dougattrenholmebar Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 Hello everyone, I have a fleet of Class 47's by Heljan. After first fitting them with ZTC decoders, they ran ok but every now and again one would destroy a decoder. I changed them all to Trainsave decoders and within a short space of time one by one the decoders stopped working. With due credit to Trainsave, they replaced to decoders but now the replacements one by one have stopped working. There's nothing wrong with the controller or the wiring and there are about another ninety loco's running on the layout with a mixture of decoders. The problem would appear to be with the loco's. I'm a bit hacked off having to buy new decoders and was wondering if anyone can help me here, Kind regards Doug. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium ColinK Posted April 8, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 8, 2015 Are the decoders able to handle the amps drawn by the 47? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10000 Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 Don't have any 47's but other Heljans I have can pull over 0.5 amp while running with coaches behind. Stalling they easily go over 1 amp. So in most of them I use TCS T1's rated at 1 amp with 2 amp peak. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougattrenholmebar Posted April 8, 2015 Author Share Posted April 8, 2015 Don't have any 47's but other Heljans I have can pull over 0.5 amp while running with coaches behind. Stalling they easily go over 1 amp. So in most of them I use TCS T1's rated at 1 amp with 2 amp peak. The decoders (TSV01a) are rated at 1.2 Amps (+ 0.4) for auxiliaries. There is no other information about peak. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Heljan locos tend to have a heavier current draw than Hornby or Bachmann's, as 10000 said earlier. They also tend to have incandescent bulbs (rather than LEDs) which can also draw more current.I use only the better brands of decoders for my Heljan locos. TCS for the ones that aren't used very much, otherwise my preferred decoder brands are ESU or Lenz, both of which also have some form of overload cutout on board. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveb860 Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 I only ever fitted Lenz gold in Heljan 47's due to current draw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RFS Posted April 9, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 9, 2015 I use Lenz Standard+ in my class Heljan 33s due to the current draw. The Lenz decoders have short-circuit and overload protection, so they won't blow if the loco tries to draw too much power. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougattrenholmebar Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share Posted April 9, 2015 Don't have any 47's but other Heljans I have can pull over 0.5 amp while running with coaches behind. Stalling they easily go over 1 amp. So in most of them I use TCS T1's rated at 1 amp with 2 amp peak. Thank you for your information, appreciate that. Doug Heljan locos tend to have a heavier current draw than Hornby or Bachmann's, as 10000 said earlier. They also tend to have incandescent bulbs (rather than LEDs) which can also draw more current. I use only the better brands of decoders for my Heljan locos. TCS for the ones that aren't used very much, otherwise my preferred decoder brands are ESU or Lenz, both of which also have some form of overload cutout on board. Thank you for your information, appreciate that. Doug I only ever fitted Lenz gold in Heljan 47's due to current draw. Thank you for your information, appreciate that. Doug I use Lenz Standard+ in my class Heljan 33s due to the current draw. The Lenz decoders have short-circuit and overload protection, so they won't blow if the loco tries to draw too much power. Thank you for your information, appreciate that. Doug Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamperman36 Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Thanks to everyone for that info I hadnt realised to look at the chip loadings so ill keep my eyes on that from now on Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiDAS Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 I have found to my cost that you cannot rely on the overload/short protection on decoders. I use standard 8 pin on 0 gauge loco's (not Heljan because of the amount of amps they pull) and add further protection of a quick blow 1 amp fuse. They are available at a few pence each from Maplins Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flood Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Two things: 1. We don't use direct chips on our Heljan 47s. When the body was put back on the increased height of the chip unit seemed to be pushed by the roof and caused issues so we only use the plug and wire chips. 2. The Heljan circuit boards don't have insulation tape on the underneath and as they have metal chassis' then shorting could occur. We always add insulation tape to the underneath of the circuit boards of our 26s, 27s, 47s etc. Since we've followed these rules (the last five years) we've had no problems at all. Edit: By the way we use Lenz standard or Lenz silver chips. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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