QSI Sound Decoders — Troubleshooting
QSI Sound Decoders were factory install in many of the Eureka Models starting with the NSW 620/720 Railmotors in March 2006, later followed by the AD60 Garratt which was the start of factory installed sound in Australian released models. Eureka continued to install QSI Sound decoders in future models they released. Eureka models even convinced Austrains to add QSI sound to one of their models, the NSW 35/NN Class, in 2008. However, it was the first and last model Austrains included sound as they didn't want the hassle of dealing with DCC and continued to release DC only models.
QSI DCC Sound Decoders: Common Reason For A Non-Responsive Locomotive
Your Locomotive is in Shut Down Mode
Three Stages of Shut Down: Disconnect, Standby and Total Shut Down (F9 in Neutral)
Locomotive Shut Down has three distinct stages, each entered by double-clicking or double-pressing the F9 Key.
Stage One: Disconnect
1) In Neutral, double-press F9 to enter Disconnect. You will hear a Long Air Let-off, which represents the pneumatic reverse lever on a Steam locomotive being placed in the Neutral position or the Diesel transition level being placed in the off or disconnect position. Your locomotive’s motor drive is disconnected.
2) To leave Disconnect, either double-press the F6 Start Up key as described in the Start-Up section or double-press F9 again to reach the next stage of Shut Down, Standby. A locomotive in disconnect continues to respond to all function keys.
For a Diesel locomotive in Disconnect, if the throttle is increased or decreased, the motor sounds will rev up and down, but the locomotive will not move. If the Dynamic Brakes are activated, the motors sounds will be laboured under the Sound of Power control as the throttle is increased and decreased. Prototype Diesel Motor/Generator power output is often tested under Dynamic Brake load in disconnect.
For a Steam locomotive in Disconnect, if the throttle is increased or decreased, the hissing sound of venting steam will get louder/softer, but the locomotive will not move. Prototype Steam locomotives would sometimes vent steam in Neutral to clear rust debris from the super-heaters that can affect the throttle.
Stage Two: Standby
1) In Disconnect, double press F9 to enter Standby. You will hear a Long Air Let-off followed by the Directional Lighting turning off. The motor will remain disconnected, while the Air Pumps, automatic Steam Blower/Cooling Fan operation, Number Board Lights and Cab Lights will continue to operate.
2) To leave Standby, either double-press the F6 Start Up key described in the Start-Up section or double-press F9 again to reach the final stage of Shut Down, Total Shut Down.
In Standby, the locomotive will not respond to the throttle or most function keys. The three exceptions are the F6 Start Up Function Key (described below), the F8 Mute Key (described above) and the F10 Status Key (described above).
Standby in Diesel Locomotives, called Low Idle, has more utility than Standby in Steam and Electric locomotives. It
allows a Diesel to be left on a siding inactive with only the motor running at its special “Low Idle” sounds.
Standby in Steam locomotives, the locomotive will appear to be completely inactive except for Cab and Number Board
lights, occasional Air Pump sounds, and Blower or Fan sounds.
Stage Three: Total Shut Down
1) In Standby, double-press F9 to enter Total Shut Down. You will hear a Long Air Let-off followed by the sounds of a shutdown procedure specific to your type of locomotive.
Diesel Locomotives: Low Idle Diesel Motors will return to normal idle sounds. Then the Air Pumps will turn off, as will the Number Board Lights, followed by the sounds of the Cooling Fans shutting off, the Louvres closing,
the Diesel Motor(s) shutting down, Cab Lights shutting off, and finally the engineer’s door opening and shutting.
Steam Locomotives: The Air Pumps will turn off, followed by the sounds of Pop Off operating for about ten seconds, the Cab Lights shutting off, and finally the Blower Hiss will die out.
2) To leave Total Shut Down, double-press the F6 key.
In Total Shut Down, the locomotive will not respond to any function keys except the F6 Start Up Function Key (described below) and the F10 Status Key (described above). Total Shut Down allows you to take a locomotive “off-line” turn off sounds, lights, ignore throttle and function commands (except turn on) independent of the operating session; that is, the locomotive will still be “off-line” when power is reapplied for the next operating session.
If power is turned off at any stage of Shut Down (Disconnect, Standby or Total Shut Down) or during a Shut-Down procedure, the locomotive will remember its last Shut Down stage, and will power up in that Shut Down stage.
If Start Up is initiated during any of the above Shut Down procedures, Shut Down is aborted and the locomotive
returns to normal operation.
Start Up (F6 in Neutral)
If your locomotive is in any of the Shut-Down stages, you can return your locomotive to normal operation by double pressing the F6 Key. Start Up will be different for each stage of Shut Down, but always begins with a Long Air Let-off and ends by the locomotive entering normal operation.
Start Up from Disconnect
• Double press F6 in Disconnect, the locomotive will produce a Long Air Let-off and enter normal operation.
Start Up from Standby
• Double press F6 in Standby, the locomotive will produce a Long Air Let-off, the Directional Lighting will turn on and then the locomotive will enter normal operation.
Start Up from Total Shut Down
• Double press F6 in Total Shut Down; the locomotive will produce a Long Air Let-off, and begin a full start-up procedure.
Diesel Locomotives: The Long Air Let-off is followed by the sound of the engineer’s door opening and closing. Cab Lights turn on, Number Boards come on, and Directional Lighting turns on. Then the vents open and fans start up, the Diesel Motor start up, the Air Pumps turn on, and finally the locomotive enters normal operation.
Steam Locomotives: After the Long Air Let-off, the Dynamo revs up and the Directional Lighting turns on. Then Cab Lights turn on, followed by the Air Pumps and the Steam Blower turning on, and finally the locomotive enters normal operation.
During the Start-Up from Total Shut Down procedure, a Quantum locomotive will not respond to any function key.
However, if the throttle is turned up, the Start-Up procedure abruptly terminates and the locomotive immediately
enters normal operation.
Note: Whenever a locomotive receives a Start-Up command, regardless of whether the locomotive is in a Shut-Down stage or operating normally, the locomotive will restore all automatic operations. It will return all feature function states to their initial states as specified in CV55.
Note: Whenever F6 Start Up key is double-pressed in Neutral for a steam locomotive, the Cylinder Cocks will be armed. Cylinder Cocks sounds will play when the throttle is turned up to leave Neutral.
Resetting the DCC Decoder
Resetting the decoder will generally fix most common problems of a decoder you may encounter.
Wand Method
If your model was supplied with a magnetic wand, then this can be used to reset the decoder.
Locate the reed relay area as shown in the Diesel or Steam Model Specifications sheet that was included with your model.
• Turn off the track power.
• Place the Magnetic Wand over the reed switch area, re-apply track power, and press a function key, for example, F0 to send the locomotive an Ops Mode command. Leave the wand there until you hear the word “reset”. Remove the magnetic wand. Your locomotive is now reset and has now been returned to original factory defaults including all DCC and Analog values.
CV Programming Method
For Decoders supplied before June 2008
• Write the value of 113 to CV 56, to execute the reset operation.
• In Operations Mode, you will hear “Reset” spoken when the reset operation completes.
Note: “Reset all CV’s” may not work correctly in the Service Mode on some command stations, because the command station may turn off the track power before the operation is complete. In this case, reset CV’s in separate groups as described below.
For Decoders supplied after June 2008 - Resetting in separate groups
• Set CV 49 to 128
• Set CV 50 to 255
• Set CV 56 to 113
• In Operations Mode you will hear “Reset” spoken when the reset operation completes.