Help!


T

The Reticent

New Member
Alright y'all. I jumped feet first into this hobby with no real idea of what I was doing and now I'm paying the price.

I'll start at the beginning. As of four days ago, I had a genesis athearn f9a and b diesel. Beautiful compared to the plastic stock that I remembered as a kid about 20-25 years ago. So... as I had newly built benchwork and was waiting for my track to arrive, I saw that my f9 was dcc-quick plug equipped. Sweet!!

So, day two, I jumped down to my local hobby shop, and bought a digitrax zephyr. And then also a digitrax decoder of some sort. Come home, install it all and lo and behold the train is moving and the light is working. DCC rules.

So now on to day three. I bought a tsunami soundtraxx so that I could get some sound in that bad boy. Front headlight is burnt out (i needed that additional resistor, it was a 1.5v headlight). sound is working just fine. I decide to call it a decent day, trade light for sound.

Day four. The tsunami decoder was working alright, no lights, but then as the locomotive was sitting still on the track the LED turned off and now the Tsunami turns really really hot. No response, cannot program CVs. Completely unresponsive and just heats up. Nothing but uncomfortably hot fingers. What does that mean?

I swapped out the decoder in as many different ways as I could, I even took the locomotive back to DC and the locomotive worked fine. It's just when I get that tsunami in there it's toast... meaning hot and not working.

Should I send the tsunami into warranty repair or should I just scrap it for a digitrax decoder that i know will work?

Hope that gives enough info, and I can answer many questions that I know will come. I am totally new to the hobby and jumped into DCC feet first and maybe should not have.
 
As a follow up, I am considering using a digitrax DH165AO with a SFX004 Soundbug. About the same price as a replacement tsunami and it will definitely be more compatible with the digitrax zephyr. Maybe not so prototypical or high end, but it will at least give me a *working* sound-equipped DCC loco. Any thoughts would really be appreciated.

Maybe it's worth doing the warranty with the tsunami money-wise. And the tsunami sure did sound fantastic. But i don't understand what happened in the first place to create this problem and i wonder if tsunami will honor the warranty. I don't want to sink any more money into that if it's just not going to be an optimal ending to my problem.

Just looking for any guidance.......... I am just so lost, I literally picked this hobby up (after being a child) a week ago when I bought the lumber.
 
Take it in still installed. At least you'll find out if it was the decoder or something you did wrong.
 
The Reticent said:
Just looking for any guidance.......... I am just so lost, I literally picked this hobby up (after being a child) a week ago when I bought the lumber.
Click to expand...

Take your time when dealing with model railroading Reticent. :)
Study up and learn from your mistakes. Most times, the last thing we've done tends to be the culprit. Don't be afraid to take it back to the hobby shop and ask for help or call the manufacturer for warranty work.
 
If it did work, then it didn't. I'd say it was a warranty issue. This is not a unheard of problem with Tsunami, but there are still far and away better than Digitrax soundbug decoders. Sound decoders are rather bug prone in general, and can present all kinds of problems. I've been lucky so far, but I only have about 6 sound units (only 1 was factory installed).
 
Yep, contact Soundtrax for a return. There is a reason they have a 90 day full repair/replacement warranty. And that is one reason I like Soundtrax decoders.
 
First: Stick with the Tsunami. The only other decoder that is near its quality and performance would be the new QSI Titan.

Second: There should not be any problem with exchanging the decoder for a new one. Just make sure that there is not a wiring problem with the locomotive even though it is new. Have you tried the first decoder (Digitrax of some sort) again and for a longer period of time. If it will still work, then it is likely you received a bad Tsunami (unusual, but not unheard of). If it doesn't work or fails after running for awhile, you may have a problem with the motor drawing too much current or a wire has been pinched causing a short. Also, disconnect speaker while testing to eliminate any problems in that area.

Third: Call Soundtraxx and talk with the tech-rep. They are very helpful and can help you isolate/repair the problem.

Best luck!;):)
 
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Agreed, you should return the unit with you receipt and their form (which you can download from their website). They will fix it free. Guess how I know this :D

If you used the Tsunami board (not the purple shrink wrapped decoder) resistors are built in to the board. Here is what you should have bought for an Athearn Genesis F unit:

http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami/1000gn.php

Hang in there and remember to take your time. Most of us have toasted a decoder at some point. I have over a dozen Tsunamis installed, and have probably done another dozen or two for friends/clients over the years. Never had a bad one yet. The company has good customer service.
 
The Reticent said:
As a follow up, I am considering using a digitrax DH165AO with a SFX004 Soundbug. About the same price as a replacement tsunami and it will definitely be more compatible with the digitrax zephyr.
Click to expand...
That is not a true statement. A decoder has to be made to NMRA DCC specification and is compatible with the DCC signal put onto the track. It doesn't matter what manufacturer puts that DCC signal onto the track. That is the magic of having standards - intercompatablity between the manufacturers.
 
There's no compatibility problem with the Zephyr. It's just that the soundbug with it's tinny sound can be programmed on the programming track without a booster.
 
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