the MRH Forum

Soundtraxx Tsunami - Success... MRH product support
Reply
Super User 2,494 posts JLandT Railroad Super User 2,494 posts
JLandT Railroad

Hi All,

Well today I decided to take another step in the evolution of the JL&T.  I installed my first Soundtraxx Tsunami TSU-AT1000 DSD with a Soundtraxx Mini Oval 8 ohms, 1.0 Watt speaker into my Atlas MP15 - Conrail switcher.

In all the installation went quite well, the instructions with the DSD were good and fairly easy to understand.  The speaker installation was very easy and the model I have (Soundtraxx 810112) fitted perfectly into the Atlas speaker bracket, the sound is fine when the top is covered with a small piece of styrene and the shell is on.

There was only one small issue that I need help with and I'm hoping someone has installed one of these with LED lights.  I installed the DSD and hooked up the lights and they didn't work (bummer), I then Googled the issue and was pointed to the Atlas Forums website.  One post pointed to the issue of resistors being installed in series with the LED.  So after checking the Atlas lights the initial problem was solved, there was no resistor on the Atlas light in the switcher.

I've since purchased some more LED's and some 680 ohm resistors and plugged one into the backup light position, it is wired into 8&9 on the DSD, when plugged in the LED lights and stays lit.  I have no control over the LED and cannot turn it off/on, it also doesn't turn on/off when direction is changed. 

I've taken a couple of pictures to show the installation...

img_0955.jpg 

 

img_0957.jpg 

LED with 680 ohm resistor wired in series

img_0959.jpg 

So my question for the experts is have I wired the LED's correctly into positions 2&3 - 8&9 if I want directional control and Rule17 control?  Or have I not read the instructions correctly and need to wire the "function common" wire to FX5 & FX6 too?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Jas...

[014_1%281%29]

Web Blog: JLandT Railroad - BlogSpot
Facebook:  Jas Miller
Complete MRH Blog Index: JLandT Railroad - Complete Blog Index
Reply 0
johndrgw Regular poster 209 posts
johndrgw

Soundtraxx Yahoo group

You probably should join the Yahoo group for Soundtraxx. There are a lot of experienced installers who frequent that forum.  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/soundtraxx/

John
Reply 0
JLandT Railroad Super User 2,494 posts
JLandT Railroad

Thanks John, I found the

Thanks John, I found the group last night and had a quick look over the installation posts, I think I may have found the solution and will give it a try tonight. Thanks for the link. Jas...

[014_1%281%29]

Web Blog: JLandT Railroad - BlogSpot
Facebook:  Jas Miller
Complete MRH Blog Index: JLandT Railroad - Complete Blog Index
Reply 0
JLandT Railroad Super User 2,494 posts
JLandT Railroad

Success...

Hi All,

Well today I had some success and a lesson in what can happen with DSD's.  I managed to get the LED's working but only after realising that I have somehow managed to stuff the auto forward/reverse lighting function.

I must thank Marcus for all his help over the phone, and for coming up with a solution.  I had to wire the forward & reverse lights to the FX5 & FX6 outputs on the decoder to get them to work.  No big deal really just means I have to manually select the lights before changing direction.  I have also installed replacement "sunny white" LED's into the switcher.

In all the whole installation was a great learning curve, now that I have completed one, and on a fairly space prohibited switcher with some very challenging issues to overcome, I will be a lot more confident in installing them in the future.  And I'm very happy with combination of the TSU-AT1000 & Mini Oval speaker.

Short video below of Conrail - MP15 - #9622...

Cheers,

Jas...

[014_1%281%29]

Web Blog: JLandT Railroad - BlogSpot
Facebook:  Jas Miller
Complete MRH Blog Index: JLandT Railroad - Complete Blog Index
Reply 0
Russ Bellinis Prolific poster 3,335 posts
Russ Bellinis

Jason directional lighting is one of my "pet peeves."

I used to see S.P. switchers working on Alameda Street at the Los Angeles Produce Market, when I would get called out in the middle of the night to work in that area.  I never saw one of the engines switching light as they moved forward and backwards to make switching moves.  The engineer turned on all of the lights and did his job.  In terms of road units pulling a train, the only lights needed were the headlights on the front of the train and a light on the rear of the caboose or the "fred."  If you have a 4 unit lash up pulling a train, and that train needs to back up for any reason, they would not turn off the headlights after dark for any reason while on the mainline.  The lights are a warning to someone approaching from the other direction that there is a train on the mainline.  They would do rule 5 dimming once the train was in the clear on a passing siding to let the approaching train know that they are in the clear and the approaching train can proceed safely.  If the lights reverse when the train backs up, all they do is either light up the second unit in line or the first boxcar's dreadnaught end.
Reply 0
bobaroo7 New member 3 posts
bobaroo7

Atlas MP15DC Speaker

What is the size of the styrene you used on top of the speaker enclosure?
Reply 0
bgfireman Active Member 94 posts
bgfireman

Richer Sound

You can get a richer sound by adjusting the CVs. Some of the guys over on yahoo. gave me the changes to make. It made a big difference in mine. I have the CVs at the club if you are interested let me know, and I can get them.

Good work,

Alan
Reply 0
JLandT Railroad Super User 2,494 posts
JLandT Railroad

I didn't use any...

Bobaroo7 I think from memory its that tight in there I just used some electrical tape. The speaker which is the Soundtraxx Mini Oval fits in the Atlas speaker holder perfectly, I relied mainly on the tightness of the shell as the speaker enclosure. If you are going to use styrene and enclose the speaker fully you would have to use something around the 0.5" mark from Evergreen, but the you also wouldn't be able to use the OEM Atlas speaker bracket either. I get back to you again with some photos of the internals if you'd like? Jas.

[014_1%281%29]

Web Blog: JLandT Railroad - BlogSpot
Facebook:  Jas Miller
Complete MRH Blog Index: JLandT Railroad - Complete Blog Index
Reply 0
JLandT Railroad Super User 2,494 posts
JLandT Railroad

Thanks BG...

Would be very interested actually, I have another Atlas MP15 - CR switcher on the way and would love to see the difference with the changed CV's Thanks, Jas...

[014_1%281%29]

Web Blog: JLandT Railroad - BlogSpot
Facebook:  Jas Miller
Complete MRH Blog Index: JLandT Railroad - Complete Blog Index
Reply 0
Reply