Atlas ALCO RS-11

Scale:
HO Scale


This installation uses the following decoder:

A4X



This installation of TCS A4X Digital Decoder is for HO Scale Atlas RS11 and was submitted by Robert Jensen

The picture shows the beautiful Atlas RS11 with its shell on.
Unscrew the front screw (circled in red)as well as the back one that holds the coupler pockets to the chassis and remove both coupler pockets.
Grasping the shell by the solid area between the grills, lift the shell straight up and off of the chassis. Replace the original light board with TCS A4X decoder. Using the manual that came with the decoder place the wires on the proper copper tabs. Hold the shell in one hand and the chassis in your other hand. Lining up the front of both pieces, lower the shell onto the chassis, keeping the lower edge of the shell parallel with the chassis. Do not forget to attach both couplers back to the chassis.

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