That is the problem when techies design software for real life situations. SoundTraxx has done some great things but I did not become aware of this issue until I obtained some LokSound decoders and made the comparison.
Oh well, live and learn.
OK, your LHS is correct. I just tried it with my new Baldwin Tsunami. The Prime Mover does start but the loco does not move if I go back to zero quickly. Thanks for the update.
I did mention this on the Yahoo SoundTraxx DCC forum, though maybe others knew this and the issue never came up. I will have to dig into the Tsunami diesel manual and see if I can find anything on this issue.
Rich
I have spoken on the phone to techs at Soundtraxx several times and they have been very helpful when other sources were stumped (they also respond to e-mail). Rather than take the LHS’ word for it why not ask the guys who built the thing? At the very least if the LHS is right, Soundtraxx gets the feedback from users and may make changes to later models…
Guy
Yes, I suppose that I could call, except that richq1998 alredy mentioned in one of his posts above that he had e-mailed them. Maybe he’ll post the response, if they choose to answer.
My take on the conversation with the LHS guy was that there already had been some back and forth with Soundtraxx on similar issues, and the response was basically that if you didn’t like what the decoder did you were free to get your sound elsewhere.
There was one thing that came out of the LHS conversation that I found interesting. Installer-guy said that people at the club he belonged to didn’t like the double-click function key 9 to shut down the motor procedure because it was too hard to understand. They liked the e-stop thing better because it was “easier”. The “move speed controller from zero to speed step one and back quickly so the loco doesn’t move until motor starts up” thing apparently was easy for them to comprehend. Takes all types, I guess.
I guessit depends on what DCC system they have - with Digitrax you can set it up so the e-stop button ONLY works on the loco you have selected - you can’t shut off the entire layout. In fact that’s the default setting on a DT400/DT402. E-Stop is actually a special packet defined in the NMRA standards, so if that’s what the Tsunami is designed to respond to, I would tend to agree that there is simply no way to make a function key perform the same operation. It’s a shame none of the other systems allows their computer interface to see the command sent from any throttle - otherwise I could imagine a macro in JMRI that would see a user hit F9 and send an E-Stop packet to the address of the loco that person is controlling.
–Randy
Strike two for soundtraxx [tdn]
My Tsunami GN1000 EMD 567 units arrived yesterday and I installed one today.
I wish I had read this post prior to ordering them. With all the great things people have been saying about them I thought for sure they would be great.
I was gun-shy on tsunami at first because of a previous bad (horrible, actually) experience with LC-100, which I won’t go into.
How do people that love the Tsunami live with the prime mover RPM lagging the speed of the loco? I find this MOST unprototypical and unacceptable.
I tried the suggestion in the manual regarding setting the auto notching to a “less sensitive” value, but that actually made it worse.
As noted in this thread, the loco starts moving before the startup sequence is even finished, unless you fast-finger the control, then every time the throttle is increased, the motor responds WAY before the sound. Momentum also makes this worse. Nothing IMO is more unprototypical than a locomotive slowing to a stop, with the motor at high RPM, and then the RPMs dropping to idle after the loco has been sitting there for several seconds.
I’m actually OK with the Estop shutdownm but the speed step 1 startup is simply BAD PROGRAMMING, along with the RPM/motor speed issue. I can’t believe the manual actually has TWO paragraphs explaining how the prototype prime mover is feeding the generator, not the wheels, hence the resultant “disconnect” between RPM and speed.
Additionally, for all the fanfare about 16 bit sound, I didn’t find it that much better than QSI. In fact, I would rate them the same. There WAS less “static” at low volumes than LokSound 3.5 (which is my only complaint with ESU), but the sound its self wasn’t “far superior”, as I’ve been led to believe, and the motor control is no contest in favor of ESU.
Unfortunately the engine shutdown sequence in Tsunami decoders using automatic notch is not available for Lenz Systems users. I install sound in locos and the startup issue I solved using speed table enable. For extended adresses, I put value 54 in CV29 and value 11 in CV25. This causes the locomotive departs on step 3 or 4. Then you can make the movement 0-1-0 in throttle smoothly. It’s also recommended to program any value in CVs 3 and 4 for more realistic operation.
But shutdown sequence is possible only if you use manual notching. In automatic notching, the ST button in Lenz System mute the decoders in both configurations. I don’t know that the NMRA Standarts says about Emergency Stop, because each manufacturer handles this command in a different way.