Oh how nice of you. Ruin someone else’s day by selling them JUNK! [:(!]
And to think that someone bought them------sigh[sigh]
Well not to discourage you from planting the MRC decoders where they belong in the trash, are the locomotives in question all Athearn units? If so some earlier Genesis models had a problem with defective power pick up trucks. Soldering the wires direct instead of using the stupid little plastic clips is a good idea but will still not cure the problem. There have been a few threads discussing modifications that allegedly cure this problem. They may and stress may work but there is no need. Simply contact Athearn custmer service and explain to them the problems your having and ask them if it’s possible the power pick ups in the trucks are bad and see what they say. I had exactly the same problem and they replaced the trucks fre of charge and even sent me the repair parts for the locomotive that the trained chimps at MRC broke off the locomotive when they had it for repair.
I mentioned to the technician that I had four other Genesis locomotives that still haven’t been run yet would there be any way of checking serial numbers etc. to see if they were the ones with the problematic power trucks. He told me there was no need just send them back as well. Three of the four loco’s came back with new truck along with the original locomotive. The folks at Athearn are very nice to deal with and I believe if you contact them you will agree with me some day in the not so distant future.
But still head mine and others advice on seeing how well they hold up against a sledge hammer or big rock, cause if they ain’t bad now they sure as heck will be very soon. It’s what the prototype calls preventive maintenance.
I saw in the latest Litchfield Station news that they are dumping MRC sound decoders for 1/2 price. It appears that MRC changed their warranty policy and that doesn’t agree with the good folks at Litchfield Station. You can checkout their comments at:
http://www.litchfieldstation.com/xcart/home.php
Kudos for Bruce wanting to run a stand-up business.
" LHSs just want your money. Especially in this economy. Even if they sell you sub-par product."
as a kid, i worked for slot car store part time. the owner’s philosophy was, keep em’ coming back with more money.
we were told to never sell a new customer one of the best cars or controllers up front. just try to get him to buy a cheapo and then progressively move him up into better stuff. otherwise he would only buy the one item and be happy with it.
as for a lot of hobby shops and manufacturers these days, the truth does not serve their agenda. while they will not admit to outright shafting you, they will give you every oppotunity to do it to yourself.
for some strange reason, these clowns seem to think hobbyists are a bunch of wimps. if you sold the typical motorcycle rider a piece of junk and tried to stick him with it, he might just stick it somewhere you wouldn’t like.
most advertising is lies anyway.
grizlump (grouch german)
Athearn replaced the malfunctioning decoder in my BN F45 with another MRC board and gave me a fresh remote control as mine didnt work. I will run this board till it dies, then I will upgrade the unit to a Tsunami. But for now as long as the MRC does what I need it to do, I am happy. Maybe this will be one of the “one in ten” that work as they should. Cheers Mike
I have both a question and a suggestion. First the suggestion. I have at least 20 MRC sound decoders in various locomotives. Most are OK. Some are not. The motor control is lousy. But I’m reasonably happy with the sounds. Rather than throw out the whole decoder, I am going to add a second better quality small decoder just for the motor control, where space permits. That should take care of my problems.
Now the question. If MRC decoders are such junk, why do the reputable dealers like Walthers, Tonys, Trainworld, etc, carry them? Are they really that bad. Or are we mainly hearing from the people with the problems and gripes. I had an MRC decoder crap out, first time I put the loco on the rails. One horn blast and dead! Sent it back. They sent me another one, including speaker, even though I had just returned the decoder. I’m just wondering if we are only hearing from the disgruntled customers. Just askin.
I don’t think anyone’s complaining that MRC won’t honor their warranty. But even if they do quickly send a repalcement with no hassles, that’s not much help when your loco fails every few months.
What’s really frustrating and not a little bit amazing is how badly MRC has failed at DCC, when their DC power supplies were always some of the best made. It took them 4 tries before they realized that people just starting out with DCC don;t want to throw out the system and buy a new one as their layouts expanded. They seem to be making some progress in their decoders, if slowly. For example, the early ones didn;t even try to offer CV readback, while the latest ones seem to allow for readback. However, while the features are finally catching up to what the others offer, the failure rate seems far higher than the other brands.
ANd we won’t even get started on their insistence on keeping their computer interface proprietary and not supporting the most popular free and commercial layout automation programs.
Perhaps being dropped by a large supplier like Athearn was a bit of a wake up call. If there AREN’T so many issues, then why would Athearn switch to a different decdoder provider?
–Randy
I think with MRC it’s a clear case of “you get what you pay for”. I understand this much better now after having initiated this thread. My MRC decoders function but just not that well. After talking to the people at QSI and seeing the detail in their decoders you can clearly see the difference btwn them and MRC-MRC has a few general decoders, sort of mass produced to be used in a variety of locos whereas QSI has very specific sounds files for loco specific applications. I have spoken to MRC many times-nice people in tech support but there is no comparison with talking to QSI. My point being that I believe the MRC approach is a much more general and hence quality is more much “general”-as is price. The MRX decoders, w/speaker, cost about $60. QSI Revolution U is $110. When I install the QSI I will let you know if the price difference is worth it.
-Captwilb
CV conflicts. You will see what I mean when you start programming.
Because stores tend to sell whatever will sell, no matter the quality. The “let-the-buyer-choose” method of selling is really the only way to empower the buyer. An empowered buyer tends to spend.
Yes, they are that bad. I have wasted too much of my life installing, reinstalling, programming and reprogramming or replacing MRC decoders. I would much rather put in something that will work as advertised the FIRST time. As far as I am concerned, MRC owes me…but MRC does not care.
Yes you are hearing from disgruntled customers. They are absolutly the ones you should be listening to. Just like when you are going to buy a car or locomotive, listen to the ones that have problems…they are the ones that will let you know what to expect.
The MRC issue has been discussed to length time and time ag
de-lorted.
David B
Actually sometimes MRC decpders aren’t too bad. For instance, I once had one run a whole week before I changed it with a Tsunami. [:-^]
Here’s a close up of the MRC. Notice the components with solder missing on the leads.
Here’s one with the tsunami sitting by the loco before the install. Obvious quality difference.
Not to defend MRC< but the capacitor on the left in the top pic that has solder on the one lead is probably one with TOO MUCH solder - those are through-hole components and probably soldered on the other side. The one with solder showing on the top probably has so much solder applied that it came through the hole. That’s not really necessary since the holes are usually plated through.
–Randy
When supporting weight like the large caps and the transistor with heat sink you should solder both sides for added strength. It wouldn’t hurt if they added some adheasive or other anchoring method for support as well. I guess they figure it’s easier to repair them.
If you had any idea how many device leave them hang like that - it’s pretty darn common. The Tsunami is better because it uses surface mount solid caps instead of cheap electrolytics. As for the heatsink - I see a screw pokign up which is sandwiching the heat sink/transistor/regulator/whatever it is and the circuit board, so it’s well supported.
–Randy
Yes but the caps are hanging. I do find that the decoder makes a decent paperweight. I classify it on the same scale as an old heathkit project or something bought from radioshack as a home project, not a commercial built board. The construction matches the design.