I have two brand new Athearn RS-3s and two decoders made by Train Control Systems model T1. I installed the decoders and programed them as per the directions. One engine moved about ten feet before it stopped and shut down the entire system. The other one moved about one foot before it did the same thing. It would appear that something is shorting out although both decoders look OK and I didn’t smell anything burning. It’s a pretty simple installation so there isn’t much I could do wrong. (Yeah Right!!) I’m using a NCE power cab as the DCC system. If it something was shorting out why was I able to program the decoders. Does anybody have any experience with these locomotives? Any advice would be appreciated.
BB Athearn locomotives (It is a BB isn’t it?) need the motor isolated from the frame. You’ll have to strip the entire assembly down to the frame and pull out the motor. Swap the copper clips on the motor ( the bottom clip with the prongs to the top and the top clip to the bottom) or just cut off the prongs on the bottom clip and lay some electrical tape in the frame so that the motor won’t touch any part of the frame at all or there will be a short. I suspect that this is the problem.
I Also have an Athearn RS3 also with a TCS T1 Decoder, I have found that the one drive truck in my loco tends to bind and lock up. I would pull the decoder, and see how it runs on DC before you blame the decoder. Mine never completely died, just ran real slow.
I have taken mine apart numerous times, replaced the gears in one of the drive trucks and it finally runs better but not great. I have an RRampmeter on my layout and could watch the current draw increase as things tightened up. The loco would run ok at low speeds with no load but would start to lock up at hight speed or load.
Also you might try turning off BEMF on your decoder and see if it makes any difference. It made my loco run worse.
If it was shorting out the screen on the power cab would go blank. You can use the built in ampmeter in the power cab to diagnose power problems with locos.(press program then 6 and then 1 and enter/escape.) Are these RS3 units the one with the 9 pin JST plug? Do the head lights stay on or do they flicker when moving? Could it be a dead spot in the trackwork?
My Athearn RS3 with TCS T1 had to be broken in by running for a few hours. There seems to be some kind of coating on the wheels that needs to be removed. Now it runs like a champ.
Thanks for the suggestions. When I get home from work I will fool around with them. By the way the readout on the throttle does go blank, which leads me to believe there is something shorting out. Whatever it is, its doing it on both locomotives.