Download Stay Alive for Soundtraxx Decoders including the

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Stay Alive for Soundtraxx Decoders including the Tsunamis and others.
When a NON Sound loco with flywheels experiences a slight power interruption from dirty track, gaps at turnout frogs
etc, there’d be a slight hesitation that in many cases would go un-noticed but with SOUND locos, you “hear” this
hesitation with the sound resetting as the decoder’s processor stopped and started up again. This was quite annoying and
I probably had more of these resets due to my layout being in a garage where my “environment’ is not as “clean” as
what I would like it to be.
Locos without flywheels and that would be more than half of my steam locos, they’d stop at these power
interruptions, making this inconvenience a real hassle now.
Track cleaning isn’t the model railroader’s favourite chore, so I would persevere until it became
unbearable. Applying CRC 2-26 to my track has helped immensely with reducing these sound reset,
“interruptions”.
After seeing a demonstration and then doing my own tests with a Lenz Gold and USP Power Module that provided enough Stay Alive for one of my 8
inch long all wheel (12) pick up diesel locos to “run” over a piece of 12 inch tape, I could even change the direction of the loco, while all the wheels of
the diesel, were on the tape, I wanted to add some Stay Alive to my decoders. See the YouTube video of the loco changing directions, while on the tape.
Below is how I added some Stay Alive to my Soundtraxx decoders and some NON sound decoder.
Fitting extra pickups to your locos and keeping your track/wheels clean are the best solution to any loco that is having sound resets, but some
installations, the fitting of extra pick ups are just not possible, so some Stay Alive capacitance may help, you’ll have to try it out and see how it goes.
Tsunami TSU-1000.
MOTOR Stay Alive = BLUE wire and the BLACK wire that’s connected to the supplied 220 uF capacitor and NOT the Black Pick Up wire.
See the YouTube Video
Normal Operation – Charging the Red & Black wire “included”Stay Alive capacitor.
This was the first Soundtraxx decoder provided with some stay alive from the
factory. The external 220 uF 25 Volt Electrolytic capacitor connected with
Red and Black wires to decoder via a plug. This small easy to fit capacitor
provided enough Stay Alive power to the Processor and the Audio Amplifier
during a small power interruption, to eliminate most sound resets. This
capacitor does NOT provide “Stay Alive” power to the MOTOR.
The TSU-1000 relied on the flywheel’s inertia, to get the loco through this
power interruption. A motor say drawing 100 to 200 mAs would quickly eat up
any Stay Alive power, confirming that this 220 uF capacitor did NOT provide
MOTOR Stay Alive.
For locos WITHOUT flywheels, they would stop as soon as the decoder lost
power.
With a multimeter selected to “Diode Test” I found “conductivity” in only
ONE direction between the Blue wire and Red capacitor wire. This is
represented by a large Black Diode in my schematics of a Tsunami decoder.
This “diode” ISOLATES the Processor and Audio Amplifier from the motor
during a “Stay Alive” condition of a power loss.
A Power Interruption with the Red & Black wire “included” Stay Alive Capacitor.
With a loss of power to the decoder, no current can flow to the Motor and
Light “Drivers” from the 220 uF Stay Alive capacitor because of the Diode.
Only the Processor and Audio Amplifier are powered.
While not shown on the YouTube video, I connected a LED headlight to the
TSU-1000 and it extinguished immediately the loco was rocked, while the
sound stayed playing for about two seconds, confirming there was no power
to the Lights “Driver”.
Connecting a larger capacitor to the Red and Black “capacitor” wires will NOT
provide any motor Stay Alive, the sound will just last longer during a power
loss.
A Power Interruption with the Stay Alive Capacitor connected to the BLUE wire & BLACK Capacitor wire.
With the largest capacity Stay Alive capacitor connected to the BLUE wire
and the BLACK Stay Alive capacitor wire (NOT to the Black Track Pick Up
wire), the WHOLE decoder, except the Bridge Rectifier, is powered by this
“additional” Stay Alive, during a loss of power.
The capacitance of the Stay Alive capacitor, the amount of motor current,
any illuminated lights, operating horn/whistles etc will determine how “far”
the loco travels during a power loss. The more “things” on, the shorter the
loco “runs”.
As shown, a large Stay Alive capacitor will need a parallel resistor & diode to
restrict Inrush current is explained below.
Tsunami TSU-750.
MOTOR Stay Alive = BLUE and YELLOW/GREEN wires.
On top of the normal 9 wires on a TSU-750 for the motor, lights and speaker,
there is a YELLOW/GREEN wire that is connected to the NEGATIVE of the
decoder’s Bridge Rectifier.
Connecting the supplied 220 uF 25 Volt capacitor to these two wires will
provide MOTOR Stay Alive.
