Hello All,

I recently bought a TCS WOW 501 sound decoder that I am installing in a Bachmann 2-6-6-2T Mallet that has Airwire and battery power. I have used TCS WOW in some of my HO models and it has worked pretty well. I am having some issues with this one:

First off, I am using it with an Airwire CONVRTR-60 and it powers up ok, but it is really quiet! I am using it with a 3 inch diameter Phoenix big sound speaker and it sounds like an HO locomotive. The master volume is turned all the way up and the previous decoder that was in this engine (a Tsunami 2 4400) sounded just fine with this speaker (I replaced it because it was too underpowered for the mallet). So I’m wondering if I need to get a different speaker or install a second speaker, or whether it’s an issue with the decoder?

Secondly, and probably more importantly, is that when I try to program CV’s on it, the Convrtr 60 completely shuts down. I tried disconnecting the WOW board and programming CV’s to nothing (exact same cv and values) and the Convrtr acted just fine. Plugged the wow board back in and boom, it shut down again when I programmed the same CVs. I factory reset both the Wow sound decoder and the Convrtr 60 and it did not solve either of the problems. So I am wondering if this is a common issue or if my board is unique in this respect?

I look forward to seeing what people have to say about this.

Trevor

Trevor,

Sounds like it might be a thermal shutdown. The wow 501 is supposed to be fully compatible with Airwire. What voltage battery are you using?

You know, I cannot find the max voltage spec on the TCS 501 anywhere…

Also, while it is spec’d as a 5 amp decoder, remember that it is 5 amps total, motor and lights… is it possible that you have used up your power budget? (I’m thinking smoke unit))

Be interested to see what the issue is.

Greg

I am using a 14.8 V battery in the engine. The TCS decoder works fine in normal operation (other than the fact that it’s quiet). The moment you program it, sitting at a stand still in either ops more of service mode, the whole system shuts down, including the airwire receiver. The airwire receiver does not do this when connected to my Tsunami 2 4 amp decoder.

Trevor

can you try a bit higher voltage as a test? Something is fishy. I have given up on TCS decoders both in G and Z…

I suspect that this is an issue with the way that the decoder acknowledges a CV write. The basic acknowledge mode creates a pulse of increased current load on the track. The Convrtr might be interpreting this as a short for some reason. The ACK mode is part of CV 29.

The battery is putting out 16.3 V fully charged. I definitely do not think that was the problem. Called tech support and they suggested moving the speaker wires to the other port to solve the sound issue. That did help. He said it was likely that the amplifier has issues and apparently that can effect decoder performance with functions such as…Programming! Which would explain a thing or two. He said to send it back and they will replace it. Nice to see a company with good tech support. I will update this forum when the new one comes in and we’ll see if I have better luck.

Trevor