Bachmann Class 20/Hornby TTS sound & rotating cooling fan.

[Porcy Mane]

Yet another Bachmann Class 20 fitted with Hornby TTS sound.

 

Having a few Bachmann Class 20 projects sat about stagnating on my workbench for far too long I decided to try out a Hornby TTS decoder in one just to see if it would kick a bit of life back into the task of completing them.

 

The decoder has been trial installed in a class 20 that I had already fitted with a test rotating radiator fan mechanism. (I think it's rotating the wrong way but that's another story.)

 

I was fully expecting to be disappointed with the sound quality of the decoder but was pleasantly surprised with the sound reproduction of the engine audio.

 

Below speed step seven the motor control doesn't seem as smooth as more sophisticated chips from Zimo and NCE and as far as I can tell the function buttons can't be reallocated nor their output adjusted. I imagine that would be a minor consideration for a few folks when taking into consideration that the decoder costs far less than the top end sound decoders.

 

I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and make one of these youtube thingies to hopefully show some of the sound capabilities of Hornby's R8118 TTS decoder. Sounds were recorded using Hornby's default CV settings at 50% volume. Maybe someone will find it helpful.

 

 

P

 

Edited April 5, 2019 by Porcy Mane
To sort out the Title

[RAF96]

Try setting CV150 to value 1. Supposedly better suited to Bachmann motors.

 

Edit - watching the video as I typed. F1+F9 sounded like the fixed routine cold start. I thought Class 20 had the ECS (extended cold start) whereby it can’t start - won’t start until F9 is cancelled then it fires up to idle.

 

Rob

Edited April 6, 2019 by RAF96

[Tallpaul69]

On ‎05‎/‎04‎/‎2019 at 16:28, Porcy Mane said:

Yet another Bachmann Class 20 fitted with Hornby TTS sound.

 

Having a few Bachmann Class 20 projects sat about stagnating on my workbench for far too long I decided to try out a Hornby TTS decoder in one just to see if it would kick a bit of life back into the task of completing them.

 

The decoder has been trial installed in a class 20 that I had already fitted with a test rotating radiator fan mechanism. (I think it's rotating the wrong way but that's another story.)

 

I was fully expecting to be disappointed with the sound quality of the decoder but was pleasantly surprised with the sound reproduction of the engine audio.

 

Below speed step seven the motor control doesn't seem as smooth as more sophisticated chips from Zimo and NCE and as far as I can tell the function buttons can't be reallocated nor their output adjusted. I imagine that would be a minor consideration for a few folks when taking into consideration that the decoder costs far less than the top end sound decoders.

 

I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and make one of these youtube thingies to hopefully show some of the sound capabilities of Hornby's R8118 TTS decoder. Sounds were recorded using Hornby's default CV settings at 50% volume. Maybe someone will find it helpful.

 

 

P

 

I think this demonstrates that the TTS chip is a reasonable compromise, especially if your Class 20 is not fitted with the fan unit.

 

The fan unit is good if you are looking down on the model, but personally, and it is only my personal preference, I would rather look at models operating from a side on or slightly above eyeline view, so the fan sound is good enough for me!

 

I find that you can sometimes get round the 2 sound limit by playing sounds from another stationary loco, or more recently from the Hornby TTS Vent van if near to the moving loco)?

 

Keep up the good work with the videos, I am just starting to experiment with video, but have yet to successfully load one to YouTube that others could actually see!

 

I have some suggestions that I have yet to try from others on another thread to cure this.

 

Cheers

Paul 

[cravensdmufan]

IMO TTS (+ upgraded speaker) Class 20 is a great sound - up there with the "full fat" decoders. For £36ish that makes them excellent!

 

I agree with RAF96 that setting CV150 to 1 (then fine tuning CVs 153 and 154 to suit the motor) cures any jerky running in Bachmann locos.  Turning off DC operation in CV29 helps too.

 

I have TTS in three Bachmann 20s (albeit the older ones with 8 pin sockets) and they all run beautifully.

 

All of my classes of TTS diesel decoders move off on speed step 2, I don't know why.  But it's not really an issue.  The only thing I find slightly annoying with TTS is that you cannot use them in advance consisting mode, just the basic 28 speed step basic consisting.  But even that doesn't bother me much actually, as the only locos I usually consist are class 20s nose to nose.  So I just set them both to the same loco address and they operate nicely with 128 steps.