claycts wrote:I found a way to duplicate the problem. Start CHANGING the type of whistle (this is a heavy steam decoder). I played with them and found the 6 chime the loudest sample. This is in a Big Boy and I realy did not want an N&W 6 chime but that was the best of the bunch.Was not the speaker. Just the recording that was burned into the chip.
I found a way to duplicate the problem. Start CHANGING the type of whistle (this is a heavy steam decoder). I played with them and found the 6 chime the loudest sample. This is in a Big Boy and I realy did not want an N&W 6 chime but that was the best of the bunch.
Was not the speaker. Just the recording that was burned into the chip.
Do be careful when changing whistles (CV 115), however. It's fairly easy to press "15" instead of "115" and change CV 15 instead, which LOCKS the decoder. Guess how I learned that!
Thank you for reponding to my comments.
I agree, something is wrong. Alan's note has a hint for us. I am using SOUNDTRAXX rectangle speakers and baffles the size recommended by them. I had one Tsunami heavy that was acceptable chuff and bell with an anemic, weak whistle, something one or both of you also mentioned. That engine had a round 1" 'plastic' type speaker similar to the QSI but about half the size. THe round speakers I am talking about are .5 watt while the Soundtraxx are 1 watt.
I remain convinced that speaker work will make it better, but compared to the alternatives, still unacceptable. A strong whistle is a minimum requirement.
No, my expectations are not unreasonable, and my room is 11 X 16 sheet rocked and carpeted.
As an additional point of comparison, my MTH K-4 has sound nearly as loud and with equal or higher quality than the QSI.
Given my experience todate, I now only buy locomotives with built in sound. They are not that much more expensive and the quality, well that is the point of this thread. Fortunately I do not have a stable of existing DC locomotives that must be updated.
Thanks again,
Joe
joe-daddy wrote:PondiniWish you lived on my block, I'd have your head in my Tsunami's and your hand in my wallet for lunch! :)Even with the QSI's hog tied, all of the soundtrax locomotives are quiet as church mice, bearly auditable. Joe
Pondini
Wish you lived on my block, I'd have your head in my Tsunami's and your hand in my wallet for lunch! :)
Even with the QSI's hog tied, all of the soundtrax locomotives are quiet as church mice, bearly auditable.
Joe,
I can't believe there isn't something wrong. Are you within reasonable distance of a DCC dealer, or train show where some of them may have booths? Or anybody reputable that does installations?
If not, let me suggest you call SoundTraxx in Durango, Colorado. I see you're in Colorado, too. If you're anywhere close, you might be able to take your worst one there and get them to take a look. Or send it. Or talk to Bruce at Litchfield Station in Arizona at 623-640-4060 -- I suspect he'd take a look for a nominal fee (plus shipping, of course), and let you know what he thinks (and/or fix it).
And/or, if you haven't yet, join the SoundtTraxx discussion group on Yahoo.
There's just too many of us that are happy with Tsunamis for all of yours to be that bad without something being wrong, unless your expectations are wayyyy unreasonable (like the guy who said he'd not be happy until it sounded like the real locomotive was in the next room!), which doesn't seem to be the case.
Pondini wrote: joe-daddy wrote: >>> snip <<<< I have owned three Tsunami's. None of them produced sound you could hear if any other locomotive with sound was running. I have tried different speakers baffles and thought I would twist off the screws on the CV's if I adjusted them any more.Others have said the same about this decoder. I am interested in seeing how Bachmann gets decent sound out of this product. I have a hunch that it is all speaker related. My QSI locomotives are so loud that I have to turn them down to stay in the room with them. >>> snip <<<< My 0-6-0 with Tsunami has the most set of sounds of all my locomotives. I have to run it by itself though, just to hear it.>>> snip <<<< Joe Strange -- I've got a light, a medium, and four heavy Tsunamis, and I installed all of them. I was rather disappointed with the first heavy, as it wasn't very loud, especially the whistle, until I realized one of the solder joints onto the speaker was bad. Once fixed, it was much better.Some of this may be expectations, and yes, comparisons with the QSIs. They are far too loud out of the box, much louder than the Tsunamis, at least in my installations. And there are often 2 speakers in factory QSI installationis, often both larger than the single speaker most of us have with Tsunamis. All but one of my Tsunamis are in Bachmann engines, a 2-8-0 and four 4-8-2s, and all have 1.1" round speakers mounted under the coal load. I got most of the speakers from Tony's, and two from Litchfield. But I often have 2 or 3 Tsunamis running, along with some QSI diesels or SoundTraxx LCs in diesels, and I can hear them all clearly. I suppose it may also have to do with the size and acoustics of the train room, and I agree that the speaker and installation are probably more likely. Perhaps I was just lucky, but Tsunamis work great for me -- I'm just hoping the diesels appear in my lifetime!
