I was thinking about getting one but have several questons that need to be answed. First off, I’m running on Standard DC. Is there any way to control the Whistle similar to QSI equipped locos and can the Whistle selections be changed?
Thanks
No one has Tsunami decoders yet except the beta test versions, so your question is a little premature. Check back in a couple of weeks and maybe someone can answer your question. The latest word is that the Tsunami is on its way to dealers in limited quantities and only the steam version at this time.
The Tsunami will allegedly work on DC, but how you control the sounds is unknown until people actually have some to install.
Have you checked the SoundTraxx web site and read their Tsunami data? That may answer your question.
I would say try contacting Tony’s train exchange, they’re very Knowledgable on these things.
I have a question for you, and please don’t take this the wrong way…
In the day of easy to use and readily available sub $200 DCC command stations (some are less than $100 at street pricing), why would you even consider going through the pains of installing a $100 sound decoder in a locomotive, and then not take advantage of the reasons you installed the product for in the first place? While I’m all for the concept of adding sound decoders to locomotives just to have sound, what about all the other significant benefits DCC offers? At best, the analog control will be mediocre as it is with all the other sound decoders built to work both ways (QSI and Loksound spring to mind), not to mention a good share of the development cost and delay in getting this product to market was the analog interface!?!
I for one would like to see DCC manufacturers stop wasting time and money on developing interfaces in state of the art products around ancient control methods.
Just my two cents worth… [;)]
PS> After a brief look through the online manuls for the Tsunami, I found nothing about DC control. There may a supplemental manual not published yet or something along those lines…
Although you did not ask me, I will give you my reasons. Because there are no capabilities I need that DCC addresses. DCC is too sensitive to track and/or wheel cleanliness based on the 1,000’s of relative posts I read. Because the components in a DCC system are a rip off to my mind, relatively speaking, in this day of 3GHz computer SYSTEMS for $200. Because what one can do with DCC in this day and age is extremely limited on a relative basis.
If all I want my trains to do is go (and they do just fine), and I want sound in some, I am completely unwilling to go to DCC just for that.
Oh, and one more. Stubborness.
And, if not for that analog interface, they would have been flat out giving a pretty big market segment to the competition.
Virginian
You may find that even with DC the sound decoders will be more sensitive to dirt on the tracks. It is because of the electronics having to have a constant supply of power otherwise the decoder will reset.
Now you may not have this problem but the potential still exists.
As for the price, once the DCC mfg get up onto the manufacturing hundreds of thousands a year as they do with computers then maybe the cost of decoders will drop to a dollar a piece. But that ain’t gonna happen for a long time!
BOB H - Clarion, PA
A low volume DCC system selling for a couple of hundred dollars - thre are plenty of those. You don;t need to spend $1000 to get a DCC system. Decoders are already down to $12 each. Constant FULL voltage to the track makes it LESS sensitive, not more. Running multiple trains everywhere and anywhere, no worries abotu block toggles or running into the other guy’s block. Access to ALL functions on the sound decoders. If Tsunami does have full control in DC, it will need a control box like the QSI Quantum Engineer. But it will NOT use the same protocol as the QSI, so you will need TWO $50 boxes if you have some Tsumani-equipped locos and some BLIs. Now you’re up to $100 in special DC controllers, plus allt he limitations of block control. My Zephyr only cost $140.
–Randy
Let’s put it in perspective, you can buy a Quality loco for around $120-300, you can then put a $100 Tsunami in it, do this several times and you’re out a good chunk of money on a DC layout and wasting 90% of the use of that $100 decoder. Or you can buy a decent DCC control system for what you bought that Loco and decoder for and have full functionallity of that decoder when you finally get it.
So the question is, why buy a $100 Tsunami Decoder when you aren’t even going to use 90% of it. That means you just threw away $90 that you could use elsewhere.
Go to http://www.tonystrains.com/ and compare decoders, DCC systems and then figure out how much that DC Setup you’ve got is actually going to cost you do with that Tsunami in every loco you own. I bet that DC setup is costing you far more in terms of Cost vs Benifits than a DCC system would.
I am getting tired of trying to woo dyed-in-the-wool DCers to get familiar with DCC. If they insist that their way is better, so bet it. They get their experience, with all the snaps and thwacks, and I get chuffs and bells. I guess it depends on what you heard from locomotives when you were young. [:-,]
The tsunami reference manual is available at the soundtraxx site. It includes information/settings about function control in analog mode (DC).
I remember reading there were some last minute modifications to tweak the DC mode. So I would take that with a grain of salt. Soundtraxx is VERY thorough with testing their previous products. But you might want to wait for someone elses feedback.
I’m diving in head first. I have four engines slated for conversion. Soundtraxx got here just in time because I was very very very VERY close to going over to LokSound insteaad.
I forgot to mention that I have several DC sound equipped engines and have zero problems do to dirty track or anything else, and I almost never clean track.
I have to agree with many that by the manufacturers including DC capabilities not only adds to the price by haviing a dual purpose decoder, but I would believe also hinders the design and development of new capabilities.
