Hey guy’s,
I have a Broadway Limited Hudson with QSI sound and I am trying to run it with an AR-1 back and forth (point to point) track I have in my workshop.
Regular trains (witout D.C.C) go back and forth great via the trip sensors on the AR-1, The problem with the Hudson and QSI is that it will go to one end of the track and the AR-1 sensor trips but the train will not reverse direction!
What happens is the Hudson just keeps wanting to move in the same direction it was going when the sensor tripped when the sensor reverse’s direction.
It has somthing to do with the fact that with a QSI equipped engine the power to the track must be shut COMPLETLY down (turned off) before the engine will reverse direction.
Is there anyway I can do this with the AR-1?
Or is there a point to point sensor that actually interupts power completly long enough for my Hudson to switch directions?
Thanks for the help to a newbie!
Shotgun
I have never experienced a desire to operate an engine in anything close to such a manner, so I have no knowledge of what one would need to accomplish same. I do know you do not need to go to absolutely zero volts to get a BLI/QSI unit to reverse, but you do need to go below starting voltage for about a second before reversing polarity and increasing voltage again.
If you are operating in DCC, remember that the decoder is what tells the engine to reverse, not the track polarity. So, if the AR-1 reverses polarity, your loco shrugs, and presses on…literally. It is in DC that you will get the reversal from polarity.
you need the AR-2 , the one with delay, it has a user adjustable delay from 0 to 1 minute.
Yes, this is how they control the sound in DC mode. I am guessing that the direction change is so quick it is only signalling the locomotive to sound the horn or some such thing.
Even the AR-2 may have a problem here. The AR-2 turns off the track power and waits for the user set timer to expire before it reverses the polarity/applies power. The QSI sound engine will lose it’s ‘sound’ when the power drops, and will go through the entire ‘start up’ routine again when the track power is applied.
With the AR-1 I suspect the polarity reversal was so fast that it emulated a BLI ‘Sidekick’ and the whistle sounded, but the engine kept moving forward.
The sound decoder needs the engine to basically ‘stop’(not total power off) before you reverse the polarity to physically reverse the engine direction. If you can live with the ‘startup sounds’, I suppose the AR-2 might be the ticket. I ran one of my BLI 2-8-2’s on a DC layout and I could blow the whistle if I cycled the reverse switch fast. Reversing direction was tricky as I have to stop the engine, then lower the throttle some more(but not enough to kill the sound) before I could move in reverse. If I went too far, the sound died and restarted again - frustrating!
Jim
Thanks River and JR!!
I think the AR-2 is the ticket as I wont mind the restart, I read abit about it and I had some hopes that it would do the trick!!
Much Obliged
Shotgun
When operating BLI/QSI engines on DC, you can adjust the start voltage to make it easier to stop the loco and drop the voltage enough to reverse the unit without killing the sound. May take a little trial and error but it isn’t difficult.