SoundTraxx Tsunami 2 Big Steam TSU-2200 DCC Sound Decoder Install - Athearn Big Boy - HO Scale

[@FaithFueledLiving]

Wow! What a huge difference that made in switching it out! I love how it’s legit authentic! Thanks for sharing!

[@brianwebster4858]

Hi from the U.K. Great informative video, the disembling the tender was a big help to me as Im fitting this Genersis tender to my Rivorossi bigboy & had to change the tender pick up point & its going to work fine. Im fitting a iphone speaker in the cab, it has the original factory sound decoder...... Thanks for sharing....Brian

[@PFR1]

Thanks for making this video. It helped me convert my ATHG 9152 to a Big Steam TSU-2200. Very helpful.

[@SoundtraxxDCC]

Great work, thanks for sharing!

[@MrMagicFingers1]

I actually hit my monitor with my hand as I lunged for that engine at the end!!! I pee'd a little! Hahahaha Hope everything was OK in the end. I just got one of these and will be doing a complete overhaul on it in the near future. Thanks for introducing this decoder to me! - Tim

[@Goofyboi2002]

Bruh...I actually went pale when I seen that fall...

[@MasterVideoStudios]

I also have 4005 from Athearn, It needs a new DCC chip and this will help greatly

[@riptrack2907]

26:06 wow you're really getting authentic with that 4005 history huh also I like how there's no comments about, it am I the only one who watched the video till the very end

[@FJX2000_Productions]

I'm so glad you caught that! Just shows how few people watch every moment haha

[@adrianedyt3874]

THis is one hell of a VIDEO!!! Thank you and appreciate a lot for making it. One vital question if i may ask. YOu mentioned you put a 1000 resistor on there, Can you please let me know on which of the connection wires that go where did you put the resistor? i am having trouble on that step and i dont want to burn the lights. I am adding a Loksound 5 DCC chip with a speaker attached to it. It will be very appreciated. Thank you very much!!!

[@FJX2000_Productions]

I cannot remember if I add it onto the positive or negative wire going to the LED, I would just look up wiring diagrams online and see if you can find which wire it goes on

[@wjstix]

FWIW, the original decoder was an MRC, not QSI. That's probably why changing CVs didn't do anything since they would be different ones. Per the booklet (link below), on the first Big Boys CV49 is the master volume: 0=off, 1=low, 2=mid, 3=max. I bet this one was set to 1! I have a 2004 Challenger, on that one it's CV 52 and it's only 0=MIN, 1=MAX. If you dig around under MRC options in Decoder Pro you can find the decoder. BTW about half (or more) of the 'decoder' in the tender is really for the DC remote unit operation, a regular sound decoder from then wasn't much different in size than a current one. The big problem I found with my Challenger decoder is that 2004 was during the MTH lawsuit re their claims of having 'invented' Back EMF, so decoders made at that time don't have it. It really makes a difference in getting the engine to run well and not speed up or slow down at every curve or slight elevation change. I have a BLI Hudson from that time that came with a replaceable chip plugged into the QSI decoder; when the lawsuit ended they offered an upgrade chip you could plug in there that added BEMF. www.athearn.com/ProdInfo/Files/Genesis_Big_Boy_Manual.pdf

[@claytons8263]

Great video

[@charlesbissey9901]

Do a guide on how to take the shell off of the locomotive part please and I was like nooooo at the very end when it fell off of the table

[@FJX2000_Productions]

Glad you saw that 😂 to remove the locomotive shell there are 2 screws on the top of the boiler underneath removable caps that have to be unscrewed and then it should be free after detaching some hand rails

[@charlesbissey9901]

FJX2000 Productions ok thanks I need to replace the motor and lube the drive system in my big boy

[@863rafael]

Factory installed decoders in their BigBoy don't sound authentic. I plan on changing mine as well. Will this affect the smoke?

[@FJX2000_Productions]

Not sure, I dont have any smoke units so I have no experience with them

[@zackferguson2949]

What value of resistor did you use for the rear light and new headlight LED you installed? Thanks!

[@FJX2000_Productions]

1k Ohm Resistors 1/4 Watt 5%

[@zackferguson2949]

@@FJX2000_Productions thank you! Was the headlight dim like the rear light as well once you fixed it with the 1K resistor?

[@Steelerfan820]

How did you get the pilot apart to change headlight?

[@Steelerfan820]

I put a 1k ohm resister on the white wire before soldering to the pad light doesn't work. So I get i got to change the bulb as well. But cannot figure out how to take the pilot apart to get to it

[@FJX2000_Productions]

I would make sure to do some trouble-shooting before taking it completely apart since disassembling the pilot STINKS. Take off the boiler shell first and on top of the weight in the boiler there is a board that has wires soldered to it. Find out which ones go to the headlight and see if you can get a bulb to light up from that board. If the bulb lights up then you know you will have to replace the bulb in the pilot. If the bulb burns out immediately then you know there is a problem somewhere that needs to be addressed before replacing the headlight.

[@Steelerfan820]

Also I have the blue and yellow wires going to a led in the tender it is now on constant no directional if I reverse the wires no light forward or reverse. I followed the video and wiki dcc exactly cant figure out that one either

[@FJX2000_Productions]

@@Steelerfan820 sounds like something may be wrong with the wiring or the bulbs. Are you using LEDs? Do you have a multimeter to check if they are still good and not burnt out? I would make sure the bulbs you are using are good and I put the resistor on the blue wire

[@Steelerfan820]

Got it going today. That pilot is a real pain in the arse. Wire broken under boiler what a royal pain to fish all new wire while I was at it I removed factory light board used a multi meter and wired everything direct. One problem tender light wired with yellow and blue will not shut off. That has me stumped

[@pieseasmyseas]

Counter clockwise is left you said turn it right?

[@FJX2000_Productions]

Which part was that?

[@pieseasmyseas]

When you where talking about manually turning the sound up and down

[@FJX2000_Productions]

@@pieseasmyseas oh yeah sorry, yeah to turn it up is clockwise, right. And to turn it down is counterclockwise, left.

[@pieseasmyseas]

Thats what I was thinking im abt to do an budget big boy build have you parted with the old decoder yet

[@FJX2000_Productions]

@@pieseasmyseas I have not, but it does have that weird low volume issue

[@131Dusty]

SON OF A B#&)(#. My heart dropped as hard as the Big Boy...How bad was the damage?

[@si12volt1]

just bought the N scale Athearn Big Boy anyone have the model sound decoder to get? been looking not getting results

[@FJX2000_Productions]

When it comes to N scale, there are smaller decoders to choose from. Ut you'll probably have to disassemble the tender and take some measurements and see just how much room you have before getting a speaker and decoder. I'm not sure what will work for sure but SoundTraxx does sell a smaller version of the decoder I installed designed for smaller models. I installed the TSU-2200 but the TSU-1100 is the smaller version.

[@shamaha-hazar]

Спасибо (russian)

[@johnsera9188]

Bad drop .How much damage?

[@FJX2000_Productions]

No damage luckily. It only dropped a little before landing on the chair seat.

[@keithholt2989]

I added this decoder to my Athearn Challenger and also burned out my headlight.

[@FJX2000_Productions]

Sorry to hear that! It’s not a fun one to replace 😭

[@joenewstead4848]

What you have in there before the new decoder is the AWFUL MRC crappy decoders