I've heard of the "confusion" involved with "why won't my loco run", but all one needs to do is know how to operate the decoder. Double-tap F6 is not hard to remember. I would think "Function remapping" would be a solution to not shutting down two, or three locos at once. Of course, that would involve "memory"! Oh, and I've got five QSI/BLI locos that I have upgraded the chips on (some more than once!), and I have never damaged a chip or a socket, using a simple right-angle pick. I can see how damage could occure, so I guess you gotta know your limitations. I've just had really good results with them all these years. I sent the ESU decoder from my PCM Y6 off to a guy who has a "Programmer", and I have a very "unique" sounding Y6, using hand-picked sounds from British locos. Sounds MUCH better than the original sounds! Some of the British whistles sound EXACTLY like the NW hooter. The chuff I settled on, I believe came from a German Compound loco that actually double-chuffs on startup, then shifts to compound mode. Completely happy with ESU, just don't have all the stuff to customize the decoder (and I only have one Loksound loco)...
Mike C.
The verbal announcements in QSI are what caused many of the problems with programming them - either by drawing too much power or the lag caused by needing to wait for what would be the verbal readout even though it was shut off, or not used on the program track.
Sure, swapping chips was nice - although the type of chip requires a proper chip puller, any attempt to pry that style of chip from the socket results in a busted socket. They were nice enough to include a functional puller with the upgrade chips. But even better is the upgradeable firmware approach of ESU. No need to even try to take the shell off the loco. You can add features, alter sounds, whatever. And they carried this over to their non-sound decoders as well. This was available at least back to the v3.5 decoders used in Precision Craft locos - the offshoot of BLI - as I have changed the sounds in my T-1 to use some from an actual recording of the real loco.
This also handily solves the problem of inconsistent function assignments across brands - I only use Loksound, so F8 is mute, no matter what loco I put on the rails.
--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 like the shutdown feature, too, but a lot of decoders just don't have it. So, all my staging tracks, turntable stall tracks and even a couple of passing sidings have kill switches. That lets me shut off the lights in passenger trains, too.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Now that you mention it, I really like those old QSI decoders! I like the "verbal announcement" feature, where it will TELL you the setting of any individual CV, tell you the address, speed, and BEMF settings! I also like the "Chip Upgrade" feature, where for about thirty bucks you could improve what you have, or change it to a completely different loco...I know these decoders were somewhat "limited" by today's standards, but they did everything I wanted, and they weren't overly complicated. If you dig deep into all the features they DO have, it's kind of amazing how "advanced" they really are, considering their age!
I'm quite happy with a MUTE that stays muted. For a packed enginer terminal, or somewhere it could be a disaster if the wrong loco moved, like a turntable and roundhouse, cutting power to the stall tracks is a better option.
If you search the forum going back to the early BLI days, well over half the problems of "my loco won't run any more" are because the person put their loco into full shutdown. I think the complication of the 3 shutdown stages caused more issues than it solved. How is this helping you? If you hve 3 locos, all address 3, if you hit F9 for shutdown it will shut them all down. Likewise, F6 to wake one up will wake them all up. If you now have that many locos where only 6 addresses are an issue, your best bet would be to step up to an actual DCC system that can address the full range and give each loco a unique address. Those "halfway to DCC" systems are great when you only have a couple of DCC/Sound locos and you want to be able to use all the features, but after you reach a tipping point, what's stopping you from going full DCC? It's not too hard or expensive to put motor only decoders in most locos , certainly not any made in the past 20-25 years, and even many older ones. The sentimental ones - I have a few of those, and they would need more work than just figuring out how to put a decoder in, as they are older locos with non-RP25 flanges - if you really want to run them, you can set up an isolated loop and run them on DC. Mine are most likely going to a nice display case (hmm, 60's and 70's Tyco and AHM in a display case... again, it's the sentimental value these pieces hold for me, lots of family memories especially for ones who are no longer with us).
I use the "adjustable-mute" feature as well. Sometimes you just want SOME noise, but not ALL THAT noise...! I think my "total shutdown" mode should do something like that as well. Not totally silent, but muted, so you know there's power going to the loco... Oh, and I think it's the so-called "injector" sound that I've turned way down on all my QSI locos. It just doesn't sound right to me...
I didn't use that feature widely, but I did use it, particularly with steamers nosed into bays in my roundhouse and forgotten for a few weeks. On my below-ground staging, it is also handy. A feature I used more than this one was the half-mute that QSI decoders allowed. You cold mute them, but still hear them at maybe 15-20% of their normal customized (I always do) volume. That way the horrible blow-down, injector (which you couldn't really hear outside of a cab anyway...not well), and safety pop-off wouldn't drive me batty if I had to answer my phone or simply wanted to enjoy the sound of a working locomotive.
Istarted buying sound-equipped HO locomotives pretty much when BLI first introduced them back in the early 2000's (?). One of the neat features (in my opinion) of the early QSI sound decoders was the 3-stage "Shutdown" feature. Double-click F9 would put loco in "disconnect" so it wouldn't respond to throttle. Double 9 again would be "standby" which turned off headlight, and would not respond to throttle OR sound commands. Double 9 a third time shutdown loco entirely....dead. One double F6 would bring everything back to normal. I still think this is a great feature! Since I still have a lot of old DC locos I like to run on my layout, I've been using the MRC Tech 6 controller which switches from DCC to DC with a simple command from the handheld. However, the Tech 6 is limited to only single-digit addresses from one to six. This was ok until I started buying a LOT more DCC locos! Now I have some "duplicate" address, and the "shutdown" feature on the QSI locos comes in real handy. The newer Paragon 2 and 3 locos have an F10 "shutdown", but the loco still responds to throttle commands! Not shutdown at all! I think it would be cool to offer a "shutdown" mode on all decoders (such as F10, or a double-tap) that would make a loco un-responsive to throttle and sound commands AND unresponsive to PROGRAMMING, to protect against accidental programming. Does anybody else think that would be a good idea, to be able to "shutdown and lock-out" a loco using a simple Function command?