buy one before the loco appears !

 

I've already got mine for the Bachmann Coal tank and am looking to get one for the Johnson 1P.

 

How about pre ordering one !

Edited by johnd
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I've fitted this decoder to a Hornby Sentinel and it runs very well.  There are nine pads on the PCB for soldering wires (4 are attached to the 4-pin connector) labelled J1-J9.  Studying the manual of the R8249 8-pin decoder and testing the pads on the X9659 decoder with a multimeter, these pads appear to have the same functions as those on the R8249.  I don't know to what extent the decoders are similar, or if the undocumented features of the X9659 might change in the new batch, but I did manage to fit a controllable cab light to the Sentinel using this decoder.

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Snip<

 

How about pre ordering one !

 

How about ordering a box full - I'm a dealer!!!!  They have been unavailable for ages - not good enough Hornby.

 

I used a Digitrax DZ 123 hardwired in my Peckett.  Much better decoder anyway - I stole it out of one of my USA diesels!

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The 8249 is identical to the x9659 according to the blurb from Hornby in always except the number of pins (4) .

I haven't seen anything official from Hornby to confirm this, but wouldn't be surprised.  They are both good decoders for use with modern motors, but the only configuration variable you have relating to the motor is CV 10 - the speed step above which back EMF motor control is cut off (defaults to 128).  The decoders don't support vstart, vmid or vhigh.

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Lenz mini and a hardwire with help of a good friend sounds the best option. For the price of the loco I'm happy to put a quality chip in. Mind you I've trawled the Sentinel thread and understand sound can be done, Hornby Magazine, March 2014 edtion.

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  • 3 years later...

When I purchased my original peckett and sentinel I managed to get hold of some new Hornby style 4 pin plugs from DCC Supplies.  I fitted these to Lenz Silver decoders and just plugged them into the locos.  Does anyone know if these are still available from anywhere?  DCC Supplies said they didn't have any last time I enquired.

 

I could hardwire the next pecket, but feel that a plug in would be more elogant.

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Hello,  

 

The chip kind of does what it says on the packet (that is it would if it came in better packaging than a plastic bag and a part number) .  There are not the usual comprehensive instructions and details about CV settings that you normally get with a Hornby chip.  Let’s face it had Hornby simply added a 6 pin socket (which I don’t think would have been any bigger) rather than going for a bespoke 4 pin socket it would have made life a lot easier.  
 

I will leave it to others that know more to comment if the chip has any surge protection something that older Hornby chips did’nt which made them pop really well and what the speed curve is like (again older chips used to make things go like a rocket rather than crawl like a shunter would.

 

but hay as you say if you can’t be bothered to get a soldering iron out or are not going to be fitting lights then it kind of does the job and is simple to install.  Just mind the handrails  as these are easy to loose as you are taking the body off.

 

good luck

 

 

Stephen

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My own experience of these chips is that they are pretty easy to fry.  I must have about 3 of them that no longer work.  To put that into context, I haven’t had any such issues with other manufacturers chips, such as Lenz, Bachmann and TCS.

 

I do still have a couple of runners, and as others have said, they do what it says on the tin.  They are OK for the cheap Hornby 0-6-0 toys,  but for a decent model, such as the Pickett,  my preference would be for a better quality chip.

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22 hours ago, Robin Verth said:

I have not had any problems with Hornby 4 pin Decoders, I have not yet managed to blow one, however the normal 8 pin Hornby Decoder I have had more problems with them than all the other makes put together, in over 200 dcc fitted locos only 1 has a Hornby 8 pin decoder.

 

It's my understanding that other than TTS and Sapphire Hornby only have one type of decoder. It's the number of wires and the plug that differs. They are identical in size and looks, with solder pads for 8 wires.  Unfortunately that means they all lack CV2 start voltage adjustment.

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I have never had to adjust CV2 start voltage on any of the locos that have Hornby 4, 6 or 8 pin decoders, on my DCC controller I change the speed to MPH and set a top speed of between 10-25 MPH. For future locos I will be investigating alternate decoders.

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On 28/02/2020 at 11:02, NS Peak said:

...

 

but hay as you say if you can’t be bothered to get a soldering iron out or are not going to be fitting lights then it kind of does the job and is simple to install. 

 

Thanks, it's not a case of not being bothered, I just prefer plug in decoders as being a neater solution - plus if anything happens to the decoder it is easier to swap it out.  Hard wired decoders are more of a phaff.

 

Hornby must have been getting these 4 pin plugs and sockets from somewhere and I find it hard to believe they would have been bespoke to them.  Why on earth they couldn't put 6 pin NEM sockets in is beyond me.

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13 hours ago, Jack said:

 

Thanks, it's not a case of not being bothered, I just prefer plug in decoders as being a neater solution - plus if anything happens to the decoder it is easier to swap it out.  Hard wired decoders are more of a phaff.

 

Hornby must have been getting these 4 pin plugs and sockets from somewhere and I find it hard to believe they would have been bespoke to them.  Why on earth they couldn't put 6 pin NEM sockets in is beyond me.

Hello Jack,  I did not mean to imply lack of effort,  far from it.   More the case that it is a lot of bother hardwiring a decoder (especially as  I don’t  know why Hornby did not fit a 6pin NEM socket and continue with a 4 pin socket that gives very little other than selling their own decoders). I must admit also with my sentinel I also took the approach to use the 4 pin decoder for the same reasons.  ( particularly the lack of phlaffing about compared to the effort hardwiring would have taken)

 

Stephen 

Edited by NS Peak
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  • 10 months later...

Hello, I am having problems with a Hornby Class 3F (16440), having the afore mentioned X9659 decoder (probably). After an attempt to change the address, the decoder seems to be in a lock-down (or defect). The motor is still ok, but I can't find the decoder on both the POM and the programming track. I use a DR5000 from Digikeijs to control the layout. I can't find any description of the CV-adresses, whatever I tried.
Anyone who can help me out?

Thanx in advance,
Pinkelpa (Cysgod-y-Fedwen)

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On 27/01/2017 at 21:33, jamesg said:

I haven't seen anything official from Hornby to confirm this, but wouldn't be surprised. 

 

Hornby never publish this sort of thing, but I can assure you that the 4, 6 and 8 pin decoders are the same item. If you want to add lighting, aux, etc then just solder to the vacant pads on the decoder.

 

There have been various firmware adjustments over the years and you will find the last batch of R8249s and TTS have DC running set to off as default, which catches some folk out that were expecting to run them ‘out of the box’ on a DC track.

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Thanks for this reply,

the do-not-use DC 'out of the box' is a serious warning, and although I didn't intend to use it in DC mode at all, It can be the reason for breaking down in my struggle to get CV values changed. On test test-circuit I have both DC and DCC.

This weekend I put a tiny  Kuehn N45 decoder (expensive, but tiny enough) in the loc, and my grandchildren can now play with it again.

 

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