Ok, I have an Atlas Conrail C40-8W Qsi sound and DCC #6089 and the digitrax zephyr dcc system.
I programmed the engine to road number, but now its running and jerking! It ran perfectly before! The sounds work perfectly though except for another problem. The horn stays on even after I let go of the button! Help! Sorry, I'm new to DCC
-Khang Lu, University of Minnesota Railroad Club
Sometims decoders go wacky after programming. All you need to do is reset the decoder back to factory defaults. It will be in the manual, or go to QSI web site and look it up.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
Thank you for the quick reply, I'll do the reset tomorrow, and see how it works.
QSI reset? I just happen to have those numbers handy...
Presuming they're all the same. If not, dig in the specific manual.
CV 49 = 128
CV 50 = 255
CV 56 = 113
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I would also suggest programming a little at a time, rather than programming a bunch of CVs all at once. Program one CV and see how it runs. Then program another, and so on. Write down what CVs you change. Then if something doesn't work right, you can undo the last CV you changed, and so on.
Thank you, i'll try the QSI reset sequence.
It didn't work at all! The loco still lurches around. If nothing else works i'll send it to the club to be reprogrammed and hopefully fixed.
Sorry I just had to bump up this thread, it's been a a little less than month and nothing works. I am very frustrated and since i'm new to DCC, I don't know what to do. The locomotive still runs bad after the reset. The loco jerks around in DCC but runs very smoothly in DC. I have a clue that this might be related to the momentum. Any help is appreciated.
Are you sure it is not your system or a wiring issue? Momentum is CV3. Also make sure that 28/128 speed steps has been programmed into CV29.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
davidmbedard Turn off BEMF. Put it on standard throttle.
Turn off BEMF. Put it on standard throttle.
What's BEMF and how do you disable it?
Did the rest actually work? After rest, the loco should be address 3. If it was not running on address 3 after the rest, the reset never happened.
Momentum should not make things jerky. Quite the opposite, depending on how much momentum was set, you could crank the throttle from stop to full speed and it could take several minutes for the loco to reach top speed.
The clue - when the loco is moving in a jerky fashion, does the headlight blink, or does it stay on? If the headlight is blinking, your problem is poor power pickup. If the headlight stays nice and steady, it's a control problem within the loco. If the headlight alternately blinks on and off as you increase speed - you've got the speed steps set wrong, either CV29 is set wrong or you've accidently status edited the address of this loco to use 14 instead of 28/128 speed steps.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinker Did the rest actually work? After rest, the loco should be address 3. If it was not running on address 3 after the rest, the reset never happened. Momentum should not make things jerky. Quite the opposite, depending on how much momentum was set, you could crank the throttle from stop to full speed and it could take several minutes for the loco to reach top speed. The clue - when the loco is moving in a jerky fashion, does the headlight blink, or does it stay on? If the headlight is blinking, your problem is poor power pickup. If the headlight stays nice and steady, it's a control problem within the loco. If the headlight alternately blinks on and off as you increase speed - you've got the speed steps set wrong, either CV29 is set wrong or you've accidently status edited the address of this loco to use 14 instead of 28/128 speed steps. --Randy
The reset did "work." The address is at 3.
The momentum was set so it takes about 10 seconds to get to full speed.
The headlights and ditchlights do not blink or flash. The momentum doesn't appear to be on in DCC though the loco does jerk. In DC, momentum is on and the loco doesn't jerk.
SooLine720I have an Atlas Conrail C40-8W Qsi sound
The first thing you need to do is determine what QSI decoder you have in the loco. QSI has two different reference manuals that describe all the "stuff" that the decoder is supposed to be capable of doing.
The earlier reference manual is here: http://www.qsisolutions.com/pdf/q-dccman30.pdf. The later reference manual is here: http://www.qsisolutions.com/pdf/QuantumDCCRefManual_5_1_0.pdf.
If you have the earlier version decoder, you will never find anything in the manual referencing back EMF because they don't define it as such. What you want to look for in the index is something called "throttle control and speed control". Once you get to that section, then you'll find info concerning how to set the decoder.
If you have the later version decoder, then you want to look in the index for "throttle control modes".
In both cases, what you are looking to do is get the decoder set for what QSI calls STC, or standard throttle control.
Looking at the manuals, it appears that the default decoder settings for either version of decoder is something other than STC. I seem to remember reading somewhere that OEM (like Atlas) provided decoders came with the default set to STC, but I may be incorrect on that. So there is a possibility that your problem may not be back EMF related. However, the only way to know for sure is to follow the manual instructions.
maxman SooLine720 I have an Atlas Conrail C40-8W Qsi sound The first thing you need to do is determine what QSI decoder you have in the loco. QSI has two different reference manuals that describe all the "stuff" that the decoder is supposed to be capable of doing. The earlier reference manual is here: http://www.qsisolutions.com/pdf/q-dccman30.pdf. The later reference manual is here: http://www.qsisolutions.com/pdf/QuantumDCCRefManual_5_1_0.pdf. If you have the earlier version decoder, you will never find anything in the manual referencing back EMF because they don't define it as such. What you want to look for in the index is something called "throttle control and speed control". Once you get to that section, then you'll find info concerning how to set the decoder. If you have the later version decoder, then you want to look in the index for "throttle control modes". In both cases, what you are looking to do is get the decoder set for what QSI calls STC, or standard throttle control. Looking at the manuals, it appears that the default decoder settings for either version of decoder is something other than STC. I seem to remember reading somewhere that OEM (like Atlas) provided decoders came with the default set to STC, but I may be incorrect on that. So there is a possibility that your problem may not be back EMF related. However, the only way to know for sure is to follow the manual instructions.
