Gang, Maybe you can help me. I've got a tsunami medium steam decoder solder into the remains of an HO blueline light mike.vafter addressing an issue with power pickup, the motor has stopped running altogether. Sound works, but it don't go. All my wires appear solid, i never saw the magic smoke, nothing that seems or screams fried. I reset the decoder, the reset took, but she's still dead in the water so SOMETHING is wrong. What should i be checking next?
So you did a reset correct? Are you able to read back the decoder? Don't forget, if the reset did work,the address willl now be the default number 3. And just to be clear which decoder are you working with- A TSU-1000 or the TSU-750? I would guess that it is a TSU 1000 seeing that you are using it in a HO model. One other thing did motor ever work? When you say the sound works. Does the chuff rate increase as you throttle up? Or are you just hearing the compressor and background soulnds- Can you make the whitsle and bell work?
Not entirely sure what you mean by readback, doing it with a 402r, but yes, the reset took. And then I could reset the number back to its cab and adjust the whistle. It is a 750, I put a long haul tender on it, but the only models I could find were metal floors and or metal body with no floors, so to avoid shorting the exposed BLI board, I soldered the 750 into the engine and tucked everything neatly behind the firebox (thank god for firebox flicker holes, I never put the light in, makes great ventilation though) Motor ran fine as of last Monday. I'd been having problems with it stuttering like it was powerstarved, but I cleaned the wheels and even let it spin the drivers for a while to burn off anything the cleaner wasn't getting. (Hard on the engine I know, I watched constantly, twas a lat resort....) and this was months ago, and she still ran albeit stilll with the stutter. Last Monday I figured if not a loose wire in the decoder and engine, maybe there's a hiccup in getting it out of the tender. removing the shells and flipping the engine was the last thing I did before the motor stopped running. Sounds do repsond to speed control, blow the whistle, ring the bell Dynamo (though the headlights shot) Fred even greases the rods, which is good because at this point their gonna rust in place. and the motor will turn freely. I can soin the brass disk on the shaft and the dirvers turn without a strain.
I think it may be time to go back to the basics. You need to disconnect the motor, and apply power directly to the motor, insuring wires are, in fact, disconnected from the decoder. You know power is getting to the sound decoder, you know you can address it and operate the sounds. Applying power to the motor will prove two things, at least. A) that the motor runs, and B) that the drivetrain hasn't locked up (like a slipped driver now out of quarter). If applying power makes no difference, remove the motor, try again. If the motor turns, then, with the motor out, check the free-ness of the drive by hand. If it was an Athearn, I'd suspect a split gear, but I don't think that's an issue with BLI. Dave
I think I can rule out the drivetrain, can't I? The Big brass wheel between motor and gear tower will turn freely by hand and all the drivers will turn no problem. Or is there something else with the motor spinning much faster than my finger that I should be concerned about? Remind me then too, does it matter if I put left and right rail to a certain pole on the motor, and do I need to slip a reistor in or will the motor take track power alright short term?
If you can turn it, then drivetrain should be good enough for then motor to turn. And, you're not stacked up against a gear tooth of a split gear. Try the power. This is solder-in Tsunami, right? So, no unplug and slap the dummie board back in and try it conventional?
Unsolder them both. Mark the motor with a sharpie so you know which way they go back. Apply a normal, old, conventional power pack with alligator clips to the motor and see what happens. If it works, the decoder has some kind of issue. If it doesn't, find a new motor. Basic step-by-step troubleshooting is, know what is good (input/track/sound/addressing) and what is not (wheels don't turn) and put your finger in the middle. That's where you break it and test. Now, if you had one of those super-dooper special dcc power reading meters, you could clip right onto the motor and see what it reads when you ramp up the power from the handpiece. But, and not knowing if there are self-protecting Op Amps in the Tsunami output, if the motor is shorted, it could conceivably be going into self-protecting shutdown and it will not come up. I know Greg will jump in on this and tell me whether the Tsunami does or does not. Dave
Not sure why you used a TSU-750 but it is what it is. A TSU 750 is only good for a 3/4 amp load. Did you ever stall test the motor? TSU-750's have an internal fuse. If there is ever a rail to motor short, it will take out this fuse. You will have sounds, but no motor drive. Must be sent back to SoundTraxx for repair if this is the case. I see that youare using a Digitrax system and I don't know too much about them. I have heard that you need to have a programming track booster so you can read back CV's in a Tsunami decoder.
But, you do the test, you'll know where the issue lies. Or, you could remove the Tsunami, return it to Soundtraxx, have them go through it, pay the cost and shipping, wait 4-6 weeks, and find out there was nothing wrong with the Tsunami board. Doesn't matter to me. Dave
Morgan, my bet is on the suggestion made by Woody. I have installed 3 TSU-750's and each one was dead, on install, because the internal motor fuse was tripped. The first two went back to Durango for repair and the third one is still not fixed. I put a DZ-125 in the tender for motor control and left the 750 in for sound. But alas, I took all of that out and installed an ESU Loksound Select Micro in their place. Anybody need a "sound only" TSU-750 with Challenger sounds? ? ? As I said, if I were a betting man my money would be on the tripped fuse. Carl
Testing the motor is a simple, inexpensive test and you might avoid sending back a decoder with not problems. You could have tested the motor a few times as compared to the time to read this thread Greg
TSU-750 says 3/4amp maximum, it will easily peak with many applications, which means that decoder can fry an egg. Go ahead, hold the 750 in your hand as it tries to dissipate heat. I've burnt out one myself, so chalk this up to a learning moment, and go buy a decoder with higher max amp threshold.
Well. Drat. I'll go see if I can dig up a powerpack somewhere and test her before I call Soundtrax, but that doesn't sound like good news. I'd not heard of anyone having problems with Micro Tsunamis and wanted the space effiency without having to carve out the weight in the forward boiler. soundtraxx has the whistle I need, i may listen through the lok library vut replacing with the 125 may be easier than a whole new sound decoder. If i'm not in danger of further smoking the decoder? Never felt engine or decoder feel hot, especially when working on it.
And the 9v (from the throttle, not the smoke detector, wink wink) says the motor is just fine. So the 125 goez in, the engine runs, i program the 125, and it proceeds to pfoof. Fine. The ''''''''wants to ne protoype, the '''''' gefs stuffed onto a roundhouse traxk between the Hook and the rusted wheelsetz. Maybe someday when this ho bby is fun again ill reinstall jer decoders and try tjis **** again. Maybe someday i can actually run a ******' train onstead of fixing something else that broke... All ranting aside, tjank you for the advice.
The only way you can poof those like that is if somewhere motor is connected to track. I'd be looking for a cause. If any windings on the armature are shorted (rubbed through) and touch the pole pieces, it is the power to the armature shaft, through the bearings, into the can case, and to whatever side of the track the motor sits on. I am guessing, since we are on page 2 and while typing I can't see page one, you are the original poster of this issue? You're saying your new, bigger decoder went poof, right? Dave
Yes, the 1 amp 125 that was reccomended at the top of the page. Yeas, something probably rubbed, got shifted when i tested the decoder connection on 03. Solder joint lipped loose, touched the chassis, dunno. All i know is i ran it 6 inches on 03, it worked, i dialed up the programmer, typed in 587, pressed enter, and it smoked in my face. I'm just at the point itd be easier on me to get the 1:1 scale engine running the number of times this one's thrown me a curveball, and I need a break. I'll send the 125 in for warranty, and put it aside for a few months. Then we'll try again. Brand new, fresh start. Motor removed from engine. Two decoders, back in the tender somewhere somehow, speaker shoved god knows where,
