The MRC decoders are hit and miss with more misses it seems. For the factory installed Athearns, some work great with no problems, others have nothing but problems with them. I have had 2 Athearns with factory sound one worked great, the F45 has issues now. Are the Tsunami and QSI systems better, yes, espicaly in the special lighting effects dept. My F45 does have the motor control glitches and it wont respond to the hand held remote, so it might go back to Athearn and I hope it comes back with a Tsunami in it instead. Then the darn beacon will flash correctly. Mike
LHS mechanic and geniune train and antique garden tractor nut case!
captwilb I do not have extensive experience with DCC and have accumulated 9 locos over the last few months with Christmas and a birthday. 4 had decoders installed when bought (True Line Trains, Atlas, Broadway Ltd) and 5 were DCC ready (4 Athearn, 1 Bachmann). I installed MRC sound decoders in all 5. I have brand new track & wiring with an MRC Prodigy Wireless system. All the locos with preinstalled decoders run smoothly both low speed and higher. All the locos with decoders I installed (in a Bachmann Acela, 2 Athearn P42s & 1 Atlas B23-7, 1 Athearn F59PHI) run but cut out from time to time and any attempt at slow speed is tough. They are well placed in the shells with velcro. Some are mini decoders, others full size. What is odd is that they all run poorly in such contrast to the preinstalled decoders which run well on my new track. Does anyone have any ideas? Any problems with MRC decoders? I have programmed decoders addresses but nothing else. Any feedback is appreciated, thanks in advance for your assistance. Captwilb
I do not have extensive experience with DCC and have accumulated 9 locos over the last few months with Christmas and a birthday. 4 had decoders installed when bought (True Line Trains, Atlas, Broadway Ltd) and 5 were DCC ready (4 Athearn, 1 Bachmann). I installed MRC sound decoders in all 5. I have brand new track & wiring with an MRC Prodigy Wireless system. All the locos with preinstalled decoders run smoothly both low speed and higher. All the locos with decoders I installed (in a Bachmann Acela, 2 Athearn P42s & 1 Atlas B23-7, 1 Athearn F59PHI) run but cut out from time to time and any attempt at slow speed is tough. They are well placed in the shells with velcro. Some are mini decoders, others full size. What is odd is that they all run poorly in such contrast to the preinstalled decoders which run well on my new track. Does anyone have any ideas? Any problems with MRC decoders? I have programmed decoders addresses but nothing else. Any feedback is appreciated, thanks in advance for your assistance. Captwilb
Expect to get quite a bit of feedback on your MRC decoders. I don't know anyone here that will recommend them. I only have one that was preinstalled and it is about to be replaced with a QSI, when I get a few minutes to do the work.
Engineer Jeff NS Nut Visit my layout at: http://www.thebinks.com/trains/