Problem with TSU750Tsunami decoder

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hi There;

I installed the above in a remotored (sagami) brass loco. I am using an NCE Power Cab. I only get headlight & at rest sound. No other sounds or movement. It won’t respond to any commands. I programmed it on program track & also main line. No responce. Any ideas? I am going to phone Soundtraxx tech support tommorrow.

Thanx for anyhelp. Tom

2

Maybe the decoder is not sending enough voltage/start voltage to the motor. Maybe a motor lead is corrupted. Did you programme an extended address and not configure the decoder to acknowledge it?

Sorry, but that is the range of my guessing.

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Hi There;

Selector, thanx for your guess. I programmed both long & short addresses, no luck . I metered all my solder connections before putting heat to the shrink wrap tubing. I inatalled same decoder in a Spectrum 2-8-0 just last week–no problems. I am beginning to suspect a quality control problem with these decoders In July I inatalled same type in this loco when I was programming it I had the same problem. After about about 15 minutes it almost caught fire. The inside of the tender is black with soot. I contacted Sountraxx & mailed it back on July 4. They said it was obviously faulty. I just recieved a replacement today. After waiting almost 5 months I was to say the least very dissapointed to find the almost same problem. I suppose the only thing to do is contact tech support tommorrow.

Tom

4

Maybe the motor is drawing more current than the 750 can handle ? Strange that it was able to fry the first decoder without shorting out and tripping the NCEs’ circuit breaker. Lucky for you that it didn’t hurt the loco !

Will be interested to see what you find out as I was looking at these for a shay & a climax, but had been waiting to hear if they were as good as the TSU1000.

Warren

5

Yes…either the motor is drawing way too much current or you have a short.

David

6

My suspicion is that you have a short in the wiring to the decoder, or the motor brushes are not properly isolated from the frame. Since this is a brass engine, the motor is most likely grounded to the chassis, creating a short circuit. You need to study up on isolating motor brushes when installing decoders, and check the motor with a VOM during installation.

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