Hi all, I have a couple of  Ho Scale 3-truck Climaxes that I'm swapping out the on board DCC to the new Soundtraxx BLU-21PNEM8's. It's rated at 2W for the Speakers.  My question is does anyone have an idea what the amp rating they put in them?  These are the Spectrum DCC onboard Climaxes...I've tried  Contacting Support directly, but still haven't gotten a reply.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Mike

After 10+ years bein gout of the Hobby, I'm starting back in.  I have 2 3-truck and 2 2-truck climaxes, and I'm looking for the replacements Bevel Gears for them.  Looking at the Bachmann site, it "appears" that neither the replacement trucks with the metal gears nor the metal gears themselves are available.  Searching NWSL site for their replacements are yielding any fruit either.    I have managed to get the  Replacement Gears for my Bachmann Shays.  So the questions I'm asking now I'm asking now are:  1.  Anyone have a source to secure the Climax gears, or;  2.  Does anyone know if the Shay Replacement Bevel gears are the Same as the Climax Bevel Gears?...of which there still seems to be some floating out in Ebay Space.

Regards,

Mike Maloney

UPDATE #2.....

After considerable angst I'm PROUD to report I have a beautiful running Shay now.  After the temp wiring to see which pole went to Orange, it took about an hour to finish rewiring her and close her up.....I even managed to get the Econami, the Current Keeper AND the 3/4" Speaker all in the water tank.  She runs good, pretty smooth from start.  With a little "run in time". She'll be an awesome work horse.   Thanks to ALL who offered help and advice, especially One person in particular, for pushing me over the edge to pull the Light board out and direct wire.  Awesome  Machine.  Thanks again!

Now on the my other one for the same refit.

Mike

UPDATE.

Spent about an hour last night researching how break down my Shay.  Without any luck, other than the exploded view that comes with her, I decided to just go ahead and tear her down.... Since I bought her about 5 years ago, I'd say she was out of warranty.  It really wasn't that hard for a first time, took about an hour. 

Anyway, I removed the the light board and traced all the wiring see which was which.  With exception of the motor leads they actually did a good job of wiring her.  The motor is a little more fuzzy, since it is not clear as to the "Poles" and which side goes the Engineer and Fireman sides. 

Tonight, I'll put her back on her trucks now that I know their wires, and temp hookup to Decoder wires, and put her on the track to see the direction the motor turns and determine wire "sides".  The key to this is to put the cylinders' assembly back on so as to see rotation direction of the Driveshaft for going forward direction.  Shouldn't be that hard.  Will post update tonight.

Mike

Well, interesting results, and not what I expected.  Gonna post here, then go get sushi before I come back and try to figure it out.  Here I go... Installed Econami and current keeper in tender, 3/4" speaker in coal bunker.  Since it had the light board, I decided to use its 8-pin plug.  Followed wiring diagram for 8-pin and CK....Placed on Program Track, set loco Address to 05.  Placed on main, turned on power, immediately DCC signaled short, I changed Loco address to 05, and she started to make her ( I assume) normal " rest" noise.  Checked all her functions, bell, whistle, etc, all fine.  Put in fwd mode, immediately, DCC signals short, she moves 1/4 to 1/2", DCC signals short, head light (dim) flickers, then she redoes this routine again....after a second or two, DCC does constant short signals, until I put throttle all back to zero.  Put it in reverse... Some loud "gggrrrrrring sound" comes out, constant rhythm, and as I give her gas, she goes......sound stays constant, but she moves.   Stop her, put in fwd mode, shorting, flickering light short move , then stop all over again.  Now I'm not the brightest nail in the poke, but I'm assuming this ain't right.

If you've ideas, I'm all ears.....going to eat sushi now.

Mike


Logger Mike,
Charlotte, NC Area

Sorry...you're right...80-ton Shay, had issues with 70- CLIMAX sound awhile back.....

M.

Thanks much, Hunt.  Will post the results probably this weekend.  Looking forward to it.

Thanks again,

Mike

Firstly, let apologize for ranting last weekend about my shays and shorts.  Frustration got the best of me, and I acted like a prize idiot.  I do SINCERELY apologize.  Once I calmed down and did a little more research, I ordered an Econami 100 sound decoder, 8-pin connectors and 3/4"dim Speaker with housing.  Since this is my first decoder install on any type, my only concern is the "Isolation" of the motor.  Since she already has the light board in with an 8-pin connector, is it safe to assume her motor has already been "Isolated"?  Or do I need to tear her down to the motor to do do.  If that is the case, are there any suggestions or recommendations?

Looking forward to having her on the layout running ?

Thanks,

HUMBLY...
Mike

You're not going to believe this....while researching info on compatibility of the Econami and my DCS100, I ran across a link from 2011 about RESETTING Tsunami on DCS100.....


"""""ShareThis
I posted on the MRH forum about putting a decoder in a Bachmann GP30. The MRH community gave several helpful responses.

As you may be aware, I purchased a Tsunami decoder. All was good - I had the decoder wired to the motor (after
discovering I had the motor wired backwards) and the frame and hooked up my speaker (in an enclosure) and I got sound and the loco ran. No lights yet - I wanted to test things as they were.

