Yep I am about done! For no reason beside it having a MRC Decoder I lost control of the Big Boy![:(!] It was running great and pulling a good load. Tried to sound the whistle, nothing. Tried the bell, nothing. Tried to slow it down, nothing! Shut down the power and restarted. Big Boy had all the lights on and sound! Could not make it move but sounded great sitting there!
Run’s and sounds great on DC, did not mess with sitting the default on the POS decoder.
Dave my friend that keeps telling me MRC Sucks, MRC Sucks Everone knows MRC Sucks! Do you have the skills to replaces the Suck A-s decoder? If so let me know here on this posting then PM me. I have learned alot but with my poor eye sight and lack of solidering skills I am not up to the task.
Getting old sucks just about the same as MRC Decoders. I still love my MRC 9500 DC power supply.
MRC Hating Ken, Dave you want to be my friend?[:D]
First step will be to remove the old decoder, then we will fabricate a plug for the new one to go into.
Disconnect the tender from the locomotive and remove the shell from the tender. Locate the screws to remove the shell.
Remove all the screws that hold on the pc boards. Leave the little front pc board connected (the one that your loco plugs into).
Once you have the big board out, stand up, place it in your right hand and hurl it toward the wall. If it doesnt self destruct on impact, then feel free to grab the cloeset hammer and continue to hit it until you are sure it wont work ever again.
Go to your LHS and either buy a cheap Digitrax decoder (DH123) with a wiring harness and bring it home. The plug that goes into the decoder (9jst) is the same as the one that is used on the tsunami for a later upgrade if you prefer.(or you can just buy a tsunami heavy…but this decoder will tie you over).
The next step is the most difficult. You need to figure out what soldering pad on the little pc board is for. For this you should use a multimeter to look for continuity. You need to figure out which pads are for the motor, the pickups and the light.
When you figure that out, solder the orange and grey wires from the decoder to the motor leads…the red and black wires to the pickups…and the blue and white wire to the front light.
Dave on the MRC Decoder board I was thinking about backing the 68 Road Runner on top of it and lighting the hides on it.
I will ask my LHS if they can help me with the up grades, they are more than I can do. Being a old car guy only test gear I have is a test light, dwell meter and a timing light. Plus my lack of clear vison.
I have resat the decoder and working fine again, but never know when it will get in a mood.
Can I get a BLI Big Boy?
My little M1a is draging the same train at 33% of the starte up power needed for the Big Boy.
I will added, if it was not a Big Boy it would have been launched into a wall by now.
I have the multimeter. I have the soldering iron. I have the solder. And I can solder in tight spaces and I can help you figure out which soldering pad to use.
Once you get the New decoder that Davidmbedard mentions, bring it over and I’ll help you wire it in, with Davidmbedard’s guidance.
Give me a call when you’re ready and we can schedule a time.
Toots, phone work both ways buddy. Soory I sort of forgot about you but I got knee deep in a project and Thursday and Friday had Car guys dropped by. They are trying to get me back into the HP car hobby.
Next time you can make it by bench will look a little driffrent. Far from being done but the 5’ X 8’ K-10 mining is standing on it’s 12 leg’s wating for Plywood and 2" of foam.
Once he has gutted the tender (except for the little board in the front), figure out which pad go to the motor, the leads and to the light.
Wire it up.
Then you will need to see what the impedence of the speakers are. I am hoping they are both 4 ohms or 16 ohms (the tsunami requires 8 ohm…which can be achieved by wiring the 2 speakers in series…or parallel). If they are both 8 ohm, then we will only use ONE. Solder the 2 purple wires to the speaker.
Then place the Big Boy on the track and then we can adjust the cvs.
OK, it Caboosed again! For no reason it stopped moving while running? Still had control of the sound and when I pushed it, it ran sort of. Turned the power off and restatred, same think excpet I could not turn on the headlight and still would not move.[:(!] Did the DC decoder default thing, had sound on DCC but would move again.
I will say one thing, it runs well on DC! Maybe Athear should list it as DC with sound and skip the DCC part.
Would you put up with a television set or a computer that behaved that way…when it felt like it? Ken, can you afford the blood pressure rise associated with this kind of “fun”?
Can you say, "Trix/PCM/Rivarossi Big Boy? Or, get the Tsunami and be done with it…already!