If using the 220 uF capacitor, a major portion of the Stay Alive will go to the
motor, sound resets may not be eliminated. I suggest using the largest value
capacitor that will fit in your particular loco and wire up with a 100 Ohm
resistor and a Diode, see below.
Using and Connecting a Larger Stay Alive Capacitor.
Providing Stay Alive for the Motor requires the largest capacity Electrolytic capacitor you can fit into your
loco/tender. Shown is a 4,700 uF 16 Volt one, measuring 26 mm X 13 mm.
A “charging” capacitor can trick the DCC system booster or Circuit Breakers thinking there is a short due to the
large Inrush current when power is first applied. A 100 Ohm ¼ to ½ Watt resistor is connected in PARALLEL with
a 1 Amp diode reducing the charging Inrush current, lower enough not to fool the Booster or Circuit Breaker so
it does not trip. This also slows down the charging rate. The diode “bypasses” the 100 Ohm resistor when the
capacitor discharges during a “Stay Alive” condition.
Warning The DC voltage applied to the capacitor is about 12 volts on
my NCE equipped layout, allowing a smaller voltage rating capacity
to be used that will be easier to fit.
Measure your DCC voltage or even better, measure the FUNCTION
voltage of the decoder, before using a 16 Volt capacitor. If higher than 14 Volts DC, use a 25 Volt capacitor. A capacitor operating at voltage higher than
its rated voltage can explode and I would not like to be around if this happens.
Programming with a 4,700 uF Stay Alive Capacitor fitted.
Soundtraxx suggests that to be able to read CVs of a Tsunami, you’ll need to purchase a Program Track Booster – PTB-100.
With a Soundtraxx PTB-100 Program Track Booster connected to my Program Track, CV Values can be read without disconnecting the 4,700 uF Stay
Alive Capacitor.
WITHOUT the PTB-100, I CANNOT be read any CV Values with my NCE Power Pro system that I modified to be able to read the TSU-1000, that previously
I could read CV Values of a TSU-1000 without a 4,700 uF Stay Alive Capacitor. This suggests that the 4,700 uF capacitor does “impact” on reading CVs.
Maybe smaller values of Stay Alive capacitor (2,200), will allow CV Reads. I could NEVER read CV values of a TSU-750. When I started purchasing these
that’s when I purchased a PTB-100. Your system may be different without a PTB-100. In this case, you’ll have to use POM mode of programming.
NCE Power Cab WITHOUT a PTB-100 connected to the Program Track I can read the CV Values without disconnecting the 4,700 uF capacitor.
Programming “On the Main – POM”, is NOT affected by the 4,700 uF capacitor.
A note about the Lenz USP Power Module. Lenz’s US Power 1 Module has a 1.0 Farad (1.0 million microfarads) 2.7 Volt capacitor. That is 213 times more
capacitance of a 4,700 uF capacitor but at 1/6 the operating voltage, resulting in 35 times more “power” than with a 4,700 uF 16 V capacitor, that I’m
using. The USP has an inductor and some SMD IC and components making up a DC to DC Converter that provides a higher constant voltage for the
decoder from the 1.0 Farad 2.7 Volt capacitor, as it discharges. This is how the loco can run over a piece of 12 inch tape as explained in the above link. A
really neat unit, if only I could connect my Tsunamis to it.
Stay Alive Connections for Other Soundtraxx decoders and some NON Sound Decoders.
DSD100-LC
Remove the heat shrink from the DSD100LC. Connect the NEGATIVE of the Stay Alive capacitor to the NEGATIVE output of the Bridge Rectifier, as shown
above with the yellow wire. Re-fit the heat shrink.
Soundtraxx DSX – Sound ONLY decoder.
Trim back the DSX’s heat shrink, approximately 1/8”, and locate the two Pads, one
round and one square on the R/H side.
Connect a 220 uF 25 Volt or larger Electrolytic capacitor to the pads, paying particular
attention that the “marked” NEGATIVE lead connects to the OUTSIDE “square” Pad, as
shown in the diagram.
If you use a > 1,000 uF capacitor, use the 100 Ohm resistor “paralleled” with a 1 Amp
Diode to reduce the Inrush Current, as shown above.
The diagram and some text were issued in a Technical Bulletin from Soundtraxx, but it
has since been removed from their site. Rex Beistle posted the Bulletin in the Files
section of the Soundtraxx Yahoo group . To see the whole article that Rex posted in
the Soundtraxx Yahoo Files, you have to be a member of the Soundtraxx Yahoo group,
hence why I have included the “How to connect” the extra capacitor diagram shown at
the left.
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NON Sound Decoders.
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TCS T1.
Solder a wire (Green in photo) onto the Negative leg of the “chip” Bridge Rectifier.
NCE D14SR
Solder a wire (Green as shown in photo) to either of the diodes or the capacitor or onto the copper circuit board track.
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