Picked up a Genesis Big Boy today and am slightly alarmed 'bout the post I see on the board. I run straight DC so am not concerned about sound quality, but I’m a bit picky about runing quality. Can any of you fellas give me your thoughts? Looks the ticket though!!
I also run on straight DC. And mine, once it gets moving at 20 mph + , runs fine. No wobbling, quite silent. BUT its tricky to obtain smooth starts and stops on DC cause its hard to balance the transformers throttle with speed control of Athearn’s remote. You slowly increase the power, but the loco leaps out fast anyway. I hate how difficult it is to control the speed. Thats the main flaw. Additional drawbacks: the sound cuts in/out at low speed, which sucks. And the sound can’t be turned off. You can only lower it. And the headlights is deep yellow, not white.
I wish I just kept saving money and bought the PCM. I’m sure that unit functions just like the few BLI’s I own.
If you are not concerned about sound, the Genesis will run very well on DC without the sound circuit installed. The motor and drive is very capable of running very slow if you wire it direct. The sound model on DC has a slow speed of six to ten miles per hour, but the drive is capable of much slower. Using a Zimo DCC drive has slowed the Genesis Challenger to slow speeds below 1 MPH. It has a great drive system along with the Big Boy, can run at extrememly low speeds, but not with the MRC electronics.
The drive is there, but the Electronics in the Genesis is probably the worst excuse for circuitry that has even been installed in a fine HO model. .
I replaced both the headlight and back up light the first two days I had the engine. I also installed a 1K ohm resistor in series with the landing light number boards. The headlight is not as easy as the Challenger was to change, but the effect is great. How can both PCM and Genesis use yellow orange for the headlight and show a bright white light in the advertisement?? The sound is poor but a Tsunami fixed that. I had installed one in a challenger and after exchanging the tender over to the Big Boy for a test, it convinced me that was the way to go.
I have the PCM model also but the Genesis is so much cheaper even with the Tsunami added that it is a bargain and the detail is extremely good.
How’s the Tsunami on DC? I take it the chuff won’t cut in & out at low speed like the original Genesis BB decoder, right?
It should operate normal on DC, but I did not set my Tsunami up to work on DC. The Tsunami has twelve CV’s that need to be set up for DC after two CV’s to enable DC operation, but I did not set my units that way. The whistle would not work for sure most other functions would be gone, but I am not sure the normal default works on DC. If I have time this week, I will look at the manual and check to see if the CV’s are set up and find a DC power source to check it.
The following statement in red is directly out of the Tsunami Users Guide.
Analog Mode
While Tsunami is first and foremost a DCC decoder, it may be used on a DC powered layout, within certain limitations, by enabling the Analog Mode feature. First set CV 12 to a 1 and then set CV 29 to a value that enables analog mode as well as any desired DCC parameters, (12 of these)
It reads like you have to program the Tsunami to work on DC or Analog mode if I read the statement correctly, but I have not programmed this into my models.
You could email Tony’s Trains about your DC operation question. They normally answer very quickly and probably know the answer.
Sorry I could not answer the DC operation question. Maybe someone on this forum knows and will answer you.