Model Railroading > QSI Regulated Speed Control -- my problem with it

I love QSI sound decoders. I love the RSC feature that starts a locomotive ever so slowly on notch 1 of 128 -- no waiting 10 seconds, no jerky 10-mph starts. I love the F7 braking feature. But there's something I don't love.

When you MU together more than one of these dudes -- like my new Proto 2000 Santa Fe freight F units -- after about an hour of starts and stops the show starts to fall apart. Locomotives within the MU start to cut out and restart continually. Soon the operation grinds to a halt.

I know the problem, or think I do. The engines are fighting each other even through the speed differences are microscopic. Enough of this and you get some sort of buildup on the wheels (and maybe the rail) that causes electricity not to make contact. I've been cleaning the wheels every hour or so of operation. But is there another solution? For instance, a hobby shop owner told me to cut out Back EMF on all but one unit. But isn't Regulated Speed Control just another way of saying Back EMF? Someone come to my rescue here!!

Fred

Fred,

Which model are you talking about? Only models shipped by Atlas, BLI and Walthers in the last 9 months or so have the latest system 7 chip which does have Back EMF. The older one's can be upgraded with a chip upgrade. The upgrade does make a huge difference in how they run alone and MU'ed. See info below.

Bruce

http://tonystrains.com/technews/qsi-uchip-hints.htm

http://www.qsisolutions.com/products/q-chip-upgrade.html



Detailed Explanation of Why The Upgrade Is A Good Investment
Quantum Chip Upgrade

This is a reprint of a users group request answered by Gerry Pruss of QSI

Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2006 20:06:06 -0000
From: "g_pruss"
Subject: Re: BEMF in QSI equipped locomotives

--- a user wrote:
> would you mind giving us your opinion as to why we would want to purchase the upgrade and what it will bring us?
Jerry,

These are the main features you will get with the upgrade.

RTC in DCC.
Access to the PID CV's, which are used in the RTC motor control loop.
35 new CV's for configuration of
Headlight,
Reverse Light,
Mars Light,
Ditch Lights,
and other lights
Other new features
Improvment of existing features
Bug fixes
Future upgrade capability
I have discussed item (1) in previous messages to this group. In summary, RTC gives you

smoother slow speed behavior
better slow speed behavior when encountering minor obstacles on the track
more prototypical behavior going up and down hills
more prototypical acceleration and deceleration
better consist behavior due to cooperation of the consisted engines
Item (2) may be of interest to those of you who like to tweak your engines for the best possible performance.

Item (3) provides you with great flexibility in configuring the behavior of your locomotive's lights. For example, in the past year several of you asked how to change the Headlight and Reverse Light behavior so that these lights were bright regardless of directional state. These new Cv's give you at least 3 ways to do this, including configuring these lights so they are always on, which might free up a function key or two.

Items (4), (5), and (6) are less important the more recent your decoder's firmware is. Version 6 firmware released after July-05 already has most of these improvments, but earlier version 6 firmware may not. If your engine still has version 5 or earlier firmware, you definitely will see overall improvements with the upgrade. For example, version 5 and earlier firmware does not support Quantum Engineer.

Item (7) allows you to upgrade your decoder's ROM using a PC connected to a Quantum Programmer which is connected to a programming track upon which sits your decoder. The version 7 ROM chips contain firmware which communicates with the Quantum Programmer allowing the flash memory to be erased and re-written. The current version 6 and earlier ROM chips do not contain this firmware. That is the reason for the upgrade program, you need to physically replace a version 6 or earlier ROM with a version 7 ROM which contains the firmware which communicates with the Quantum Programmer. This is a one time requirement. Once you install a version 7 ROM, you can upgrade it from a PC without removing it.

Gerry Pruss
QSI

Gary:

You've listed a bunch of upgrades for the new chip, but there's no mention of what we all buy sound equipped locos for: the sound!

Does the upgrade add any improvement to the sound quality? Could we possibly get different horns preloaded into the chip? MRC decoders, for all their weaknesses, offer 14 or 15 horn choices, but my UP 8-40C has.....one. And it's not a very good Leslie three chime at that.

I'm hesitant to drop about $30 each for all my Atlas locos if I'm not getting any better sound. Please don't say I can download something different: each loco should come with the correct horn for the model it represents, and decent operating sounds. They're over $ 250 list each now, why do I need to buy the interface and do all that grunt work?

Mr. UPDash8

Gary, I was referring to the upgraded chips with the regulated speed control and the F7 braking ability when the throttle is shut off. So what can I do to prevent a multiple unit consist from "fighting itself" and causing the wheels to loose contact with the rails?

Fred

Fred, Are you saying the wheels are getting some kind of gunk buildup on the wheels, or are you saying that some of the units are wanting to run faster than the others after a hour or so of operation?

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Some kind of gunk, Ted, because when I reclean the wheels the problem goes away, until it starts again an hour or so later.

Fred