1. Home
  2. Model railroading in the UK
  3. Hornby 31 lighting connections question

Hornby 31 lighting connections question

Hi

I have a Hornby 31 which I know was cobbled together from two duffers. The body is from one loco and the chassis from another.

All is well, except that the red tail lights don't work. This appears to be because the spring contacts on the chassis don't meet the pads in the body.

The spring contacts on the chassis point upwards (2 at each end), whereas the contacts on the cab inserts of the body (which incorporate the LEDs) point backwards towards the centre of the loco, with 2 on the driver's side and one on the other side.

Are there two versions of the shell/chassis which would account for this? Perhaps I have missed something, or there are parts missing.

Incidentally, the lights in the headcode box work fine under both DCC and DC.

Am I missing something blindingly obvious?

Adrian

Reply to
Adrian
Loading thread data ...

Ignore them, they are only turned on when running as light engine, or at least should. Remember the tail light should *only* appear at the rear of a train.

Reply to
Kevin Martin

That is of course true, so I'm not terribly worried if I don't get them working, but it would be nice to have the option, even if it was on another function of the decoder.

Adrian

Reply to
Adrian

Getting the tail lights to work seperately on another function is not simple on a Hornby loco. The Class 31, 50 and 60 use a common negative return which goes completely against the usual standard of common positive return on a normal decoder.

To make Bachmann 57 and 66 tail lights work from other functions of the decoder takes minutes. I've modified a Hornby Class 60 and that took about 2 hrs!! I'm looking into modifying a 31 and I'm not looking forward to the task.............

Cheers, Mick

Reply to
newbryford

As far as as I can see, there are only 2 sprung conacts on the chassis feeding the module containing the tail lights, although the module itself has 2 on one side and one on the other (which is part of the problem I have). Given that the module only contains red marker lights, I assume that both could be fed using 2 wires, not 3. Of course if you want to feed the two lighs separately, things would get more complicated.

Adrian

Reply to
Adrian

I have solved the mystery, and the statement above is crucial...

There are two styles of connection between the chassis and the body-mounted tail lights... Since I have the body from a different model, which uses the other contact type, they don't connect.

One style of connection uses upward facing coiled spring contacts, with corresponding contacts on the body, facing downwards. The other style has sprung copper contacts facing forwards, with the appropriate contact pads facing backwards on the body.

Mystery solved!

I now have the original (but damaged) body to play with, so one way or other, I'll get it working.

AdrianB

Reply to
Adrian

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.