Soundtraxx Tsunami problems and
fixes from the Soundtraxx Yahoo group.
Tsunami causing runaways to other locos.
Erv Sedlock 10 Jan 06
At the
Prototype Rails Sound Seminar I described a problem I found with a Tsunami
causing a non-Tsunami engine to runaway when they were in the same power
district. I called Soundtraxx Today and Allen Lloyd suggested I try writing CV
217 to a value of 2 or 4. IT FIXED THE PROBLEM. Allen told me I wouldn't find
the CV listed in any of the manuals & didn't say what it did other than it
was some sort of noise suppression.
I have a
Lenz system with 3 power districts. Half of my engines are equipped with
Tsunami's & the others have DSX's with either Lenz or NCE decoders for
motor control. When ever an engine with a Tsunami entered a power district
where a non-Tsunami engine was on a live track, the non-Tsunami engine would
runaway. The momentum I programed would take affect, but the DSX would not make
a sound.
Soundtraxx Edgeport speakers causing sound to cut
out.
Mike Davis 6 Jan 06.
Problem: Two Medium Steam Tsunamis that I received
about a month ago display the same symptoms when I tested them. On a Loy's decoder tester with an Edgeport
speaker and no additional speaker capacitor both seem to turn on and off
intermittently. The background steam
sound seems constant, but when the throttle is advanced to a low setting, both
decoder chuff four times and then the sound ceases and the motor light on the
Loy's tester goes out. The whistle and
bell are interrupted the same way. After
a second or two the decoders resume chuffing and the motor light comes back
on. This occurs with them in a block
with a number of other Sountraxx decoders all off which continue producing
normal sound, so I don't believe the PowerShield on the block is doing anything
to effect the decoder. The Ramp Meter
for this block reads just a little over 1 amp.
The block is powered by a DCS-100 with a 5 amp power supply.
Fix:The first
response I got from a group member (offline) suggested "that the edgeport
speaker is not a 8 ohm speaker even though it is advertised as one. I have had sources in the supply industry
tell me that they know of no 8 ohm edgeport speaker. Please understand that that does NOT mean
that there is not one. The Tsunami's
require a minimum of 8 ohms period."
Based upon this advice I switched to an Intervox Oval and the decoder
began chuffing and acting normally. I
won't be testing any more Tsunamis with the edgeport speaker I had used to test
decoders and I will be careful to have the speakers add up to 8 ohms.
Rick Bell
from DCC Installs and Sales www.dccinstallsandsales.com
provided this information to Mike.
I have since looked up Soundtraxx
web site and they don’t advertise these Edgeport speakers anymore. Checked the
Marcus.
Slow start with Tsunami.
Marcus
Amman wrote on 6 Jan 06.
I have a
friend who emailed me with this. I am waiting for my Tsunamis so I have no
personal experience with this decoder or loco.
"I have
4-6-2 brass Pacific with an open frame motor.
Ran smoothly on DC. Just installed a Tsunami Medium Steam decoder. Loco running smoothly.
BUT with CV29
at 34 and CV2 with a value as low as 0, the starting voltage causes the motor
to start too fast. Want to seek a
voltage whereby initial throttle response results in loco just beginning to
move.
Operating
with an NCE ProCab at Speed step 1 using the "slow" INC button, the
loco runs at 8 scale mph and at INC4, loco running at 33 scale mph as
determined by Tony's speed unit. In the end, I wish to program 33-35 scale mph
as the maximum speed at 28/128 speed steps.
What am I
missing....what can be done to reduce this initial starting voltage?
Have not
experienced this problem with other Soundtraxx decoders, and note too, this is
my first experience with Soundtraxx and an open frame motor".
Thanks
Marcus
Paul
Chandler wrote on the 7 Jan 06.
I have
experienced the same behavior in a Challenger 4-8-4. This loco had a DSD-150 in it and would crawl
at an inch per hour. I "up-
graded" to the Tsunami and now it jumps from standing still to a scale
5 mph or so
when advancing the ProCab from 0 to speed step 1. I tested the decoder voltage output at speed
step 1 with the V-start
(CV2) set to
"0" (factory default) and "1" (no significant difference)
across the orange and grey wires on three Tsunamis and two DSD-150s including
the one I had taken out of the 4-8-4.
All other motor control CVs were set to factory defaults and all the
same. The DSDs were within .06v of each
other at about 0.28v. The Tsumamis were
likewise close to each other although not as stable (fluctuation) at around
1.02v. The Tsunamis are putting out
almost 4 times the voltage at the same V-start setting as the DSDs, at least in
my limited sample. That certainly
explains why there is no slow start. The
question now is what can be done to remedy the problem.
Marcus wrote on the 11 Jan 06
I
now have a Tsunami decoder installed in an Austrains 36 4-6-0 steam loco.
My
initial operation without adjusting any CVs (using default values including
using address 3). With forward selected, the loco started moving off at Speed
Step 1, quite fast. Selecting reverse and the loco would not move till Speed
Step 10. Set CVs 66 and 95 to 128 each (neutral trim). The loco now had slower
take off and the same performance in
forward and reverse.
I
adjusted CV 115 to select a whistle and the initial problem resurfaced. Set CVs
66 and 95 again to 128. Operating loco and “playing” with CVs, the initial
problem again resurfaced. RESET decoder by CV 30 a value of 2, THEN CYCLED THE
POWER. Started again and the loco started at Speed Step 1 SLOWER than before
and the same in reverse.
A
reset of the new decoder seems to have fixed the initial problem.
I
have since selected speed table Exponential 1or 2 by writing 10 or 11 to CV 25
and setting CV 29 to 50. Adjusted CV 2 to 2. The performance of the loco at
speed step 1 is such that the loco covers 30 cms (1 foot) in 70 seconds. This
is certainly slow enough now.
Experimenting
with DDE, Throttle responses, Back EMF (torque compensation) Volumes, Reverb
and Equaliser to get my optimum sound operation. I usually operate with no
momentum on my locos and to get the best from the Tsunami you will have to have
a value of momentum in CVs 3 and 4.
Operating
a Tsunami “out of the box”, will give only average sound and motor performance.
This decoder, to get the most out of it, will require a lot of “tweaking” of
the CVs and each loco will be different. Reading the Users Manual along with
the Technical Manual will get the performance that has been promised. This will
take a lot of time.
This
would have been easier using Decoder Pro but my NCE DCC system cannot read the
CVs of the Tsunami. This is a problem that Soundtraxx has suggested will happen
to all DCC systems and have manufactured
a Program Track Booster PTB-100 and suggest all users to have one. So
far my dealer has not received any stock.
Programming
is done using Programming on the Main POM, even changing the address to 3613.
I
will report further with some CV values for my loco as a base starting point to
give better performance.
Marcus