I purchased two AR1 reversing units a year or so ago. I've never been real happy with them. All of my locos are sound equiped and I had lots of problems with them dying as soon as they hit the reverse section of track. The AR1 simply would not reverse fast enough. I spent hours trying to fine tune the things with a screwdriver and the adjustment pot. I never did get either of them to work 100% all of the time. Then one day, one of them started rapidly reversing whenever any of my locos was in the reverse section. It was a constant click, click, click until the loco crossed over the gaps and into the normal power district.
I put up with that for a few months until I couldn't stand it any more. I purchased a PSX-AR from Tony's to replace the defective one. I am VERY pleased to say the least with it. I connected the 2 wires from the bus and the 2 wires to the reversing section and fired it up. It has worked flawlessly since. It did not require any kind of adjustments. It also comes with a bunch of really nice features; including a built in circuit breaker and the ability to auto-align a turnout so you don't even have to worry about throwing the switch before you exit the reversing section.
Spend the extra few $$$ and get the PSX-AR. You won't be sorry. And, as usual, Tony's was great to work with. I ordered it online along with a Quantum upgrade chip in the evening and it was shipped the next day. Tony's is a class act for sure.
Contact Digitrax. I've yet to be charged for repairs to any of their products that were not blatently my fault. They have cashed my check only once. Rest of the time it was returned with the repaired/relaced item.
Martin Myers
Jeff But it's a dry heat!
This is the first DOA AR1 I've heard of. I have read one, and have read posts by many others who have them. Before giving up, I'd enquire with Digitrax, it may well be that they will take it without a recipt.
I finally got to the point installing the ARs on my reversing loops. One worked fine right out of the bag. The other initially did a strange sounding switch, then just stopped working. Checked the usual stuff. It's wired correctly, and the reversing section is isolated from the rest of the track. The reversing section shows the same DCC voltage as the rest of the layout, but when a loco enters it, the loco slows to a stop and the headlight dims a little, so it looks like a bad AR1. I don't even remember where I ordered it, and I don't have a receipt for it, so I can forget about any warranty from Digitrax, not that their warranty is that great to begin with. Their idea of a warranty is to repair the defective unit at a cost of about what was paid for it initially. I'm gradually becoming a little disenchanted with Digitrax.
That bring me to the question of, can anyone recommend a good AR module. Tony's doesn't sell theirs anymore, and I had read they were very good. I'm just a little leary of plopping down another $30 for a Digitrax product..