I am having trouble programming the loco address on a Tsunami to something other than 3. I am using a Prodigy Express, and I've tried the automatic address programming function and tried to just program CV1 manually.
Is there something I'm not doing right?
Try programming on the main, the Tsunami is yet another one of thoese %&@( sound decoders that is POORLY ENGINEERED and does not program on the low power output of the program track without a booster. It's not anything you're doing wrong.
And yes - it's poorly engineered, as are any other brands that work liek that. I don't care how good the sounds are. There's no excuse for their crazy keep aline circuits to draw so much power that the program track doesn't work and/or they cause DCC systems to be unable to recover from a short without adding extra tricks to handle it like done with the PSX breakers.
Yes I'm rnating and no this isn;t totally related to your problem, but what are we doing? We suck up whatever sound gadget these peopel feed us and modify our DCC systems to accomodate them, when there is no reason for this. I guess the attitude is that hey, it's not int he NMRA standards, so who cares? Maybe if we stopped buying these abominations until they fixed them, or someone with a little pull in the industry (hello, DCC manufactureres? Hello, major hobby publications? Hello, NMRA?) would say something, we might get results. Me not buying their product isn't going to cause anyone to worry about the health of their company.
BTW, while they may have low volume (and I don't particualrly need my sound locos to be audible throughout the house), Digitrax's sound decoders program FINE with no boosters, and they do not have startup inrush current problems when the power gets shorted. If they can do it, why can't Soundtraxx and QSI? Haven't noticed any issues with Loksound, either, so perhaps ESU also know show to do it.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I really was just wanting to change the "short" address I guess it is called. I would think I could just change CV1 to something other than 3 and that would do the trick, but it won't do anything.
When you say change CV 17 and 18, then 29 do you mean change 17 and 18 to the same number? Then what do I change about CV 29 after that?
Thanks for all of your help.
CV 1 is for the short address only. CVs 17 and 18 are for a long address, and then you must program CV 29 to tell the decoder to use the long address instead of the short. Trying to put a long address into CV 1 is likely to get the decoder so scrambled that you no longer know what the address is.
For a Tsunami and several other sound decoders, you must use Ops Mode (Main Line) programming unless you have a programming booster connected to the programming track.
I'm not familiar at all with a Prodigy Express, but if you can do main line programming with it, try programming the long address on the main line, then change CV 29 to a value of 34.
I've discovered that after programming the long address, I sometimes have to go back and select address 3, and then change CV 29 as a totally separate programming step.
I would place the engine on a separate section of track, do a full reset (CV8 to "8", or try it with address "00" setting CV8 to "8"), and then set the short address in one other step.
Just to update I figured it out and got it to work. I looked up how to compute the values for CV 17 and 18, and went through the steps all of you gave me. I appreciate the help.
Randy,
I don't know how the Tsunamis are "poorly engineered" as you say. They seem to be well made and the company is very responsive and helpful to questions. I have installed 6 of them in my Spectrum, PFM and Overland steamers and they have all worked well and have been in use for as long as they have been on the market. I initially had problems programming them until I contacted Soundtraxx and they set me straight about using the programming track with a booster. They are more than loud enough and changing CVs is easy. I use a 2 digit number to represent the road numbers of my engines and that works fine.
I would have to say the Tsunamis are the best steam sound on the market. Their sounds are very crisp, slear and prototypical. That's much better than some of the sounds systems I've heard. The PCM Reading T-1 has a terrible exhaust sound with an off-beat exhaust and the recent MR review of the Pennsy I1sa 2-10-0 has a really lousy exhaust sound.
I'll stick with my belief that Soundtraxx has the only decent sound for steamers!
My 2ยข,
Roger Huber
By poorly engineered (and it applies to QSI as well) I mean the keep alive capcitor which is the root cause of all this 'startup inrush' and programming track problem. The addition of a resistor and diode in their circuit design would ahve prevented this from being a problem yet still allowed the decoder to handle dirty track. The attitide of the manufacturers has been a rather cavilier "we are following all applicable NMRA standards, if it doesn;t work, buy a booster" My point is, you shouldn't have to buy a booster, not if they designed the decoders properly to begin with. Nor shoudl you have to buy a specially designed circuit breaker to divid your layout into power districts - or make workarounds with auto tail light bulbs so your existing breakers work.
I don;t question the engineering of the sound portion of the Tsunami - they certainly have incorporated more things than anyone else as far as sound quality and adjustability. It's the power supply section that needs a little help. And it's not like this simple change would have made the decoder cost $10 more. A resistor and diode cost an ordinary person maybe 20 cents in single unit quantities. By the thousand they are maybe a penny.
FWIW i though the Loksound in my T-1 was just fine. It was as synchronized as you're goign to get without a cam - at least at most reasonable speeds. The morot drive was unbeatable, I could set it on speed step 1 and it woudl reliably crawl around my layout, taking a half hour or more to do so. Loksound does have a connection to add a cam if you want truely synchronized chuffs, just liek you can add a cam to a Tsunami. Plus the sounds are user-programmable. Don't like what htey have? Change it to your own, which at least one person did with the T-1, he had a recording of AFT 1 which he used to fix up the auxiliary sounds and replace the whistle. Soundtraxx I think missed the boat by not making the Tsunami programmable. See my first message as to why I couldn;t use on say in a T-1 unless i wanted to model a Ramble/excursion one. If the sound combinations they offer fit your needs, great - the sounds ARE excellent.
I was not aware there is a problem programming Soundtraxx decoders. I have two Tsunami steamer decoders and have no difficulty at all programming these decoders with a Digitrax Zephyr, either on a programming track or on the main, without any sort of programming booster.
I cannot read back CVs; apparently I would need a programming booster to do that.
I tried using a DCC Specialties booster without any success at all. The first one failed soon after receiving it; it was replaced with a new one and it would programm CVs but not read back CVs. A third replacement would not work either.
I am guessing there is some sort of incompatability between that device and my particular Zephyr. Litchfield Station tells me the same set up works perfectly for them. In any event, I have not needed any sort of programming booster to program CVs in Soundtraxx, and to program/readback Digitrax, Train Control Specialties, Soundtraxx LCs, LokSound and Lenz decoder CVs.
FWIW, I like Soundtraxx Tsunami steam decoders and LokSound. Each has totally different approaches to setting up a locomotoive, but both have excellent sound and options. I don't have a Loksound programmer so I don't alter the available sounds, but what they provide is pretty darn good. Their user manual, though, is really misleading and incomplete, and the first several times through reading it you will wonder WHAT you have gotten into. The various options are very poorly and inadequately explained. Their tech support has been very responsive.