Hornby Class 50 first release (the ones with the bad PCB board)

[Barry Ten]

Hello all. I appreciate this has been covered previously on RMweb but the earlier threads were locked and I need a bit of guidance.

 

I've a couple of the first batch of Class 50s - Resolution and Ark Royal. The original PCB boards were wired incorrectly and caused a short if the 8-pin decoder plug was put in the usual orientation. The accepted fixes at the time were to order new boards from Hornby or to put the plug in the wrong way around, and then sort out any problems with the lights. Hornby have told me they can't help with replacement boards any more (because the model is from 2003, apparently, even though Class 50s seem to have been in the catalogue as recently as 2020) so I have no choice but to work with the existing ones.

 

Resolution runs fine on DCC with the plug reversed, but the lights are too much of a headache for me to resolve. In one direction, the red LED lights up at both ends of the loco. In the other direction, just the one (wrong) end. If this could be resolved with function mapping I would give it a go, but it's well outside of my comfort zone with DCC and I can't understand the current logic behind the lights' behaviour.

 

From the earlier threads, I think I understand that the problem can also be resolved by removing the blue wire and/or cutting the corresponding track on the PCB. Can anyone advise?

 

I haven't moved onto Ark Royal yet, but I didn't think there'd be much point until I'd resolved the issue with Resolution.

 

Earlier thread:

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/57160-Hornby-class-50-dcc-problem/

 

[spamcan61]

I must admit I'm not sure which is the version of PCB with the fix ( from memory it took them more than one attempt), but Lendons of Cardiff have 3 different versions of the relevant PCB at reasonable prices.

 

https://www.lendonsmodelshop.co.uk/index.asp?button=Hornby#1497

 

X9252 / 9253  / 9254

 

I think the later class 50 models have redesigned electrics hence the PCBs can't be retrofitted in earlier models.

[Barry Ten]

Weirdly, the lights now seem to be working as they should. I've done nothing except turn off my controller, have dinner and go back upstairs again. I'm at a loss as to what was going on earlier, but I'll take a win when I see one.

 

Onto Ark Royal next, which has a centre light so might throw up a twist or two.