I have a heavy electric locomotive that is a prime candidate for me to try out an Econammi decoder from Soundtraxx.
I’m thinking about getting the Current Keeper to go with it and I’m wondering how the CK wires into the Econammi.
I’ve been through the Soundtraxx site and found sound samples and user /technical reference manuals but nothing about wiring in the Current Keeper unless I’m not clicking the right boxes?
I know as the stay alive options are becoming more popular more manufacturers are making them “plug & play” so-to-speak but there are still some where you have to peel back the shrink wrap and solder to a .0002mm pad on the board.
Yes the Econammi and current keeper wire together. While I couldn’t find a diagram of the econammi’s wiring scheme, I’m guessing that it is the same as the TSU series. I did find this link that indicates that the econammi can be wired with the current keeper. Look at the bottom of the chart.
I’ll find out later this week when my package arrives from MB Klein. I wondered if there were wires attached already or if I had to dig under the shrink wrap for solder pads.
Seems odd that Soundtraxx hasn’t posted wiring and installation documentation, although most is a “no-brainer” as far as wire assignments go but it would be helpful to know ahead of time.
Lots of discussion in the Yahoo SoundTraxx group about the Econami and stay alive. Many there who are using SoundTraxx decoders and I think one member works or somehow attached to the SoundTraxx company.
The Econami has a 220uF 25 volt capacitor that may be used by attaching the Blue( Function Common) to the + side of the cap and the Green/Yellow stripe to the - side of the cap. A CurrentKeeper can be used in its place. Blue to Blue and Black to Green/Yellow stripe wires.
Rich, I think that you are mistaken. The ECO series decoder comes in 3 styles.
The ECO-100, ECO-21P and the ECO400. The ECO-100 is a decoder with wires to hard wire to your unit, only the ECO-21P is an 6 pin unit. The ECO-400 is for large scale units, up to 4 amps.
Yeah I just looked at SoundTraxx site and the 21P is a 21 pin. The others are not. I saw just the picture of the 21P and wrongly assumed all where like that.
Still, I find the instructions a bit ambiguous when it comes to the “included optional capacitor” which looks suspiciously like the capacitor that is common to many sound decoders to keep the sound portion of the decoder active during very brief interruptions.
Here’s the sheet as supplied with the Econami.
and here’s a blow-up of the wiring diagram:
Note that the statement “optional 220µF 25V capacitor or may be used with our CurrentKeeper to maintain performance” etc.
To me, that still leaves some room for interpretation.
I’m sure woodone is correct that the CurrentKeeper can be used in place of the supplied cap but I’d still feel better to see specific instructions from Soundtraxx. The CK has a blue and black wire, so assuming blue is + why wouldnt they use yellow/green like they have coming out of the decoder? Just wondering…
The instructions included with the CurrentKeeper have no mention of the Economie.
Those are exactly the same directions for the regular TSU install in terms of the wiring diagram. Just put the current keeper in place of the cap and you are fine. If you still have doubts, the folks in Durango are a phone call away and they will happily answer any questions you might have.
