I've avoided Tsunami decoders but other board repalcement types liek that do not require a balck wire on both ends - it's just there for a convenience when installing into locos that actually have pickup tabs for both sides (unlike AThearn which has a pickup tab for one side, and the chassis serves as the connection for the other side via the truck bolsters). If you follow the traces, the front and rear track pickup connections actually are connected on the circuit board, so cnencting just one end is fine unless the loco actually has the tabs - in which case connecting just one end means that side is only picking up from one truck, not both. Conversely, taking one wire and splittign it into two is also not going to hurt anything, it won't make pickup via the chassis any better, but it won;t make it worse, unless your splice is poorly soldered.
The problem with newer Athearns is that since they added the plastic pieces to hide the shiny metal of the truck frame, they have quality control issues and some have very poor contact - all power transfer relies on those square bronze bearings riding on teh metal part of the truck frame, and sometimes the plastic bit is actually the smaller cutout, meaning the bushing rides mostly on the plastic. I have two RS-3's, one needs work to run, the other was just fine out of the box. And tracing it down it is definitely the contact between the bushing and the truck frame. Others have reported similar situations.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Well fellas, I now realize what I did. I've been adding decoders for a number of years, but almost all were the Soundtrax TSU-AT1000. It has 10 wire connections on the board, and two of them are for left wheel pick-up. You have to connect a black wire to each end of the board and then to the loco body. With the new Econami, there is only 1 black wire and that just needs to be attached to the left side of the body for left wheel p/u. I had actually spliced that wire into 2 wires thinking I had to do same, but looked closely again last night and saw what I had done. Subconscious I guess, or just getting old. Yes, it does help to read the manual carefully too.
I've only installed Digitrax decoders, so my knowledge and experience is limited, and I'm sure many experienced modelers will chime in, but I would suggest that you go to the Soundtrax web site, find the decoder you are using, and follow the intructions, and compare that to what you have done.
I just visited their web site, and they do have installation guides for various decoders, in Athearn locos.
Mike.
My You Tube
I recently installed a Soundtrax Economy decoder to an Athearn GP35. It seemed to run fine, but now stops and starts and stops like it's not getting a signal. Yes, wheels are clean and track is clean. I installed one red wire to the front right wheel p/u (clip) and one red wire to the rear right p/u (clip), and two black wires to the body...left front pick-up and left rear pick up. They were installed on the body using screws I drilled into the metal frame. I did my other Athearns that way, but don't recall having this problem. Now I'm beginning to think that 2 wires attached to the one main body may be the problem. How many black wires am I supposed to attach for both a left front and left rear pick up? And where am I supposed to attach them? I can't think of any other reason for the stops and starts. PS...sound is fine and lights work great.
Thanks. JRP