A Discussion About the TCS Z2

One of the reasons that I continue to buy TCS products for my own installations is that they have, hands down, the best tech support I’ve ever encountered for, well, anything—including telling me when to stop using one of the products. [...]

Lemke/Hobbytrain Plasser & Theurer Duomatic DCC Pt. 2: Decoder Installation and Tuning

Isolate the green areas; cut traces and solder where indicated

Update: After consulting with TCS, I no longer recommend the TCS Z2 decoder for this installation. Sadly, the TCS M1 is too large for this installation, and so I have selected a Lenz Silver Mini to replace the Z2.

Previously, I showed how to disassemble the tamper down to the point where we can proceed with decoder installation. Let’s move forward with the decoder installation itself.

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Lemke/Hobbytrain Plasser & Theurer Duomatic DCC Pt. 1: Disassembly

The Duomatic itself.

The Duomatic itself.

Stop. (Collaborate and listen.) You just bought one of these fancy Lemke ballast tampers, and you are considering converting it to DCC. You can read a little German, maybe, or at least you can work from photos; or you found another guide on the web. It doesn’t look so hard. Don’t believe everything you read.

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