SooLine720 I have an Atlas Conrail C40-8W Qsi sound
I tried this but for some reason, my Digitrax Zephyr Xtra doesn't seem to be able to program CV's with sound locomotives, even in OPS mode. Even if it did register, it didn't work. I really wish someone would make a video on this stuff...
SooLine720my Digitrax Zephyr Xtra doesn't seem to be able to program CV's with sound locomotives, even in OPS mode.
I can't help you with the Zephyr other thab to say that if it can program a non-sound decoder CV it should be able to program a sound decoder CV.
Did you ever determine which version of the decoder you have?
Yes I do believe that it is the earlier version, because the locomotive was released in 2005.
If you are programming in Ops mode, you have to be on the main track, not program track, and have the loco's address selected. I have NEVR had a problem programming anything in Ops Mode with my Zephyr. My Atlas Trainmaster with QSI, I never even turned off th verbal feedback and it works.
Select the loco. Drive it around. Now press Program untilt he display says P Ops. Press CV, key in the CV number you want to program, then press CV again. Then key in the value you want to program in that CV, and press CV WR.
You cannot read CVs in Ops Mode, so ignore the CV RD button.
If you program a basic CV, like CV3 for momentum, it should immediately speak "C V three equals" and the value you set. For setting the stuff that uses the indexed CVs, it won't say anything until you set the second CV and value, then it will say something like "C V four seven point five two equals" and the value.
SooLine720I tried this but for some reason, my Digitrax Zephyr Xtra doesn't seem to be able to program CV's with sound locomotives, even in OPS mode.
With QSI decoders in order to program in ops mode with the Zephyr you need to first turn off the verbal acknowledgement function. I know this is true for the recent QSIs not sure for the early ones.
Joe
rrinker If you are programming in Ops mode, you have to be on the main track, not program track, and have the loco's address selected. I have NEVR had a problem programming anything in Ops Mode with my Zephyr. My Atlas Trainmaster with QSI, I never even turned off th verbal feedback and it works. Select the loco. Drive it around. Now press Program untilt he display says P Ops. Press CV, key in the CV number you want to program, then press CV again. Then key in the value you want to program in that CV, and press CV WR. You cannot read CVs in Ops Mode, so ignore the CV RD button. If you program a basic CV, like CV3 for momentum, it should immediately speak "C V three equals" and the value you set. For setting the stuff that uses the indexed CVs, it won't say anything until you set the second CV and value, then it will say something like "C V four seven point five two equals" and the value. --Randy
Thank you, I will see if the locomotive "speaks" when fixing momentum.
ABsolutely not true. It helps to turn off the verbal acknowledgement to use the program track, since there's not enough power there to make it speak anyway.
Also, I do not buy the BEMF issue. All the OP did was change the loco address from 3 to the cab number. Unless somethign else got changed - but resetting would have fixed that. Makes no sense that just changing the address to a long address would mess up an otherwise fine running loco. Unless CV29 got set to an incorrect value, but again ,reset should have fixed that. Sounds more coincidental. Check for fuzz and dirt in the pickups.
Also what could have happened is the Zephyr got set for somethign other than 128 speed step. Try doing a reset on the Zephyr, OpSw 39. It's in the manual.
rrinker ABsolutely not true. It helps to turn off the verbal acknowledgement to use the program track, since there's not enough power there to make it speak anyway. Also, I do not buy the BEMF issue. All the OP did was change the loco address from 3 to the cab number. Unless somethign else got changed - but resetting would have fixed that. Makes no sense that just changing the address to a long address would mess up an otherwise fine running loco. Unless CV29 got set to an incorrect value, but again ,reset should have fixed that. Sounds more coincidental. Check for fuzz and dirt in the pickups. Also what could have happened is the Zephyr got set for somethign other than 128 speed step. Try doing a reset on the Zephyr, OpSw 39. It's in the manual. --Randy
This locomotive does speak in OPS mode, Though the loco doesn't say anything when I try to set throttle control, do you know what the CV value for standard control is? And I will try to reset the zephyr.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! The reset of the system completely fixed the problem! The locomotive runs great and doesn't lurch at all! I guess it's time to go run the locomotive...
Randy
Sorry for my confusion. I mixed up ops mode and programming track mode. I'm happy to see that your advice was able to correct the problem that the OP was having.
Look in the Zephyr manual about Status Editing. That is what you probably accidently did when changing the loco address, or when trying to select the new address after programming it. It was lurching because the decoder was programmed to use a long address with 28/128 speed steps, and somehow the Zephyr got set to send either 14 speed steps, or use a non-standard protocol. I suspect more it was the OpSw that changes the default type that got changed, because if just the long address was status edited, it should have been fine back on address 3. Zephyr default is to use 128 speed steps, and that can be changed on a global basis, as well as on a per address basis. So doing the reset on the Zephyr reverted everything to factory defaults, which is 128 speed step.