Picked up a couple at the train show today, one for the GP7 and one for the S-1 I also picked up at the show. No special harnesses - I have no issue with just solderign them in (both locos are P2K). No one had LEDs though so no lights for now. I installed the one in the Geep and wired up my test track to try it out - very impressive, the auto BEMF makes a huge difference. I set it so a function key turned it on and off and with it on it will start at a low speed setting and keep moving - turn it off while running slow and the loco stops!
Also, this is the first install I've done in 3 years and it went quickly and worked right out of the box. I still tested with the track wired to the program outputs first. No pics, after I get the LEDs and actually finish off the wiring I'll take a picture. Doesn;t get much easier though, cut the wires from the harness (JST plug to wires) short, stripped the ends, put a piece of shrink tube over each one (and I didn't forget one like I usually do). Connect red to red, black to black, orange to orange, gray to gray. Solder, slide shrink tube over, shrink. Done.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Randy,
I have several of the TCS T-1 decoders installed in various locos. They have all performed as advertised.
Not only are the TCS decoders reasonably priced, the low speed performance that can be attained with them is fantastic. The 'dither' thing threw me at first, but now DecoderPro takes care of that too.
Remember its your railroad
Allan
Track to the BRVRR Website: http://www.brvrr.com/
I used them before, when they only had the dither and no BEMF, and they were fine. I usually just plop in an NCE D13SRJ since they are so inexpensive (but not cheap quality) and everything runs fine (but I'm dealing with P2K and Stewart locos). I just decided to give the BEMF in the TCS a try to see how good it worked - pretty impressive especially with no adjustment options. Best price I've seen on TCS is about $7 more than the D13SRJ, I guess I'd have to swap back and forth and do a real comparison - easy since both are JST plug.
Randy
Check this out for more info on your TCS decoders that the instruction manuals don't have.
http://www.tcsdcc.com/PDF_Downloads/downloads_new.htm
Bemf manual and additional programing guide is very useful. Wait till you fool around with the lighting settings. Dimmed when stopped and dimmed on F4 is useful.
Bemf can be set to auto disable at a pre set speed step. Great for consisting groups of diesels.
I never had a bad TCS decoder so far 50+. NCE 6 good 1 bad. Digitrax is 2 for 2 with me. Loksound is 2 for 1 and lenz is 4 and 0. Very durable decoder and have no need so far for their 10 year goof proof warranty.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
Just wait until the new Railcom bi-directional standard gets used. NCE decoders may not like it.
TCS decoders also seem to run better on DC. Sometimes I use that feature, on other people's layouts. The NCE forgets to work half the time, or won't move in one direction, but will in the other.
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
It's not going to be just NCE decoders that will have issues with Railcom. Unless they've made major changes in the way it works, there are a lot of decoders that won't handle the power cutoff for the transmittal period. ANd I don;t even want to think about those sound decoders with keep-alive capacitors that have problems with inrush, like QSI and Soundtraxx.
I use Digitrax - I could have had transponding for years now and gotten live feedback. But I don;t see the need for either. Most control software offers tracking in the software to keep track of what loco is where, and Railcom/Transponding is far too expensive to put in every car. It's a neat toy but I don't see it adding one bit to my idea of operations.
Go to the TCS web site and download the BEMF manual. Lots more info than the little sheet that comes with the decoder. http://www.tcsdcc.com/pdf/BEMF.pdf
CV10 is an automatic shut off of the BEMF at a pre determined speed step. This works great for consisted locos to get the train moving and then cuts off automaticly when the throttle is at road speeds.