joe-daddy wrote: >>> snip <<<< I have owned three Tsunami's. None of them produced sound you could hear if any other locomotive with sound was running. I have tried different speakers baffles and thought I would twist off the screws on the CV's if I adjusted them any more.Others have said the same about this decoder. I am interested in seeing how Bachmann gets decent sound out of this product. I have a hunch that it is all speaker related. My QSI locomotives are so loud that I have to turn them down to stay in the room with them. >>> snip <<<< My 0-6-0 with Tsunami has the most set of sounds of all my locomotives. I have to run it by itself though, just to hear it.>>> snip <<<< Joe
>>> snip <<<<
I have owned three Tsunami's. None of them produced sound you could hear if any other locomotive with sound was running. I have tried different speakers baffles and thought I would twist off the screws on the CV's if I adjusted them any more.
Others have said the same about this decoder. I am interested in seeing how Bachmann gets decent sound out of this product. I have a hunch that it is all speaker related. My QSI locomotives are so loud that I have to turn them down to stay in the room with them.
My 0-6-0 with Tsunami has the most set of sounds of all my locomotives. I have to run it by itself though, just to hear it.
Strange -- I've got a light, a medium, and four heavy Tsunamis, and I installed all of them. I was rather disappointed with the first heavy, as it wasn't very loud, especially the whistle, until I realized one of the solder joints onto the speaker was bad. Once fixed, it was much better.
Some of this may be expectations, and yes, comparisons with the QSIs. They are far too loud out of the box, much louder than the Tsunamis, at least in my installations. And there are often 2 speakers in factory QSI installationis, often both larger than the single speaker most of us have with Tsunamis. All but one of my Tsunamis are in Bachmann engines, a 2-8-0 and four 4-8-2s, and all have 1.1" round speakers mounted under the coal load. I got most of the speakers from Tony's, and two from Litchfield.
But I often have 2 or 3 Tsunamis running, along with some QSI diesels or SoundTraxx LCs in diesels, and I can hear them all clearly. I suppose it may also have to do with the size and acoustics of the train room, and I agree that the speaker and installation are probably more likely. Perhaps I was just lucky, but Tsunamis work great for me -- I'm just hoping the diesels appear in my lifetime!
I agree completely with you. I can run two Tsunami locos, two QSI locos, and two of the infernally loud and poor MRC locos and distinctly hear each one. My MRC (Roundhouse 4-4-0's) are set at 0 (minimum) and my QSI (P2k 0-6-0's) are set at 40-45. I consider the Tsunami whistle to be weak but acceptable. One tsunami is hooked to a 1" round speaker and the other (louder) to a 3/4 x 1.5" speaker (larger tender). My layout room is 6.5 x 15' with drop ceiling and carpet on the floor.
joe-daddy wrote:>>> snip <<<< I have owned three Tsunami's. None of them produced sound you could hear if any other locomotive with sound was running. I have tried different speakers baffles and thought I would twist off the screws on the CV's if I adjusted them any more.Others have said the same about this decoder. I am interested in seeing how Bachmann gets decent sound out of this product. I have a hunch that it is all speaker related. My QSI locomotives are so loud that I have to turn them down to stay in the room with them. >>> snip <<<< My 0-6-0 with Tsunami has the most set of sounds of all my locomotives. I have to run it by itself though, just to hear it.>>> snip <<<< Joe
willist wrote:The only other sounds are the bell and whistle and they are so faint they are almost nonexistent. .
Others have said the same about this decoder. I am interested in seeing how Bachmann gets decent sound out of this product. I have a hunch that it is all speaker related. My QSI locomotives are so loud that I have to turn them down to stay in the room with them. QSI uses a 1/2 watt 'plastic' cheap looking speaker, while soundtraxx sells a cloth type high quality looking speaker. I have often thougth I should try the soundtraxx with the QSI speaker. I also have a diesel with at soundtrax dsd ? and it is faint too.
