Athearn Genesis F2A Freight

Scale:
HO Scale


This installation uses the following decoder:

A6X



This installation of TCS A6X Decoder is for HO Scale Athearn Genesis F2A Freight and was performed by A.G. and J.F.

Here is a picture of the locomotive with its shell taken off and TCS A6X decoder installed. This locomotive originally comes with DCC plug where you could connect our other decoders such as T4X or T6X. The reason that A6X was chosen is that this decoder has built in 1.5V voltage regulator so you do not have to worry about selecting appropriate resistor values. It is worth of mention that using A6X gives you the option of controlling every single light separately with function buttons. This locomotive has a highly detailed. Four light bulbs are used on the front and one one the back. When performing this installation, one needs to be very careful not to melt the insulation on any wires. This would expose the wire and lead to shorting out the bulbs and damaging the decoder. Problematic spots are marked in a red and a blue in the picture and those are the points where one needs to pay a lot of attention to when putting the shell back on the chassis so that no wiring is pinched and damaged.
Here is a picture of the locomotive with its shell taken off and TCS A6X decoder installed. This locomotive originally comes with DCC plug where you could connect our other decoders such as T4X or T6X. The reason that A6X was chosen is that this decoder has built in 1.5V voltage regulator so you do not have to worry about selecting appropriate resistor values. It is worth of mention that using A6X gives you the option of controlling every single light separately with function buttons. This locomotive has a highly detailed. Four light bulbs are used on the front and one one the back. When performing this installation, one needs to be very careful not to melt the insulation on any wires. This would expose the wire and lead to shorting out the bulbs and damaging the decoder. Problematic spots are marked in a red and a blue in the picture and those are the points where one needs to pay a lot of attention to when putting the shell back on the chassis so that no wiring is pinched and damaged.
The front of the locomotive with the shell on.
The front of the locomotive with the shell on.
Shown with the front lights on.
Shown with the front lights on.
When the installation is successfully finished, the beautiful light effect can be seen and the engine runs quiet and smooth.
When the installation is successfully finished, the beautiful light effect can be seen and the engine runs quiet and smooth.

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