Because of this, I would like to see the manufacturers make DCC only decoders and let the DC people either make the switch or do without. Sorry fellows, just MHO.
REX
I agree wholeheartedly. I spend my days designing electronics, some of it for volume production, some for low volume. One client (I am basically a contract design and consulting firm) is getting a product made in China. When we made 25 for testing, they cost him about $225 each. He did a run of 1000 built in the US and they cost $18.30. Now he has commissioned a run of 400,000 to be delivered in equal drops each month for 6 months - cost to him, in his warehouse in Philly, tested and packed ready for retail, $3.15.
Decoders are at the $12-15 price range for basic decoders from NCE, TCS and maybe Digitrax. These are the bread and butter decoders, but as soon as you go away from that you are looking at $34.95 and upwards. I have been fitting some Lenz Gold Mini-W decoders to N scale loco’s for myself and friends. I was happy to get them for $43.95 when I got a batch of 10.
I have built a couple of decoders of my own, just to prove I could do it. They use the same processor as the Lenz-Gold but of course I haven’t invested the time to create all the firmware necessary to do everything that one does. I can sell them to you for $4.95, but please be prepared to pay in advance for an order of 250,000. And at that price I will make sure it does everything the Lenz-Gold does, with the exception of the patented functions of course!
Maybe you didn’t waste it, maybe you made the judgement that what you got was worth the $100.
That may be, but there are a lof of folk out there who just plain dont want to look at DCC. If they think the Tsunami is with it, that is a judgemnent they make, and I know people just liek that and I respect their decision. I know one N scale modeller who now buys his loco’s with DCC fitted. He has no intenetion of ever going to DCC. But he figures that the extra $10 he usually pays form people like Kleins is worth it in resale value when he passes away.
I am not sure I would do it that way, but I have said that I will buy all his DCC equippped loco’s when the time comes. He is in his early 90’s now so he figures it won’t be long and many of them may never even get out og the boxes!
John
I hate to disagree with you, but I feel I must. I’m one of those dyed iin the wool DCers. Guess what? Thanks to the folks here I received my MRC PE about three weeks ago, installed my first decoder a couple of days later and have my second BLI locomotive on the way. Yeah I’m hooked big time!! And I have all of you to thank for finally breaking my stubborness! You guys are the best!
Spencer,
Stating that DCC has “no capabilities I need” is one thing. But to base your decision to stick with DC “based on the 1,000’s of relative posts I read”, without having personally assessed DCC firsthand is another thing entirely. Spencer, am I correct in my assumption that you have more-than-likely never even tried using DCC?
I shared this example in another post. Years back, I was determined to NEVER own a car with cruise control in it. In my mind, I thought cruise control would make me lazy and more liable to fall asleep on a long trip. Well, when I had firsthand experience trying cruise out on a new used car that I purchased, I was quite surprised. Not only did I NOT fall asleep at the wheel, I was actually MORE alert while I drove, and LESS tired by the end of the trip. At 6’-4", I am most appreciative to find a position so that the bottom of my thighs can actually be supported by the top of the seat. ( I’m sure all you long-legged drivers can relate to that plight.)
Spencer, I liken that experience with trying out DCC on a layout. It wasn’t until I actually got behind the wheel that I discovered that this new fangled invention actually made my driving experience a more pleasurable one.
Your decision to stick with DC has to based on personal experience - NOT what you’ve read in a book or on the forum. If you try DCC, but still determine that you like to move switches and controllers to run your layout, then that’s fine - more power to you. I can respct that.
With that said, you owe it to yourself to at least set aside your “stubborness”, find a friend or cohort who has DCC on their layout, try it
[#ditto] But, I use Digitrax. Go figure. [:-,]
That’s okay, Dave. [:D] But you have strenghtened my case…unless I am a bit short of oxygen to the pre-frontal cortex due to basement conditions today, and have missed your point.
You resisted until you had to make the leap, and now you are embracing the technology. Perhaps folks need to be “ready”. I know my wife was that way about microwave ovens. As Tom just said, he could not “see” the fuss about cruise control, and therefore generated all sorts of erroneous conclusions about it to bolster his convictions. I get the sense that this is the same stance taken by many of the detractors of DCC…they don’t/won’t see, and none are so blind…
Selector,
You got me pegged!!! While I thought that DCC was “cool” and “nifty” I really didn’t “see what fuss” was about it. Certainly DC could do the job. Wiring toggles isn’t all that hard. Sound is for kids. Too expensive. etc etc etc. Well, after reading many many posts I figured I’d give it a shot. Took me lots and lots of research, found a good deal and worn down by the, what I used to call the “militant” DCC types I gave in. It arrived. I wired a decoder and . . . WOW. This thing is really neat. Got the BLI. WOW, this sound thing is WAY COOL (I still giggle every time I run the thing!).
I’m glad you guys didn’t give up trying to convince this stubborn DC guy that DCC was the way to go!!
Dave