I goofed. here is my confession

[Blind Bruce]

Well, they don't call me Blind Bruce for nothing.
I installed my first ever decoder in an Athearn blue box B unit. It was a TCS T1. The instructions are very good, but the drawing of the connector is misleading to a color blind person. The connector is drawn with seven wires. The two outside wires are for connection to the rails and are labeled red and black. The next two in are for the motor and are labeled orange and gray. Absolutely correct. However, in actual fact, the connector is nine pins and the two outermost wires are not used.
Not being able to tell the colors and not realizing the difference in quantity, I wired the loco wrong! This caused me much concern as I did not know if the decoder was bad or if my new Zephyr was faulty. My wife finally came to my rescue after many trips to the LHS, E mails to friends and visits to the Digitrax users forum. I hope this will help any other first timer and save a bunch of time and frustration.
BB

[selector]

Bad luck, Bruce. Is the decoder okay, or is another purchase in order?

[davekelly]

Bruce,

Looks to me like you owe the other half a dinner or something. Way cool though that she's willing to help with the hobby.

Dave

[Blind Bruce]

Selector, Yes the decoder seems to be OK. I have been able to change the address but that's all I tried so far.
Dave kelly, My wife hates the hobby but is always willing to help me. She is truly a good woman.
BB

[rrinker]

If you connected the outer two wires to the track, and ever places it on the main, you likely blew out the F1 and F2 functions, which is what those two wires are. Now, on an F unit this likely won't matter, and you usually only need F0 for a headlight, unless you model one of the 'Christmas tree' railroads festooned with lights.
The good news is that TCS has a 'goof-proof' warranty where they will replace the decoder (the first time), even if it is damaged because you wired it wrong.

--Randy

[Anonymous]

Gotta love TCS.