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Issues with Loco's constantly on using DCC. Help Needed!

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  • Member since
    January 2011
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Issues with Loco's constantly on using DCC. Help Needed!
Posted by RCRU on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 12:16 PM

Fairly a novice regarding DCC.
Having and issue running two loco's.  When I power up the system my Genesis always starts up and idles whether it is selected on the Digtraxx DCS 50 or not, whereas my Proto 2000 only starts up and idles IF it is the loco selected, which is what I would prefer.  With both idling it gets fairly noisy.  The Genesis uses Tsunami sound and the Proto 2000 is QSI (if this matters).  Both are set to different addresses and both respond and run properly when selected other than the Athearn Genesis Always powering up and idling.

Can I select each of these individually and the other should remain quiet?  Do I need another throttle to control these in this manner?  Have looked at all the manuals I have and can't seem to find an answer.

Really appreciate any input that anyone could provide on this.

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Posted by tstage on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 12:34 PM

I know that there is a CV on the Loksound decoders that you can adjust so that the sound doesn't come on when you start up the layout.  I'm not sure if Tsunamis have that same feature or not.  And, no - you should NOT need an additional throttle to achieve this.

Tom

https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling

Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.

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  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
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Posted by MisterBeasley on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 12:42 PM

It's the way the decoders are programmed.  Some will start up and idle on power up, and others will be quiet until they are selected.

I put individual kill switches on all the stall tracks in my roundhouse, and also the 4 "staging yard" tracks behind the station.  Most of my engines are in one or the other of these places, so I only get power to a few engines when I start up.

F8 will mute most decoders.  Some also have "shutdown sequences" that let you put engines to sleep so that you need a different sequence to wake them up before they'll do anything, including making sounds.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

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Posted by ba&prr on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 12:45 PM

Set CV113 to 1. This is the quiet mode. Down load the Tsunami users guide. This is on page 46 I believe. Tsunamis have several features you might be interested in: having the bell start to ring and the horn blow when the loco starts to move, having the head lights on reguardless on direction of travel, auto brake squel when the loco is slowed down. All are explained in the manual. Joe  

  • Member since
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  • From: City of Québec,Canada
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Posted by Jacktal on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 2:10 PM

Your Tsunami was programmed this way but you can change this.Read the value of CV116 then substract 32 then re-write the CV to the new value.That should take care of this problem.

  • Member since
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  • From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
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Posted by cacole on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 7:22 PM

The Tsunami setting I prefer is to set CV 115 to a value of 64.  This will cause it to go silent approximately 45 seconds after stopping if all of the sound and light functions are turned off.  If the bell or a light is left on, the decoder will not shut down. 

It will "wake up" as soon as you enter a command such as ringing the bell, turning on the headlight, or entering speed step 1..

  • Member since
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Posted by RCRU on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 8:34 PM

All of the replies have been very helpful. Many Thanks to all for your assistance!

  • Member since
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  • From: City of Québec,Canada
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Posted by Jacktal on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 12:40 PM

Very happy to help...you're most welcome any time again...thanks for the update.

  • Member since
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  • From: PA
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Posted by Schuylkill and Susquehanna on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 1:12 PM

I had the same thing happen with a Tsunami in my K4.  My other sound locos are from Bachmann or Mantua, and the sounds on those don't start up until I select them.

I've gotten in the habit of muting all my locos before I turn the power off so I don't get blasted with a wall of sound when I power up the layout.

It also sounds like you have the volumes set too high.  Reduce the number in the "master sound volume" CV.  Even with two locos running with sound, you should still be able to easily talk over them.  Fairly noisy with two locos it too noisy.  It's acceptable when you have 4 sound locos.

S&S

 

Modeling the Pennsy and loving it!

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  • From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
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Posted by cacole on Saturday, April 20, 2013 10:30 AM

CORRECTION to my earlier post:  CV113 is the one to set to a value of 64 or so to automatically shut down the Tsunami decoder when it is parked and all functions are turned off.

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