Model Railroading > Walthers Proto, Tsunami2 TSU 2200, led lights

I participated in Small Store Saturday and purchased a Walthers Proto U28B in Milwaukee Road. There was no DCC Sound version available so I took home the DCC Ready version.

The locomotive instructions have no parts number for the sound or nonsound decoders. I know the factory sound decoders installed by Walthers are Tsunami.

The easiest install seems to be a TSU 2200 decoder with the 9 pin wiring harness removed from under the decoder shrink wrap so the decoder 9 pin plug can be installed into the 9 pin socket on the loco light board.

The locomotive has 3 v lights, the Tsunami2 light output is 12 v track voltage. The loco instructions note if a 9 pin decoder is plugged into the light board resistors will not need to be added for the headlights.

I plan to add a rooftop rotary beacon which will be led. If there is an Aux light output on the light board can I connet the beacon there without a resistor or will I need a resistor? There are 2 Aux outlets on the speaker end of the TSU decoder. My guess is these wires do not get run through the light board circuits or the blue common + wire has the resistors to drop all AUX outputs to 3 v.

The TSU2200 decoder manuals only give lighting connections for the bare decoders.

Thanks

Well there is always the option of putting the decoder in and not the beacon, then use a multimeter to check the voltage output where you intend to connect the beacon. Sometimes it pays to just field test stuff. I just had a hard time with a lighting circuit for a UP caboose that I was working. The circuit I made worked in theory and it even tested well at the club layout, but didn't work at home. Turns out the club layout had a slightly higher voltage than at home (15v vs 14v), and the higher than normal resistors I used to ensure long LED life made the output voltage right at the go : no-go threshold for the LEDs.  So the lights worked at the club, but not at home. What are the chances of that?!?!? I've since put in standard 1k ohm resistors to made sure the LED's work everywhere!

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

If it is a quiet day tomorrow I may take the shell off to see what the light board looks like. I have a couple of 9 pin non sound decoders I can test leds with.

Sometimes it is quicker to ask, there is a lot of experience on this board.

Take a good look at your decoder. I don’t know about the T2’s but some of the T1’s actually had a 3.3volt output.

I don't have a TSU 2200 in hand and it may take a couple of weeks to get one at the local hobby shop. It is a shrink wrapped decoder with the brown and green AUX wires coming out the 9 pin plug and the other AUX wires soldered out the rear of the decoder. That end also has 2 speaker wires and plug for a keep alive circuit. Perhaps there is a solder connection for the blue wire + out of the 9 pin plug.

To get to the TSU 2200 board the shrink wrap would need to be removed but kaptan tape would allow you to reinstall that for operation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/19 10:41 by fbe.

A check yesterday reveals there are no more Proto U28B locomotives available at walthers. These a smooth running, strong models so it may be swap meet time if you want one. They are a good match to the Proto GP35 units though that was not a common MILW practice.

Well I do have two U28B's and I'm watching how you upgrade them very carefully, thanks for bringing the project to TO.

I should have the TSU2200 in hand mid to end of next week. I will try to jump right on it. There are a couple of earlier MILW U28B units I put sound decoders into and renumbered to 6000 series U30B units to run with an F7B slug. These got Tsunami 1 PNP lightboard replacement decoders with no additional leds added. I may have added 1K ohm resistors to the light circuit. The tsu-pnp has light outputs for track voltage and 1.5 v lights.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/19 12:17 by fbe.

I was down in the basement looking at my small square speakers on a pair of dcc ready Proto SD45 models. I bought a pair of Tsunami2 EMD-2 TSU 2200 decoders with 9 wires on one end and 4 or so on the open end. I don't remember if there was a 8 pin light board there but while the models are DCC ready they are not DCC/sound ready. I takes some trimming of the weight to make room for the sound decoder and small speakers to get everything in place.

I wired the decoders using the 9 wire outputs, converted headlights F&R to led and installed 2K ohm resistors in each circuit.


Tsunami2 tsu2200 comes in 2 versions, EMD and EMD-2. The EMD-2 is the version required for the EMD 20 cyl turbo version needed. The EMD only has 16 cyl turbo sound.

I have looked at the instruction sheet for the decoders and no mention is made for a solder connection for 1.5 v or 3.3 v + output. All lights are shown as track voltage.

From the instructions in the U28B the lightboard should have resistors for the F&R headlights. I will still need to measure outputs on the green, violet and rear outlets to see if they are 12v or 3.3v.

Stick with me now..........



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/19 13:43 by fbe.

The decoder left Walthers Friday and hasn't left Chicago yet. No expected Wednesday delivery.