TCS refurb

[Day One]

I picked up 2 TCS AMD4 decoders to go in a pair of GP9's.

One workd perfect. the other is lights on no motor control. the non functioning one I noticed, has solder already on the function pads that looks like wires were already removed. Did I get a refurbished decoder or non operating decoder from them? Does TCS sell refurbished decoders as new?

[wm3798]

I have my suspicions.  I love how easy it is to install their CN series in N scale diesels, but out of the half dozen or so I've put in, probably 4 of them fried with the application of power.  This was after doing the "right thing" and testing the readback function on the program track.  With any other make, if I get an address to read back, I'm good to go.  With TCS, everything can look normal, then you apply track power and ZAP.  Magic Smoke.  Upon further inspection, I can find no problem with the installation, everything is isolated and soldered as it should be.  So my only assumption is there's a problem with their board. 

I had two blow up in a row last week.  Very irritating.  I used to complain about Digitrax, but I've put in probably 2 dozen DZ-125's, and they are flawless.  They seem to have corrected whatever was wrong with the 123's.

They're obviously going through a "phase"...   I'd be a little more lenient, but their product costs twice as much as a DZ-125.  They need to get their act together if they're going to be a player in the market.

Lee

[davefoxx]

I picked up 2 TCS AMD4 decoders to go in a pair of GP9's.

One workd perfect. the other is lights on no motor control. the non functioning one I noticed, has solder already on the function pads that looks like wires were already removed. Did I get a refurbished decoder or non operating decoder from them? Does TCS sell refurbished decoders as new?

Lights and no motor often means that there is not good contact between the motor tabs and the bottom of the board.  Quite often, they don't line up exactly right.  Try tweaking the motor tabs a little and reinstalling the board.  Usually that works for me.

By the way, if it were a Digitrax board, I would say that someone had done you a favor by putting solder on the tabs, since Digitrax's boards are now too friggin' thin to fit into the frame properly without modification.

Dave

[Day One]

Lights and no motor often means that there is not good contact between the motor tabs and the bottom of the board.  Quite often, they don't line up exactly right.  Try tweaking the motor tabs a little and reinstalling the board.  Usually that works for me.

By the way, if it were a Digitrax board, I would say that someone had done you a favor by putting solder on the tabs, since Digitrax's boards are now too friggin' thin to fit into the frame properly without modification.

Dave

I had checked the motor contact tabs and even re-shaped them initially but it turns out this was the culprit.
These GP-9s have been a chore to get running smoothly for some reason. Lot's of noise and binding. I "Bearden'ized" the front truck of one to finally get it to run around right turns in the forward direction. After a few hours of break in they are finally running decently, tho one has an annoying click/pop sound that I can't figure out.

FYI, I had to add solder to the motor contact pads on the TCS decoders too as they are thinner than the stock Atlas light board.