I think the sounds are too loud and I was able to program on the main using my Digitrax DCS100 (my now old Chief II set), JMRI and a LocoBuffer-USB. I know the use of the programming track is pointless. Somewhere in my programming delirium I screwed up something big time. The sound came on when the track is powered but I could get NO response in any other way. I think, but I'm not sure, I mangled the addresses and didn't know how to recover. Without knowing the address I could not communicate with the decoder.

I have spent a good bit of three days trying to find a solution. No good ideas from the SoundTraxx or Digitrax web sites. After wading through the Soundtraxx Yahoo Group and then going to the Digitrax Group I found the key. They were not discussing my problem specifically but it gave me the solution. I found a reference to this page on the Digitrax web site: http://kb.digitrax.com//index.php?a=1162  It gave me this:



Resetting a Locomotive



If you don't know the current address and need to reset the locomotive, place the locomotive on the main track WITH NO OTHER LOCOMOTIVES ON THE LAYOUT. THIS IS IMPORTANT as you will be sending a broadcast programming command to every decoder on a live track!



1. Select address "00"



2. Enter Operations Mode programming



3. Follow the manufacturers instructions for programming a reset [This will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Editor].



4. Remove the locomotive from the powered track. When it powers up again it should have reset to address 3.



Make sure there are no other locos on the tracks and select loco ID 00 (zero zero) then use the Digitrax throttle (mine is a DT400) and set program in Po (ops) mode. You can then set the Ad2 and Ad4 addresses. Programming address 00 on the main will broadcast to any mobile decoder on the tracks.

This solution does not require you to know the current address of the decoder. It worked perfectly for me.

I hope this is useful information for someone else. Maybe everyone else will just go "DUH!!" If nothing else it will be here for others to search and find.

Ken Glover, Chief Engineer, Kansas Pacific Railway

‹ Soundtraxx Question and Suggestion for Product EnhancementDCC/PC interface - how is it done? ›"""""""



I was on My way to bed, resigned to the fact that I screwed it up, and was going to have to buy a new...I figured WTH...one last try....so I tried the above post and guess what....using the rest of CV8=08......SHE IMMEDIATELY CAME BACK TO LIFE.
It appears that the key is selecting 00 for the Loco Address, since mine apparently didn't know hers when I tried the CV8 reset earlier.[/font]

Now I have it set to default 03, and she runs.  Shut down and go the bed before you screw it up again.

Tomorrow, I'll attempt to program a new address of 75 for her, using the 4-digit then 2-digit address procedures I got from Digitrax on my help request. 



Logger Mike,
Charlotte, NC Area

Thanks Hunt,

Thanks the route I had been thinking about...I've seen some info about the Econami's, looks promising, especially because of its small size.  Will be looking into them.

Thanks aain for all the efforts.

M

Thanks Hunt,

I have some Digitrax Decoders.  Since I bought the Loco 5 years ago, though just now using it, I think I'll just swap it out for now, I can live without the sound for now, and then later after some research, put in a sound card.

I really appreciate your help on this.

Mike

Hunt, got your message after I tried resetting...but I already had system set as you described with separate Isolated Program track.  Thanks tho.

Mike

Ok... This isn't working either.....
Here's the procedure I used without any luck:

1.  Placed Loco on Program Track
2.  PLUGGED IN DT402D into UR92 panel
3.  Fired up DCS100, run mode
3a..Pwr=y...have solid power dot
4.  Press PROGRAM, cycle thru till I have Pd showing
5.  L Throttle....turn knob til 0030 above CVNo reads (0030=???)
6.  R Throttle press down once, then rotate till X02 reads on right.
6a.  Press ENTER...screen reads we blinking SQ with dot inside blinks once, then NoAK BLINKS ON ONCE
6b.  Screen reads:  0030=x02...1 "click" from Loco
7.  L Throttle turn till 0008=???
8.  R Throttle press down once, then rotate till x08 reads
9.  Press ENTER.... Screen flashes wr SQ not dot, then NoAK Blinks once
9a.  Screen reads 0008=x08....1 "click" sound from Loco
10.  Press EXIT....Screen returns to normal operating, 1 loco blinking smoke
11.  Power= N...power dot goes off
12.  Press "y" to power back on
13.  Been waiting 30 minutes for lights to do something
14.  NOTHING...No lights, no sound, nothing.
15.  Place Loco on Main Track, immediately begins "slow chuff" which gets slower and slower, chuff farther apart.
16.  Tried LOCO select, typed 03 for address, LOCO again
17.  NOTHING Except slow chuff.

CV30 = 02 and CV = 08 came from Bachmann via phone call to Service, was told over phone to use these settings to reser decoder.

Out of options now as nothing is playing nicely.

Going down now to watch NCIS.

that's why I was dbl checking......still learning.....Thanks again

"""The Digitrax DCS100 cannot reliably program any SoundTraxx decoder using the programming track.  Be sure to select Service Mode - Direct and perhaps you will get lucky with the decoder reset. """

By Above I am taking to read as Use "Main Track", not Programing, and use "Pd or PAGE Direct" while on the main....MAKINIG SURE no other Loco's on on the tracks>

Correct?

Be gentle...this is my first time in DCC....


Thanks,
M