See my blog entry where I have written about Sound and rated the different sound systems I have tried. http://wwwjoe-daddy.blogspot.com
PS,
IMHO, the best sounding Steam Loco for HO I have seen is the MTH K-4, by a factor of 2
One other thing you might want to check:
If you have the tender shell off and can actually see the decoder, check it's monitor lights, especially after doing a reset.
Page 15 of the Tsunami Quickstart manual (downloadable at: http://www.soundtraxx.com/documents/manuals/quickstart.pdf) has pictures and details.
There's a "pilot" light on the side, which should be on steady.
There's also a "fault" light at the end, that should come on and off with the headlight, or flash to indicate an error. It is supposed to flash 16 times (!) to confirm reset. This might provide an answer. (I've never used this, as I've not had a problem with any of my 6 Tsunamis).
If you haven't yet, download ALL the Tsunami manuals. You'll find a wealth of info (but bite it off in small pieces).
willist wrote:Answer to question 1, Lenz LZ 100, 2. no jerk or any response when I reset (CV 8) the engine does jerk when I try one of the other CV's don't remember which one. I'll go back to the train room and re-install the Tsunami and try to answer more of your questions, but I have tried adjusting CV's 2 3 and 4 and engine still starts and stops too fast. I've also tried CV's 116, 128, 129, 130, 131 and 132. When I state nothing happens I mean the only sound I hear is a steady hissing which I guess sounds like steam being released. This sound I can adjust with CV128. The only other sounds are the bell and whistle and they are so faint they are almost nonexistent. I've put the speaker in the tender under the coal load and closed up the tender, I've drilled holes in the coal for the sound. I've attempted to program both on the main and on the programing track I'm using the Power Pax for the programing track. I do not want to hard wire this decoder, as you might have guessed I'm not good with soldering small wires like those used in a decoder. Thanks again, I'll try to be more informative tomorrow.
Ah, progress.
I use the Power Pax. It comes with a resistor that is sometimes needed (see their instructions). It works fine.
Don't mess with CV 15 or CV 16 - they are the decoder lock.
When I change CV 3 (acceleration) - my 4-6-0 jumps about 1/8".
I just tried to change the loco number on my units to see if they jumped and could not do it on the layout; even though both Tsunami engines operate fine at the programmed address. Next time I have one in the workshop; I will check this out with decoder pro. This tells me that a working Tsunami will sometimes reject programming attempts on the main.
To reset: program CV 30 to 2 OR CV 8 to 8 (might want to try both) on the main.
Program CV 3 to 30 and CV 4 to 30. The engine should run on address 3 and not jerk to a start and stop.
Do yourself a favor and hook your system up to a computer with decoder pro. It will make your life much easier.
Please let us know how you do.
EDIT:
When you reset the Tsunami; you must remove all power to the engine after reset. Then turn power back on. If it did reset; there will be a six second wait before the sound comes on. If you do not remove power; reset may not work.
willist wrote:Guys, I've tried about everything and nothing works, nothing changes the sound doesn't work the motion control doesn't wor., i just feel its beyond my abilities. I wasn't even going to try a Tsunami before I found out I could get a conversion plug. If I have to hard wire the Tsunami in order to get it to work properly I don't want it. I've put other sound decoders in other engines before with no problems, this just doesn't seem worth the trouble. I bought it from Tony's so I'll call them Monday and see what they have to say. Maybe I'll just send the Tsunami and the engine to Tony and pay him to install it. I thought this would be fun not rocket science. Thanks for everyone's help I'll let you know what Tony has to say.
Sorry you're having such trouble -- it shouldn't be hard. And there should be no difference whether it's plugged in or hard-wired. But you're still not telling us exactly what you've done, or what's wrong. All we get is "nothing changes the sound doesn't work the motion control doesn't wor." I feel your pain, but there's not a clue there!
I'll try one more time. Please answer the following questions:
1. What make/model of DCC system do you have?
2. On the main, when you do a reset, does the loco jerk slightly as confirmation? If not, stop there and let us know. (Ditto with any other CV changes you make below).
3. After reset, do nothing else, but operate as loco #3. In 128 speed step mode, start at speed step 1, and slowly increase, one step at a time, until it does. Tell us what speed step that is.
