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Class 20 Questions...


meatloaf
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Seeing as hattons are selling a couple of the class 20s off cheap can I ask a few questions..

 

How easy is it to fit a DCC decoder to? Which one would I need? Is there anywhere that could do it for me? 

May seem like newbie questions but all my 0 gauge stuff so far from Dapol has accepted a normal 21 pin decoder with the exception of the 08 which has a Hornby TTS in it

 

Also, has anyone run one through the peco set track curves?

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Funny, I was just thinking that a Cl 20 would make a good Christmas present from me to me.  Sadly the liveries of the locos on sale at Hattons are not right for me.  Tower has them all on special for 475.00.

 

A bit confusing but all the references I've found talk about the XL (Loksound) or MS696S (Zimo) decoder.  These are for the larger scales.  Every loco I have has taken the smaller 00 decoder with no problem. 

 

Entirely possible that the loco is not fitted with a socket because it is specifically designed for the larger scale decoders.

 

This might be instructive:  https://www.youchoos.co.uk/Index-Resource.php?L1=Guides&Item=OCL20

 

I'm afraid I haven't helped much but I hope someone can clarify the decoder requirements.

 

John

 

Edited by brossard
Removed an incorrect statement
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I note that the Hattons website states that the models are "DCC compatible but no socket", so presumably that means that you need to hard wire your preferred brand of decoder.

 

Hattons do offer a decoder fitting service (https://www.hattons.co.uk/stocklist/dccfitting.aspx) but I note that the Class 20 isn't listed and their pricing structure only mentions N and 00.  However, if they can hard wire a decoder to an N gauge locomotive, I don't see why they can't do the same for 0 gauge.  It might be worth asking them if that's where you intend to purchase from.

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No socket, and a little bit of a puzzle to sort wires removed from  the Heljan board to wire into a new decoder. The Heljan pcb is well labelled (compared to older models!)  If you take your time it is not too hard to work out.

 

Haven’t checked motor current draw, but probably too much for a OO decoder. If you are on a budget, DCC Concepts Zen Buddha works fine.

 

Neal

Edited by neal
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5 hours ago, neal said:

 

Haven’t checked motor current draw, but probably too much for a OO decoder. If you are on a budget, DCC Concepts Zen Buddha works fine.

 

 

 

There are two motors so I tend to agree that the current draw is likely more than a 00 decoder can manage.

 

John

 

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2 hours ago, brossard said:

 

There are two motors so I tend to agree that the current draw is likely more than a 00 decoder can manage.

 

John

 

Quite so, like most (all?) of their other mainline diesels.

 

Some people on here have disconnected one motor and modified the drive train so that only one bogie is powered. This apparently allows use of a 4mm decoder, and probably leaves the loco with more than enough guts unless you have a very large layout. Not something i've tried personally, although I would say that my 20's from the first batch are a good bit lighter than locos such as the Hymek and 47.

 

John.

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I made the jump to o gauge a couple of years ago and have 5 Heljan diesels. 

Each DCC fitting has had me searching for pics on line showing how others have done it.

I can do it if shown were the wires go.

Heljan do not make it easy with no info on DCC fitting in the box yet claiming in ads that it's easily converted.

 

Paul

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