Tsunami 2 for N scale?

[woodone]

Greenwizard, have you tried working with the sound equalizer?
That can make some real difference.

[nscaler711]

So listen, I know this is super dead, but has anyone tried adding a capacitor to these damn things?
I just managed to fit a P42 with one and it will not go around a loop without cutting out.
I've cleaned all wheels, axle cups, pick up strips(added solder where the board meets and then some more,) polished the tips of the truck pick ups and yet I still get dropped sound and lights.
Super tempted to cut my losses (and the board in ½) and stick with a WVD board and Loksound till the new Kato Loksound boards come out.

I was a fan of the K5LA though. It sounded just like what Amtrak's K5LAs sounded like in the mid 90s.
Subtle clickety clack is also a nice touch.

[Wutter]

So listen, I know this is super dead, but has anyone tried adding a capacitor to these damn things?
I just managed to fit a P42 with one and it will not go around a loop without cutting out.
I've cleaned all wheels, axle cups, pick up strips(added solder where the board meets and then some more,) polished the tips of the truck pick ups and yet I still get dropped sound and lights.
Super tempted to cut my losses (and the board in ½) and stick with a WVD board and Loksound till the new Kato Loksound boards come out.

I was a fan of the K5LA though. It sounded just like what Amtrak's K5LAs sounded like in the mid 90s.
Subtle clickety clack is also a nice touch.

I don't have one of these boards so I'm just speaking from the sidelines, I'm assuming you also soldered the motor tabs to the decoder (instead of using the terrible Kato clip that provides insufficient contact? You didn't mention this specific interface so just asking if you checked that as well.


It seems like there is only one sizable cap on the board and you can check if the positive side of the cap is connected to the same power rail as any "blue wire" pad on the board, assuming common architecture between decoders. Seems like you could try and add additional caps in parallel to the single cap on the board and see if it improves your results?

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Of course the WVD board and a Loksound V5 Micro will just give you guaranteed results though 

[nscaler711]

I don't have one of these boards so I'm just speaking from the sidelines, I'm assuming you also soldered the motor tabs to the decoder (instead of using the terrible Kato clip that provides insufficient contact? You didn't mention this specific interface so just asking if you checked that as well.


It seems like there is only one sizable cap on the board and you can check if the positive side of the cap is connected to the same power rail as any "blue wire" pad on the board, assuming common architecture between decoders. Seems like you could try and add additional caps in parallel to the single cap on the board and see if it improves your results?

(Attachment Link)

Of course the WVD board and a Loksound V5 Micro will just give you guaranteed results though 

Right, I did not solder those motor tabs to the board for ease of maintenance, but I have that clip taped down, with solder on the board to try and get it closer. I suppose I could go back and solder it to see if that improves anything.

As far as adding a second capacitor, I'll see if I have one of those laying around, as I wasn't sure if Soundtraxx actually added a keep alive circuit like they said they did in the generic Tsunami 2 manuals.

Also yeah I may stick with ESU as it's pretty bullet proof. Maybe I'll mute the engine sounds and throw the board in a Kato EH-210...

[peteski]

If that capacitor Wutter mentioned is a "keep alive" cap, then it is really, really tiny.  It is 22uF.  I would not consider that any sort of "keep alive".  While Wutter is probably correct about that cap's function, I would prefer to make sure it is by verifying that it is connected directly to the output of the bridge rectifier (usually four discrete identical diodes, often clustered together).  The photo is not really very clear, but I suspect that those diodes are on the opposite end from that cap.

[nstars]

According to the Soundtraxx manual there are 2 soldering pads on the right side of the picture for the current keeper connections. In the manual they are called CK+ and CK-

Marc

[nscaler711]

Alright, I've fixed the issues I had, by SOLDERING EVERYTHING!!!
ok not really, just soldered pick up strips to the board, and the motor tab, running issues disappeared. yay. 

Now my issues are.... you guessed it Ditchlights!
I have tried to understand Soundtraxx's way of thinking, and yep I am as stumped.
CVs 51, 52 are programmed to 73 and 105 for grade crossing logic, and constant on.
So I have to figure out how to turn on the ditchlights and head light on/off with Fn 0. Still have to physically input Fn. 24 and 25.
 Any idea on how to do that?

[greenwizard88]

Greenwizard, have you tried working with the sound equalizer?
That can make some real difference.

Sorry for not responding, I didn't see this until just now.

No I haven't tried working with the equalizer. My layout has... changed... (was replaced with a couch, and now I have a t-track loop) since I installed it, and I no longer have JMRI setup, so playing with the CVs becomes tricky.