Tiger Valley Models RSC14

Scale:
HO Scale


This installation uses the following decoder:

T1



The installation is for HO-Scale Tiger Valley Models RSC14. It uses T1 decoder and was performed by Jean Lacroix.

First, you will have to locate and remove all the screws that hold the body underneath the locomotive. Normally you have 2 screws in the front under the cab and 2 other at the opposite end near the steps. Remove the shell and the cab of the locomotive. Remove all lamps hooked to the motor or otherwise installed. If they are of 1,5 volts you should discard them and save them for future projects.
You will need to unsolder the wires that were hooked to the motor. You will then solder the black wire from the harness to one of the truck screw and the red wire to the other truck contact screw. After this is done, you have to solder the grey harness wire on one of the motor contact and the orange on the other. It is suggested strongly to use heat shrink tubing to cover all exposed nude wiring or soldering made between wires. You will find heat shrink tubing in electronic parts stores across the country.
Then, we will take care of the lights. I used LEDs to replace the original 1.5v bulbs. Solder the blue wire from the harness to the white and yellow wires as per the instructions that came with your decoder. The lights were simply glued behind the holes for the headlight holes.
In the sample shown, the motor is a Sagami and is already insulated, so you do not have to bother to isolate it from the frame or the body. You can use “Tack’NStick” adhesive (sticky paste) or double-sided tape, to stick the decoder on the locomotive floor. This leaves room enough to later add a sound unit to your locomotive. The green and violet wires can be cut and put electrical liquid tape at their ends. You are now ready to reassemble your locomotive doing backwards what you have done in order to disassemble it.

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