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Blast -Just when I thought I had finished spending! Journals/Blogs
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Regular poster 482 posts David Pennington Long Haired David Regular poster 482 posts
David Pennington Long Haired David
Yesterday, my N Scale Bachmann RS3 ran away. The only way I could stop it was to turn the power off to the track. Fortunately my Digitrax Zephyr has a button for that. Unfortunately, when I turned the power on, the loco was dead. Now I have two feelings about this. One is that, having told the wife that I didn't need anything else for the railroad, I now have to admit to needing a new decoder. The second is pleasure that I am replacing the decoder as the built in Bachman decoder is quite limited and the loco never ran very well. As you can't get a drop in board for this loco, I am looking at the TCS M1 Miniature decoder - details here: http://bit.ly/XashQm. Kevin at Coastal DCC has these in stock so I should be back and running with it soon.

David
Hi from the UK
Main man on the Sunset North Eastern and now the Great Western
My Blog: http://www.gmrblog.co.uk
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David Pennington Long Haired David Regular poster 482 posts
David Pennington Long Haired David

Not TCS but Zimo

I have been advised that the Zimo equivalent to the TCS Decoder I was planning on is a better item. I am told that I will get better motor control. I pick it up tomorrow. I will report on progress - I have to work out how to replace the current board and keep the lights working!

David
Hi from the UK
Main man on the Sunset North Eastern and now the Great Western
My Blog: http://www.gmrblog.co.uk
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g0 Regular poster 185 posts
g0

Clean the wheels and contacts?

Based on a comparison of your locomotive's behavior to those of the DMRG fleet, you might do a little disassembly and check for dirt on the contacts.  Might just be that enough gunk has built up to prevent a clear DCC signal from getting through (though not necessarily enough to completely cut off electricity)!

A little rubbing alcohol should clean things up, and may be a much better $1 solution than a $25 ($30?) solution (i.e. a new decoder).

Then again, an upgrade may be well worth it.

-Fuzzy
DM Rail Group: St. Louis Northern • Paris Coal Railway • South Fork • IndustRail • Milwaukee Franklin & Norway

 
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locoi1sa Regular poster 310 posts
locoi1sa

The Zemo / TCS comparison is

The Zemo / TCS comparison is new to me. I own about 50 TCS decoders and have never had an issue with them. The latest with BEMF have the best motor control beside my Loksound Select decoders. How much more money is the Zemo over the TCS M1?

      Pete
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