4. Assuming it's not step 1, increase CV 2 from the default of 0 to 1, then 2, etc., until the loco just starts to creep at speed step 1. Tell us what the last value you put in CV 2 was.
5. Set CVs 3 and 4 to a fairly low value, like 10 (I have mine at about 90!). Now try acceleration and deceleration and tell us what happens. It should start and stop fairly quickly, but not instantly. Tell us how it seems.
6. Set CVs 3 and 4 up, in steps of perhaps 10, until you like the performance. (The two values may or may not be the same -- it's your preference). Tell us what you ended up with.
If you can get the motor working to (or close to) your satisfaction, then we'll tackle the sound. Ok?
There are several of us here that are trying to help you. If you would just answer the questions about what DCC system (components) that you have; and how you are trying to program the unit, we might be able to give some constructive advise. If you can't supply the requested information; no one can really help you.
The Tsunami is a great, feature rich device. This can make it somewhat complicated to use (does not have to be complicated though). It takes decoder pro about 15 minutes to just read the 200 CV's in a Tsunami; that is a lot of possible "problem" areas. I doubt that your Tsunami is defective; However I know that we can not really help you if you don't answer the questions asked by several people.
If the decoder really did accept the "8 to 8" factory reset, it should then work fairly well. The sound problems could be caused by an installation problem or torn speaker, but not the motor problems. The motor controls as set by the factory might not be quite what you want, but not bad.
I have several Tsunamis, and have seen a bit of what you describe, when I was doing some speed matching. I'm still not sure how I caused it, but CV 2 had somehow gotten a strange value. So try setting it to something reasonable, then see what happens.
If not, try the reset again. (You can do all this on the main -- and watch for the little jump it makes as confirmation that a CV has been changed.) Then, without setting any other CVs, operate it a bit using address 3, and tell us how the motor response is. Yes, it should start and stop "on a dime" with the default zeros in CVs 3 and 4, but should begin to crawl at a low speed step -- probably less than about 10 in 128 mode. Then adjust CV 2 so it will just barely crawl at step 1 in 128 mode. Only then start with CVs 3 and 4. And each time, operate it a bit to see just what changes.
But it does sound like you have a bad decoder -- the first defective Tsunami I've heard of. If the above fails, contact the seller (or SoundTraxx) for a replacement. It is guaranteed.
Problem #1 with Bachmann locos is all the silly capacitors and choke coils they include in the circuit to reduce some imaginary RF interference - I say imaginary because I have no problems watching TV or listening to a radio in the same room as my trains. These components totally defeat decent silent running and back-emf decoders. The capacitors are eay to remove, just snip one of the leads off. The coils are in series with the motor and a jumper must be installed in placeof them or no power will get to the motor. Yet another reason I tend to hard wire ALL decoders, even if there is a socket.
As for the sound level programming, I can only guess you are hitting the wrong CV's. Nearly every sound in the Tsunami is individually adjustable, as well as an overall volume level. There is also an equalizer that adjusts frequency response. Incorrectly adjusting the equalizer can REALLY muddle the sounds. If you don't have it, IK suggest downloading the Tsunami reference manual from the SOundtraxx web site. It has a lot more information that what comes with the decoder.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
willist wrote:I posted earlier that my recently installed Tsunami wasn't working properly. I tried reseting decoder on programing track by setting CV-8 to 8, I then tried to program the decoder on the programing track instead of the main, it did not help. BTW I put the speaker under the coal and closed up the tender, that did not help. Also someone said that Tsunami's are great motion decoders, well not this one. I could not fine tune start acceleration or braking. It starts fast and stops fast. I put the Lenz decoder back in, it runs GREAT. I can't believe this decoder isn't defective. Any thoughts?
Yes you did post earlier; however, you never answered the questions that I asked in an attemp to help.
Refer to the prior thread; answer the questions, and you might get the help that you need.
http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/1005279/ShowPost.aspx
You stated you changed back, does this mean you unsoldered then resoldered the lenz in place?
Do you have Decoder Pro? This makes getting the tsunami correct a breeze. The program is FREE. What system do you have? Did you try the basic settings from the paper that came with the decoder?
I understnd that these are not the type of answer you may have wanted BUT it may help you find the problem. I use Digitrax and had no problem at all using Decoder pro to get the Tsunami working fine with Back Emf, and other running features.
Hope you find it.