Model Railroading > Tsunami TSU-KT1000 Sound Decoder Problems. Help!

I installed a Tsunami TSU-KT1000 Diesel Digital Sound Decoder in my Santa Fe C44-9W "Dash 9" about 7 months ago, got the speaker installed, no problems at the time. All the digital sounds worked perfectly. I changed the address the same as my loco, #650. Since I don't have a layout yet (in the process), I went over to my sons house, and again, everything worked fine. Was nice to see my two Santa Fe's work nicely together again after 15 years in it's original boxes. My son decided to change jobs, and move out of town, and hence, there goes the layout we've been working on for 3 years. Problem is, he told me before he ran this engine for the last time, something happened to it, and couldn't get it to work. I brought all my belongings from the layout home yesterday, and tried to get #650 running again. Well, here is my problem.

The old address of 650 was still working when I read the decoder from JMRI DecoderPro3 from my computer. The sound of the engine worked, I got it to move forward and reverse, and I thought, this can't be that bad. Unfortunately, no lights, no horn, no bell, etc. I reset it back to the factory settings, the address changed to 3, which is normal, but couldn't even get the engine to move! Same engine sound, but nothing else. So I set the address back to 650, and same as before. The engine moved forward and reverse, but no horn, no bell, etc.

Has anyone else run into this problem before? Oh. One other thing. When trying to write my changes to the decoder, the engine does not move at all like it is suppose to. Usually when I send something to the decoder, the engine jerks forward. Am at my last wits, wondering if something happened to the decoder itself. I've always managed to bring these decoders back to life, but not this time!

Any info would be a great help. And not sure if I can send the decoder back to SoundTraxx for them to look at or not. Just hate throwing away a $100 decoder.

Mike

Is it still part of a consist?

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

I agree with FBE about the consist thing, but I am not 100%. If you need to, you can send it in to Soundtraxx for repair. They are very fair and fast with repairs. I have had 2 of them repaired due to me installing them wrong at 3 am in the morning.
Good Luck
Glenn

If it was part of a consist, then you will have to "clear" the consist and "delete" the engine #. I've had this happen to locos that were in consist before & once cleared/deleted everything returned to normal.
jburek

For the lights what is the value of cv33-34?

Posted from Android

There may be a major problem because of the age of the models. I have had a number of Tsunami sound decoders of the AT-1000 type fail. I installed them in older Life Like and Kato locomotives that have older brush type motors. After talking with tech support at Soundtreaxx, it appears that the problem is a spike in current that exceeds the 1 amp rating of the decoders. This then causes the decoders to fail.

In my case, I installed 3 new TSU - AT1000 decoders in an older model Life Like SD7. All failed, one after the other. So I sent them back to Soundtraxx along with a number of others that also failed but too long ago to qualify for warranty repair. The Soundtraxx tech and I discussed what happened. He mentioned that he had heard of similar problems. He suggested that a fix might be to remotor the engines with can motors. I now have three on order from NWSL to see if that solves the problem.

So, it looks like the solution to your problem is probably:

1. Remotor with a can motor
2. Install a different brand sound decoder. I am testing a Digitrax sound decoder that seems to be more durable.
3. Wait until Soundtraxx reworks their AT-1000 decoders to handle more than 1 amp

Interestingly this did not happen with older model Soundtraxx decoders, just those in the AT-1000 series.

Steve Barkley, MMR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/14 21:08 by BaylorMax.

When I first read about the engine still being in a Consist this morning when I read my emails from everyone before going to work, I thought, that's it! It has happened to me other times as well. Got home from work all excited, and both my Digitrax Throttle and my JMRI DecoderPro3 Loconet said it wasn't in a consist. Tried clearing both anyway, but still acting the same as when I started yesterday. Funny thing is, when I reset to factory settings, the address goes back to address 3, but will not run with that address. This decoder is stuck on 650! I even deleted the engine from my roster and started over, but didn't help at all. When first installed, everything worked perfect, so am just thinking it's something in the decoder that I can't break loose.

I want to thank everyone for the responses. Great to have people willing to give a helping hand.

I think my best bet is to take the decoder out of the engine, and send it back to SoundTraxx to see if they can fix it or not.

Mike

Mike,

Do you have a programming track booster? When I installed my first Tsunamis I had similar problems to what you are describing. When I tried changing the address on a loco my Digitrax Super Chief had enough power to start programming but not enough to finish it. The result was a half-programmed loco that would not respond to anything. When I tried a reset to factory settings I had the same thing, a loco that would not respond at all.

I decided to install a Soundtraxx PTB-100 programming track booster to see if that helped. Just like magic all my Tsunami problems went away. My Super Chief now had enough power to program the Tsunamis, the factory resets worked as they were supposed to, and I have not had a problem since.

Hope this helps.

Andrew C



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/14 19:29 by andrewcastle.

Be sure to set CV8 to a value of 8, manually.

The factory reset does set everything back to originals, but before sending it in, it is worth doing the CV8 trick as sometimes that seems to 'reset the reset.' Maybe someone here knows why that is, but I was given that advice and despite occasional similar issues, it has helped me each time.

~RGDave
www.onondagacutoff.blogspot.com

Andrew C.

Just wanted to let you know and everyone else who has been nice enough to answer my posts, that indeed, all it took was a booster, reset it to factory settings, it went back to address 3, and that's all it took. All is well now!

Again. Thanks everyone for the help. It always amazes me that I find most of my answers right here.

Mike

Mike,

Thanks for the results. It is always nice to know which of the myriad suggestions solves the problem.

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7