Hornby Cl 08 pickups. Help please. Have you replaced them?

[dasatcopthorne]

I am having terrible trouble with my favourite Hornby 08.

 

I've done all the usual stuff to get the pickups to work 100% but have failed.

With the flywheel it wouldn't normally matter but it's sound fitted and those millisecond dropouts of sound are really very annoying.

 

Has anyone replaced the pickups to good effect please and how have you done it?

 

Thanks

 

Dave Smith

[boxbrownie]

Mine is pretty good I have to say but even then very occasionally over points there is a sound stutter, I looked at the contacts had a fiddle with dismantling and gave up when it looked like I’d do more damage than good, it’s a quite complex arrangement.....so I am going to fit a small stay alive instead.

[boxbrownie]

Oh just to add, I don’t think it is so much the pick up to wheel issue more a wheel to track when going over points when there is a minute drop in the centre wheel set (I think), never EVER get drop outs on normal track even down to lower than scale walking pace.

[philsandy]

1 hour ago, dasatcopthorne said:

I am having terrible trouble with my favourite Hornby 08.

 

I've done all the usual stuff to get the pickups to work 100% but have failed.

With the flywheel it wouldn't normally matter but it's sound fitted and those millisecond dropouts of sound are really very annoying.

 

Has anyone replaced the pickups to good effect please and how have you done it?

 

Thanks

 

Dave Smith

 

Dave this may be of interest to you.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ki3rT2KEpE

 

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

I've replaced mine with strips of veroboard, the holes coincide nicely with the slot which needs cutting out for the gear wheel.

 

Mike.

[Izzy]

I had similar problems with my TTS fitted Bachman 08 which replacement pickups couldn’t cure, so in the I fitted a stay-alive which did. Probably the answer in the long run for you.

 

Izzy

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, philsandy said:

 

Dave this may be of interest to you.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ki3rT2KEpE

 

 

What puzzles me is I have exactly the same Loco and when read on the ECoS it says the decoder is a Loksound V4 and looking at the Loksound manual the layout of components and pads are exactly the same so came to the conclusion that Hornby fitted a V4 to this Loco.......and ideas?

 

Also that 08 sound just didn’t sound like an 08.....very odd, and to be honest I thought the sound was better before.....sacrilege I know. I left the original speaker in place but packed and sealed the rear with black tac which makes a big improvement to the original sound without changing speakers.

Edited May 4, 2020 by boxbrownie

[philsandy]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

What puzzles me is I have exactly the same Loco and when read on the ECoS it says the decoder is a Loksound V4 and looking at the Loksound manual the layout of components and pads are exactly the same so came to the conclusion that Hornby fitted a V4 to this Loco.......and ideas?

 

Also that 08 sound just didn’t sound like an 08.....very odd, and to be honest I thought the sound was better before.....sacrilege I know. I left the original speaker in place but packed and sealed the rear with black tac which makes a big improvement to the original sound without changing speakers.

 

David, my Hornby 08 has a Loksound V4 chip fitted. I didn't understand why if he wanted to change the sound why fit a new decoder, instead of re blowing it. I wondered can a stay alive can be wired to a Loksound V4? it's something I don't know much about.

 

I thought the same thing to, that it sounded better with the original sound. Also mine has plenty of "volume" so wasn't sure why he felt the need to fit 2 sugar cube speakers.

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, philsandy said:

 

David, my Hornby 08 has a Loksound V4 chip fitted. I didn't understand why if he wanted to change the sound why fit a new decoder, instead of re blowing it. I wondered can a stay alive can be wired to a Loksound V4? it's something I don't know much about.

 

I thought the same thing to, that it sounded better with the original sound. Also mine has plenty of "volume" so wasn't sure why he felt the need to fit 2 sugar cube speakers.

Yes stay alive can easily be fitted to the V4....in fact that’s what he did, but he used the relatively expensive ESU unit where as there are plenty of much cheaper alternatives, personally I use Youchoos stay alive which is half the size of that ESU unit.

 

As to the volume I find a setting of just 35 is plenty in a fairly large room, people think they need the sound as loud as they can and forget we are viewing these machines from what would be in real life maybe 100>200 yards away, at that distance they are pretty quiet in reality. It’s a personal thing I guess.

Edited May 4, 2020 by boxbrownie

[Izzy]

6 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

 

As to the volume I find a setting of just 35 is plenty in a fairly large room, people think they need the sound as loud as they can and forget we are viewing these machines from what would be in real life maybe 100>200 yards away, at that distance they are pretty quiet in reality. It’s a personal thing I guess.

Funny you should say that. I fitted a Zimo 20x28 dumbo in the rad of my a Bachmann 08 with the TTS  and found that even at the lowest volume it was too loud for me in a home environment. Beautiful sound, great clarity from the speaker but limited volume range available from the TTS. So I had to fit a smaller/less good speaker to get the level down!
 

Izzy

[boxbrownie]

Yes when I first bought the 08 quite a while ago now I was not expecting too much it being a TTS model, but was very pleasantly surprised to hear it and to find out it was actually a proper V4 rather than the more common TTS chip.