It sounds as if the new decoder has an internal continuity issue. If the old decoder was fine, then so were all the necessary connections on the loco-proper. A lead into the new decoder body has come loose, or was never soldered properly to begin with.
I would send it back.
Ok, I am having the same problem. I have put the same the tsuanmi medium steam decoder into my Athearn 2-8-2 Mikado with the same results. I have been trying to figure this out also. I had an MRC decoder in it before the Tsunami with no issues. I put the Tsunami decoder on a decoder tester and it checks out fine. This is very strainge and now even stranger that someone else is having the exact same issue.
I will let you know if I figure it out.
Jeff
sounds to me like an incompatibilty between the tsunami and something on the athearn board that the decoder connects to . you could try searching both companies websites to see if there is a tech note on this , or if they have their own forums maybe someone else has reported it . if you have no luck wuth that i'd suggest an email or phone call to both companies tech support people
worst case scenario is nobody can figure out what's causing the problem in which case the solution is to remove the athearn board and wire the decoder directly the motor etc.
Ereimer,
Thank you for the suggestion, mine is already wired directly to the motor. I had cut the plug off and each wire is soldered and shrink tubed for good connectivity. I am thinking it has something to do with the motor and the weight in the locomotive. I am getting readings of continuity between the right side wheels and the right side of the weight. I am going to make sure the motor is completely isolated. I also added tender wheel pickups to mine. This should have improved the performance and I did check to see that they are red right rail, black left rail. Which is the same as the locomotive.
Best regards,
Here is what I have done so far. I took the locomotive apart last night and did continuity checks everywhere I could to find a short, none found. The Locomotive has a split chassis and weight that has plastic spacers seperating them. There is no wipers on the wheels for electrical pickup. I could not find any issues with the weight or chassis, so next I took all the wires and replaced them in case there was a bare spot that I was not finding. I then made sure the motor was isolated. Next I shortened the two screws that mount the weight to the chassis just in case they touch in the middle. They screw into the center from each side. While I was looking at the light board I noticed that where the resistor is soldered in, underneath the board the solder points were large. I went ahead and clipped them down and covered them with electrical tape to make sure they are not touching the sides of the weight.
I have now reassembled the locomotive and checked everything for any shorts and there is not any. I tested the decoder on a decoder tester and it works perfectly there. Tonight I will tackle the tender and make sure I have no issues there. I did install tender pickups previously and I want to make sure this is not an issue. I will report back tomorrow on the final results from the install and testing.
Jeff,
You might send Soundtraxx and e-mail or call them. The tech department there is very sharp and they may have already dealt with this issue. If they have already seen this problem, they could save you some time. If they haven't encountered this situation, they may be able to offer some suggestions that you might not come up with on your own. I have found them to be quite helpful.
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
Guy,
I will finish what I am doing tonight and if that doesn't work, I will take up your suggestion and call them tomorrow. I am curious if anyone has put a Tsunami in a Athearn 2-8-2 and have it work? I know on Tony's Train exchange they have a tech bulletin about installing a normal soundtraxx decoder with no issues.
I will post again later when I finish the install.
Well all my work seems to have been a success. I am not going to claim victory just yet but tonight everything seems to be working fine. No flashing LED and the shorts seem to be gone. I was only able to do a limited time of testing tonight, so until this weekend I am happy for now knowing that at least for now it is running better. I am not exactly sure what the fix was but some things to check are as follows.
1. Check the light board in the smoke box, it has a resistor that is soldered and the legs extend out the bottom of the board. These solder points could be causing a short on the weight and back feeding into the decoder.
2. Check all the wires for any sign of insulation missing that is exposing the wire.
3. Make sure the screws in the front that attach the weight to the chassis are not too long and touching. This can cause a hidden short.
A suggestion, if you are going to go through all the trouble of this and adding your own decoder then take the extra time and add electrical pickups to the tender. This helps with the performance of this locomotive.
If you have questions, please drop me a pm and we can talk. I hope this helps you also.
Gary,
Can you give more detail with what you are talking about? Maybe a picture, I am not sure what metal plate and screw.
Thanks,
By the way mine is still running good, now just dealing with dirty tracks.
Thank you for the detailed description. I will check mine out tonight, I think another issue with my decoder might be the speaker. I am going to try another speaker and see if that helps with the cutting out. I do not get the flashing headlight anymore, so I know at least doing the mods that I did helped.