Rivarossi 4-6-6-4 Challenger

Scale:
HO Scale


This installation uses the following decoder:

T1



This installation of TCS T1 Decoder is for HO Scale Rivarossi 4-6-6-4 Challenger and was performed by A.G.

The locomotive showed up here as a courtesy of Robert Jensen.

The three upper pictures show the beautiful and very well made Rivarossi 4-6-6-4 Challenger with its shell on, prior to the TCS T1 Installation.
Here is the close-up picture of the locomotive's tender. The tender is not used in this installation as the decoder is being installed in the locomotive's boiler.
Remove the phillips screw that is placed in the locomotive stack.
There is another screw that needs to be removed. It is placed under the locomotive's cab.
We received this locomotive with the T1 decoder already installed so it is impossible to show the in-between steps. One have to follow the general guide for hardwire decoder installation where the orange and gray wire are soldered to the locomotive's motor contacts and the black and red wire to the locomotive's power pick up tabs. There is only one - front light that the locomotive is supplied with so the white and blue wire are being connected to the front 12V bulb. It is a very easy to perform installation.

Important Soldering Tip

Please do not use any flux either liquid or paste on the mother board. Over time, the acidic properties of liquid or paste flux will begin eating away at the fiberglass PCB and will damage it. Use only Rosin-core solder or no-clean flux approved for electronics use.

TCS recommends the use of Kester "44" Sn63 Pb37, .015" diameter Rosin-core solder. Kester part number 24-6337-0007.

You can order this solder from the following retailers:
Digikey - PN:KE1110-ND
Techni-Tool - PN:488SO6775

Other solder tips

When stripping wire, only strip a tiny little bit of the insulation. Strip no more than a 1/32 of an inch. When the wire gets tinned with solder, the insulation will shrink back more. Try to not expose any more wire than half the length of the solder pad at most. In no case should solder or exposed wire wire ever be outside the boundary of the the solder pad you are attaching a wire to.
Click here for important information on properly Stripping and Tinning wire