DCC, Sound and Athearn Blue Box...

[wm3798]

Hey guys, I'm ordinarily posting over on the N scale board, but I've got a question related to a project I'm working on.
I install a lot of decoders in N scale, but recently got a project to put a QSI Tsunami into an old Athearn blue box F-unit.

The installation was no big deal, I had to cut the weight up and pull the motor from those weird plastic mounts to get it isolated etc., and everything went back together just fine. I put the speaker on a pad of double face tape and stuck it to the roof facing down.

So anyway, I'm testing it, getting really good sound from it, the headlight dimed and brightened with the direction change, and all seems well.

I notice though, that when I apply power, it was going extremely slowly, even at halfway up the throttle. So, I took apart the shell to make sure I didn't have something binding, which I didn't, and put humpty dumpty together again.

This time, I got a head light, but it wouldn't dim, and I got the sound, including acceleration and deceleration, but zero power going to the motor. All the connections were checked, and I even took the leads from the motor off the decoder, and tried them on straight DC, and the motor turned right over and hummed along without a problem. Connect the decoder back up? Nuttin.

Now, I know that in N scale I've had a couple of Bachmann engines blow out a decoder because the motor was pulling too many amps. Do any of you have any experience like this with old Athearn blue box? That's the only conclusion I can draw.

Before I send my client back to QSI for a warranty call, I want to make sure I'm getting the right decoder for this engine.

Thanks for your help!
Lee

[Guilford Guy]

Soundtraxx makes the Tsunamis, QSI makes the Revolutions. I've had quite a few dud decoders in HO. I believe this too is a dud, not a wiring problem.

[wm3798]

Soundtraxx makes the Tsunamis, QSI makes the Revolutions. I've had quite a few dud decoders in HO. I believe this too is a dud, not a wiring problem.

Yes, it's a QSI,  sorry about that...  This gigantic world of HO is still pretty foreign to me!  On another board it was suggested that I accidentally shut down the motor function by pressing F9 twice.  I was given instructions as to how to undo that, which I'll try tonight.

Lee

[wm3798]

I had accidentally hit the disconnect function... I guess that's to run the decoder in a dummy.  (Or by one, as in this case)...  I did a reset, and it roared back to life.

Now I've got a real Tsunami question.  The same guy gave me an ancient Bachmann docksider (HO) and a Tsunami Micro 750.  Got her wired in, confirmed all the isolations were done right, go to do a readback before applying track power, and I get no readback, but what looks like a red LED under the shrink wrap likes up.  So, something's getting in there, but I don't know what. 

I'm reluctant to apply track power, because the Soundtraxx warranty is somewhat less generous than the other manufacturers.

Any thoughts on what I'm seeing?  Do I have a dud?

Lee

[diburning]

check your wiring then reset the decoder and try again.  If this is an ancient bachmann with the pancake type motor, then I'd suggest remotoring it.

[wm3798]

I pulled the Soundtraxx chip out, and went with the basic Bachmann decoder that came out of another engine.  It works just fine, only without the happy little chuff.  It does have the old pancake motor, and I didn't want to get into all that.  The ancient Bachmann decoder technology seems well suited to the task.  I added Kadee couplers and a back up light, which should appease the client adequately...

Lee