Hi everyone,
I have a question in regards to programming a new Tsunami 2 decoder. I recently purchased 2 ScaleTrains SD40-2 engines and one had a LokSound DCC only board and the other had a LokSound Sound decoder in it. I purchased 2 Tsunami decoders to put in these two because all my other engines have Tsunamis in them.
After installing both of the 21 pin decoders I have one engine with only the headlight working and no ditch lights and the other engine I have neither. All other functions work well i.e. sound, movement etc. I know the lights worked with the old decoders because they were tested before switching to the new Tsunami boards.
I was breifly looking at the manual for the Tsunami under the programming lights section and it does appear that I have to do some programming to get both the headlights and ditch lights to work. I have never really messed with these CVs before because the ditch lights for the 11 other engines I have always worked as soon as I put the sound decoders in.
Is this simply a programming issue or potentially something else? If this is just a matter of changing CVs which ones should I change to get the lights to work?
Everything you need to know should be in the
Tsunami2TM Digital Sound Decoder
Diesel Technical Reference
look for
CVs 33-46: Function Status CVs
If you haven't already done so, download the PDF and save it to your drive. Then you can search for things you need to find out about. The amount of information available on decoders is massive. Look on the manufacturers websites.
Lee
Yes. My experience has been that installing a 21 pin T2 into an OEM lightboard that previoulsy had a Loksound decoder caused lighting problems, primarily the ditchlights. You will find that plugging aftermarket 21 pin decoders into OEM lightboards won't be a perfect match, especially when it comes to the lighting.
You essentially have to map the T2 like the Loksound was mapped in order for the function keys to work the same way. It would help to have a computer based program called JMRI. That way, you could spread out and see exactly how the OEM 21 pin decoder you're removing was mapped, and then program your new 21 pin decoder the same way.
Generally, all 21 pin decoders should be able to map the same. Reading the Tsunami Manual may not solve the problem because its assuming that you're hard wiring a decoder straight into the loco and not plugging into an OEM curcuitboard that was designed specifically for how the maker wanted the loco to function. But the manual might help.
- Douglas