I love the detail on the new Athearn Genesis MP-15AC I just recieved from my LHS. But even with the Tsunami decoder upgrade, the engine still stalls at turnouts and other random locations on my layout, and the slow speeds and stops are "jerky" even with extensive CV programming (same as old MRC decoder version). Its a little better, but just wondering what anyone elses experiences are with the new Athearn Tsunami Genesis engines. What I don't understand is my Kato, Atlas, BLI engines run on the same rails and Digitraxx system flawlessly, beautiful and smooth. Its just the new Genesis engines that give me trouble........
The first thing I do with any new locomotive made in China (aren't they all?) is open them up and solder the electrical pickup wires to the trucks and circuit board. In the interest of speedy and cheap assembly, wires are not soldered, but are held on with small plastic clips that slide off or become loose in transit. When that happens, you lose electrical pickup from one or both trucks.
I also program all decoders to disable DC operation.
AThearn seems to have a huge hit or miss quality problem when it comes to power pickup. My Reading RS3 would hardly run on a single piece of flextrack on my workbench. Even after soldering all the connections and ading new wires to bypass the pickup throught he truck bolsters, it wasn;t that great. Definitely better, but still lacking. Next step would have been to file the slots a little deeper in the truck sideframes to make sure the bronze bushings would make good contact with the metal sideplates, however I managed to grab another really cheap on eBay (random road name since I didn;t care) and that one ran great out of the box even before soldering the pickup wires. So I just swapped the shells.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Makes you wonder if more of the problems with the MRC version isnt the board, but the track pickups as has been stated a few times here. I agree that all board contacts need to be soldered and I also go thru the trucks and make sure they are getting good pickup on both rails. Wonder if the metals used in the wheels and plating process is tainted causing poor electrical pickup. We didnt seem to have this issue with the sintered iron wheels. I remember when the first runs of the Genesis F3's came out, lots of guys having issues with power pickup, even in the non sound versions. The truck design on many of the Genesis is just a upgraded blue box truck design with better gearing and plated wheels.
LHS mechanic and geniune train and antique garden tractor nut case!
The two MRC versions I have both have a P2K FA drive, not th Athearn drive, and they run great. Now I just have to get the shells painted.
Thank you for your input..but it is frustrating to pay over $200.00 for a product that I have to "modify" to get to work properly. Thats just not right. Will stick to Atlas, Kato, BLI engines............
You are a wise man, sir. I agree with the Atlas and Kato 100 percent, haven't sampled BLI. I can remember a time when Kato was on my hit list because of the pickup system, but when they fixed it I jumped on the bandwagon. I have a total of 42 of the SD40-2 in Santa Fe, and they are the backbone of my diesel fleet of over 200 units along with Atlas. Yes, I use DCC.
Bob