I got a good night’s sleep and I’m calmed down now. I know Gary’s correct about NCE just buying them in bulk and putting them in the box. I worked for GM in the late 60s early 70s. We checked and drove every single car off the assembly line. There were a few that had to be pushed in to the repair section, but I remember one of the things I had to do was turn on the radio. If it didn’t come on, I had to pull it out, tag it and then smash it with a sledge hammer. The radios all came out of a box from Japan and GM didn’t repair radios. Anyways I have lost total faith in those power supplies and want to know if there is an optional one.
I don't mean to sound rude but that's a rather rash and alarmist attitude isn't it? Just because one power supply was bad doesn't mean they all are. I have had duds before and I simply replaced it and went on my merry way (an some of the duds I found could have had serious consequences. I repaired radios and communications devices in the Army.) Just realize that they are mass produced and just like your radios at GM, they can easily be replaced.
Let me put it bluntly: I LOVE MY NCE! Never any issues, great service, reasonable upgrades, they are top notch in my book! Otto
Your right, I don’t want to judge the whole product because of one bad apple. I just think someone should have plugged it in before putting it in the box. If this one slipped through than I doubt that there is any quality control at all, so how many are bad. I also know that things break, but I don’t think there is any excuse to sell something that never worked. These days you don’t even have to have a person plugging each one in, there’s machines that do it for you. I’ve seen several regular TV shows of real manufacturing companies with machines checking every single part before it goes in the box. At least GM had someone like me turning on every single radio that came off that line. I can’t remember the exact total now, but I probably turned on 3 thousand radios a night. And I don’t know how long it will be before I can even experience my new toy and I am glad to hear that you all are enjoying yours.
Dude. I understand your frustration. You expect the stuff to work, and you're left with a dud. Now you've got to go through the hassle of getting it repaired or replaced. Enormously frustrating. However, you've got to understand that particularly with electronic products, it's impossible to have 100% quality control at the factory. Some bad units WILL slip through, even if they're 100% tested. There's a thousand reasons why parts can work perfectly good on the assembly line and through final test, and then fail before they get to the customer. That's why companies have warranties. Solder joints fail, parts fall victim to shipping issues (including extreme environmental conditions that can fail a chip and leave no external trace), ESD, all kinds of stuff. Good QC will catch most of this stuff, but even the best QC will NEVER catch all of it. I don't have any of their stuff (yet), but from what I can tell, NCE has a pretty good rep overall. I'm sure if you contact them they'll likely bend over backward to help you out.
Fact of the matter is this...I bought a Digitrax Zephyr when I got into DCC. I'll admit I didn't do enough research at the time and just jumped maybe because of the price I think. But in retrospect if I had to do it over I'd probably get an NCE. Seems it's just a lot more user friendly. At this point I've adapted to my Digitrax gets the job done so I am not unhappy. It's just a little less friendly at the beginning and their manuals are complete garbage. Anyway, just my 2¢.
I waited 2 years to buy mine. The Zephyr was always at the top of my list and it wasn’t until just this last month did I change my mind. And to the NCE fans, I apologize for making the remark about NCE especially when I’m pretty sure that NCE does not make power supplies. They buy them like everybody else. I know I’m going to be happy with my PowerCab and I just hope it doesn’t take too long before I get a replacement powersupply.
You will find lots of companies purchase their power supplies from other companies, so they can skip the long and expensife UL and CE listing process. They then can purchase OEM power supplies from any of hundreds of vendors, already in compliance, for whichever country they want to sell their product in. The problem of course, is your quality affected by the quality of the power supply vendor. After a vendor proves to be a failure, they're out, and the next supplier steps up to the plate.
I too am a bit sad..but not quite as mad. My Digitrax DBS150 just stopped working after only a few months. Living in Australia I am a long way from Digitrax...panic nearly set in. Although I went back to see 'Old Mate' at my local hobby shop (Austral Hobbies) who sold me the unit. "No worries, mate we'll get that back to Digitrax for repair. And here, use this one whilst we wait for your's to be fixed". You can't beat that for customer service, and the moral of the story is to support your local retailers!!! Hope all turns out well with the NCE unit.
Well that is one advantage to having a LHS close by. I have to buy everything off the internet, sight unseen. I spent a week near Milwaukee last week and I was so envious of what was available there especially for N scale. It would be nice to take it back to the store and get another one. I still have not heard back from NCE. I have to work today and will not be able to call so I hope that when I get back today, there will be at least some instructions on what to do next.
Was just at Whistle Stop in Pasadena, Ca. yesterday asking about digital throttles !! Clerk said he's in HO since its inception (as he was born in 1932) and swore to me that the best beginner eguipment is MRC PRODIGY...he's deep into digital MRRing..Also says all can be had for under $200.00 (no radio control)... I have been using MRC TECH II for decades and never a complaint ...Any replys positive/negative are welcome..Mark Harris
Do they have N-scale stuff? I was in Pasadena a few years ago and I was looking for the Whistle Stop, but I couldn’t find them. Next time I'll have to use gps.biggrin: Well, I’m still waiting to hear from NCE. I sent emails and tried calling but they were closed. I work 10 hour days, so it’s difficult finding time to call during their hours. I started sending emails last Friday and expected that I would not hear anything on the weekend, so it’s been two full business days. Maybe tomorrow.
I just bought a Power Cab as well and I absolutely love mine! It is completely awesome and easy to use. The manual is easy to read and I had programmed 2 locos and set up a consist in less than 10 minutes. I will keep tabs on this thread and if you wanna trade or compare notes I would be more than happy to share any secrets or tricks I discover!
I finally got through to customer service. They were having computer problems and not getting my emails. They are sending me a new power supply and it’s possible that I might even have it this weekend. It actually worked out because I discovered that I wasn’t really ready at the time anyway. I had to install some decoders and I still had some track wiring to do. Plus it gave me time to learn little about it. :tb-biggrin:
