MRC F7B decoder installation

Pic 1: Standard wiring

The first step in installing the TCS T1 decoder in this locomotive is to ignore the circuit board's designated "Red" and "Black". They are reversed. Also, note that "Gray" is spelled "Glay".

Other than that, installation is fairly straight forward. Connections are made by either soldering or using a plastic clip on the circuit board. The locomotives come with the clips in the box. If you don't have the clips, simply solder the wires to the board. As far as I can tell, the only thing soldering wires on to the circuit board does is keep them in place. (Except for the pickups from the rails.)


Pic 2: Determing Length


Pic 3: Trimmed harness

I like to keep my decoder wires as short as possible, so I don't wind up with a big mess. Pic 2 shows how I measure for the wire length. Simply overlay the harness where the decoder will go and where the wire will go. Cut the wire to approximately 1/4" larger than that distance. Pic 3 shows the trimmed wiring harness.


Pic 4: Testing on the layout

After everything's connected, give your locomotive a test. If it works, you're good to go!

Note: These images have been submitted to TCS for use on their webpage. If they wish to use them, great!

This post has been edited at 2008-01-28 19:51:56

This post has been edited at 2009-10-02 05:48:17