I was talking to a dealer the other day about purchasing the CN-GP decoders for my older fleet of locos and his report was that he had a 100% failure rate with them. This seems highly suspect to me and I attribute the problem to operator error. However, before I plunk down the dough I wanted to get some feedback from you guys. After a search through previous threads on this decoder I haven't read any comments about decoder failure but I want to see what the consensus is today. Your feedback would be appreciated.
Hi, The only one that I had fail was because of my error installing it. TCS replaced it without any questions or hassle. Gary
i have had only one doa out of 7,i need a couple more now,when the funds are available i will not hesitate to buy them.good motor control,and if you do mess it up on installation they will replace with no problem
I let the magic smoke out of one during install, which TCS replaced. Other than that, they work well (the three I have). There is some mysterious behavior (see recent thread) with it taking off and not responding to commands until you drop the throttle speed, but that is able to be overcome.
I bought one at a local hobby store in Denver and it was bad. Motor ran full speed as soon as I applied track power. Returned to TCS in January and still awaiting the arrival of its replacement. I like the concept of the CN-GP for older locomotive designs, but I must admit I am squeamish now. I will wait and see if I get a replacement under warranty
5 out of 10 failure rate for me. I hate to admit it, but of those 5 bad decoders, 4 were due to installer error. I’ve installed decoders in LL SW1200s and Athearn F59PHs, and I find putting these little buggers in Atlas classic GP-30, -35 frames much harder. The problem for me lies with the frame modification. TCS will simile when I say “I will not buy any more Atlas “classic” frames". The frustration installing these CN-GP decoders is not worth it. I hate to admit it but have realized my limits in DCC modeling. Not happy about it and was embarrassed to ask TCS provide me replacement decoders but to their credit they really do stand by their products. I have to say though, after all the frustration the modified locomotives do run beautifully. Brian
I have been less than impressed with the CN and the CN GP's But to TCS's credit, they have been aggresive in fixing the issues I have reported to them. If you can hold off a little while, you may get a better quality decoder as they are going through new production runs and fixing the reported issues. From what I can see, they just are not as reliable as the AMD4 and the other board decoders, but then they have not been around as long as those other designs. Until they can get the bugs out of the CN and CN GP, I will go back to my old standby, Lenz Silver Mini w.
Installed two of these decoders and both failed to operate. No problems with TCS sending replacements. Decided to send loco to Top Hobby and had them do the installation for $22. Loco now runs perfectly but on my experience I would not buy any loco requiring this type of decoder.
I bought three and one was bad. Like others stated the motor ran at full speed and I had no throttle or direction control. I returned it to TCS and they replaced it although it took over two months!
He's an Idiot. I have done a ton of these installs, probally more than 20 overall, only 3 of my own, but I did a fleet of 10 for a friend when I was still in the states, an countless others since then. I have had ONE fail, and it was my fault. In addition, the few times I have had TCS decoders fail (M1s mostly) all it took was a phone call and about 2 weeks for them to fix the problem. I buy almost exclusivly TCS stuff. I understand some of the newer manufactured Decoders from them are having issues, but I have yet to see them, and Yes I have bought TCS decoders recently. As for communication with TCS, I have not had issues with them, I have always been very polite and respectfull, and got the same back. Overall, with the TCS GP series decoders, you need to work slow on your first one, read and understand the directions before starting your work, make sure you have a good, Hot, fine tipped soldering iron, and some paitents. I am down to about 20 miniutes to install one now.
I'm waiting for a replacement CN-GP right now. I am putting it in a LifLike C424. The first one went in but the decoder couldn't be recognized. Eventually it showed up on the DCC controller as having a short. I spoke at length with the TCS tech(owner?) and he agreed that I had done all the proper trouble shooting. Hopefully the replacement will go in with no problems. The biggest issue is to completely isolate the motor from the frame. As I told the TCS tech, my motor looks like a mummy wrapped in Kapton tape. I figured I'd better cover any, repeat any, showing metal on the motor. When the new one comes I'll give it a go again. I suspect I made a mistake on the install and missed something that shorted the decoder. I'm off to buy a new multimeter so I can make sure that the motor is isolated before I put it on the track. All in all TCS has been very supportive so far. We'll se how long it takes to get the replacement, they received the faulty one 2 days ago (USPS delivery confirmed). Dave
LMAO!!! At 100% failure rate I figured it was operator error. I appreciate everyones input. Thanks to all. Since the consensus is very good on their customer service experience, I think I'll start with three decoders and see how it goes. If they all fail and I'm not the culprit then I'll wait until TCS fixes the problem to do the rest. I've done the retrofit to Kato first run F7 units with MT's and managed to install a DZ125 in a LL SD7/9 with no problems as my first non drop-in job so I feel confident that I can do the CN's too. Thanks guys!
