Hello, my first post in a long while. I have a tech question for all the DCC guys. I have a Classic series Atlas loco with the gray motor frame. I have installed a TCS CN-GP decoder into it. I was able to program address and CV2 , 5, 6 and 29 into the decoder and it ran fine awhile back and it worked fine. Just recently went to run the loco and I get a flash of the head light when placed on the track. I believe this means there is a short in the motor. I just wonder if there is any way to fine the short in the motor or do I just need to get a new motor for the loco? Thanks for the input in advance.
I test the motor on DC and it works fine. I know on a previous Loco(Gray housing Altas Motor) that I had it also flashed the light on the decoder and I swapped motors and it worked on DCC fine. Just wondering if the gray ones are not DCC friendly?
I got it figured out, turns out the slots where the front portion decoder slide in were loose. Gave them a tap down which made the gap smaller and made better contact on the decoder. Works like a charm now.
Something you might want to consider for future reference. Add a thin pillow of solder to the contact tabs on the chips to increase the thickness rather than tapping down slot openings. A little too much tapping can fracture the tabs and there's no repairing them. If you get too much solder on the tabs, you can wick some of the solder off. Plus the solder is relatively soft and it will conform to the tabs. Just something to consider...
As I recall, the instructions specifically recommend narrowing the frame slots and not adding solder to the decoder. I always ignore that and go straight for the solder option anyway.
