Interesting - Rapido and TCS working jointly on a new sound decoder

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wau7KP-RIIQ

Of course the run together - my TCS motor only locos run perfectly fine with my Loksound sound locos, no tweaking needed.

–Randy

2

they are trying to get away from the ESU decoder problems with certain models of the MRC DC controller voltages bring a little high …

that’s all …

3

I personally prefer TCS decoders, especially after seeing their performance in Bachmanns Streamlined K4, ACS 64 and their soon to be released SC44. The sound seems amazing and motor control is top notch…

4

Do voltage spikes affect only ESU decoders? They all have a maximum voltage.

I’m beginning to think that buying DCC ready engines and installing your own personally prefered decoder is the way to go. Many of the non NMRA standard features do not play well together.

5

If it comes with a Loksound, I’d buy it witht he decoder installed. That’s all I use. Being all the same, they then play well together. TCS motor control works well with ESU, which also has fantastic motor control. All my non-sound locos have TCS decoders.

This new decoder is NOT a TCS WOW, it is a custom design - so it works with all the Rapido ESU locos. As demonstrated, they’ve even replicated the DriveHold feature, so if one loco has Loksound and one has this new Rapido/TCS decoder, they will run together. Right now that is not a problem for me, because my stuff has all been packed away so my Loksound decoders were not upgraded to have Drive Hold yet, but if I do, then they won’t run with the TCS motor decoders.

–Randy

6

That is not the reason. Jason Shron has stated they are still working with ESU for future projects.

Rapido is just working on a second source for decoders. Nothing wrong with that, the electronics industry always looks for second and third sources for their components.

I’d rather have Rapido develop a custom decoder with all the features than sourcing a cheaper, cost reduced decoder with a reduced feature set. As the video demonstrates, both the ESU and TCS decoder work well together.

A little more competion for the OEM decoder business is good for us in terms of better decoders in the future.

7

This is especially true of the recent offerings from Rapido, Genesis and maybe a few others.

There are so many factory installed “bells & whistles” that attempting to do a DIY decoder install might prove to be very frustrating or, if nothing else, very challenging to accomplish with the level of detail and lighting options out there.

The last thing I’d want to have to do is open up a locomotive such as the C-P Royal Hudson and go poking around in there. Just too many chances for me to break off a detail item or worse. Just ask Brent with his driver replacement experience.

[2c] Cheers, Ed

8

I saw this the other day and was again impressed with how good TCS decorders are. In the past, I have squeezed them and their keep-alives into the Bachmann 4-6-0 tender and was extremely happy with their perfomance. I’m going to be putting their WOW sound into all of my GP-38s. That they are made in America (in a basement) is icing on the cake.