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Headlights with QSI sound decoders

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  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
  • 23,330 posts
Posted by selector on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 10:34 AM

The original QSI were used extensively throughout the hobby, from Broadway Limited to Walthers/LifeLike and even to Atlas.  I still have all but one of the original 10 QSI decoders I purchased prior to 2011.  The QSI Revolution and Titan versions are still excellent performers.

What you seek is probably acquired via a CV change, but I don't know which one off hand.  I'd have to get into the manual, and even then I'd rather know which model of QSI we're dealing with.

There are still manuals on line, and I would simply access them one at a time, find the relevant passages, and then experiment with appropriate CV changes. 

If you find the success you hope to find, be sure to make a note of the QSI manual you used, what page, and what you did to effect the change(s) you found that worked.  Will save a ton of time if you ever want to go back (after learning some history that changes your mind, say) or have to perform a factory reset and start all over again with the various configurations for the decoder.

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 1:28 AM

Sounds like a "hard reset" is called for.

You have to determine exactly which QSI decoder you have and follow explicit instructions for a reset.

   There may be information for you here:

https://dccwiki.com/Reset_QSI_Decoder#:~:text=Reviving%20a%20QSI%20Decoder,-A%20QSI%20decoder&text=Using%20a%20short%20length%20of,respond%2C%20attempt%20three%20more%20times.

Good Luck, Ed

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
  • 9,094 posts
Posted by BigDaddy on Monday, January 9, 2023 7:24 PM

Welcome to the forum. Your posts are delayed by moderation for the first few posts.

The QSI website says "They are still the best", although it says it is being updated as of 2019.  . I am not aware of any US manufactures that currently use their decoders in 2023.  From what I've read over the years in this forum, I wouldn't ever want one.  I suspect your issues are the decoder setup.

Manuals are found here

Your question about headlights, in the US, is called Rule 17.  There is a lot written about this if you do a Google search.

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

  • Member since
    January 2023
  • 1 posts
Headlights with QSI sound decoders
Posted by CanGuruX on Saturday, January 7, 2023 5:22 PM

I bought two new Proto 2000 SD9s (920-41600, 920-41601 - BN SD9s, ex C&S patch) a few years ago, factory equipped with a QSI decoder., but I have some more locomotives with a QSI decoder. I stopped the hobby for a few years, just started it again. I live in Europe, the sound decoders made here works differently (by default it lights up where it goes).

 

I have two problems with it:

First, I don't understand how the lights work all of the locomotives with QSI decoders, why does the front headlight stay on, if I go backwards? (The dimming is functioning well both ends, all of the engines.) I read the Rule 17 on BN's CCOR, but I couldn't find an explanation for it.

Is it possible to change this? What is the best practice for this? Where can I find a description of which CV values to change? It seems logical to me that the locomotive lights up where it is going on the line. I think the automatic light dimming is a good thing.
(In Europe, there is a separate reversing mode in the majority of decoders, which can be activated with a function button. In this case, the more advanced decoders dimly switch on the headlights on both sides or only one of the three on each side.)

 

Second, the headlights cannot be switched off on one of the two BN SD9s. If I turn off the machine, the headlights also turn off, but as I turn it on, the headlights are activated. Direction change of headlights, and dimming works fine as described above.

Is this a setup problem or a decoder error?

 

Please help me find my way around. Thank you!

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