10-13-2010, 06:05 AM
Well, if they do have this sound set then they need to do a better job of updating their web site, because under the list of product numbers they do NOT list the 539.
The rest of what I said about switching to the wired one still stands though.
If you stick with the AT decoder though, whatever you do, do NOT totally wrap it in insulating material, it will probably overheat. I would fabricate a thin shelf of styrene to mount the decoder on to keep it from touching the motor and drive train. If there's sufficient clearance between the top of the decoder and the shell, that should be all you need. A couple strips of kapton tape will hold the decoder to the 'shelf'. There's no need to go nuts with the wires, the connection points are fairly close at hand, there are two sets of truck pickup connections, on at each end of the board, and the motor comes off two terminals ont eh side which will probably be right over the motor.
As a side note, despite the great sound I can't get 100% behind Tsunamis, partly because of motor control issues and the lack of Start/mid/max, forcing you to use speed tables to tune the speed, and second because of their still being the one sound decoder that needs a program track booster to work on most DCC systems. I installed a QSI Revolution-U for someone and unlike the OEM QSI in the earlier Broadway Limited locos, it worked on my program track compeltely, with no issues - so QSI figured it out, I don't know why Soundtraxx can't (it really is just a resistor and diode that needs to be added to prevent the inrush current). Of course there's always programming on the main, or in the case of my Zephyr, Blast Mode programming. But blast mode or a booster defeats the purpose of a low current program track where you can safely check things out prior to putting the loco on the full current main and frying somethign if it's not wired correctly. I see program track boosters as just another upsale to solve a problem that shouldn't be there in the first place.
--Randy
The rest of what I said about switching to the wired one still stands though.
If you stick with the AT decoder though, whatever you do, do NOT totally wrap it in insulating material, it will probably overheat. I would fabricate a thin shelf of styrene to mount the decoder on to keep it from touching the motor and drive train. If there's sufficient clearance between the top of the decoder and the shell, that should be all you need. A couple strips of kapton tape will hold the decoder to the 'shelf'. There's no need to go nuts with the wires, the connection points are fairly close at hand, there are two sets of truck pickup connections, on at each end of the board, and the motor comes off two terminals ont eh side which will probably be right over the motor.
As a side note, despite the great sound I can't get 100% behind Tsunamis, partly because of motor control issues and the lack of Start/mid/max, forcing you to use speed tables to tune the speed, and second because of their still being the one sound decoder that needs a program track booster to work on most DCC systems. I installed a QSI Revolution-U for someone and unlike the OEM QSI in the earlier Broadway Limited locos, it worked on my program track compeltely, with no issues - so QSI figured it out, I don't know why Soundtraxx can't (it really is just a resistor and diode that needs to be added to prevent the inrush current). Of course there's always programming on the main, or in the case of my Zephyr, Blast Mode programming. But blast mode or a booster defeats the purpose of a low current program track where you can safely check things out prior to putting the loco on the full current main and frying somethign if it's not wired correctly. I see program track boosters as just another upsale to solve a problem that shouldn't be there in the first place.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad of the 1950's in HO
Visit my web site to see layout progress and other information:
http://www.readingeastpenn.com
Visit my web site to see layout progress and other information:
http://www.readingeastpenn.com