NCE Power cab and Sunset QSI Titan

You can reprogram CV,s on QSI Titan's in either the Program  on the Main or program track mode using a NCE power cab - if you know what CV do what function on a QSI Titan.  The current draw of the large motor in those locomotives are at the margin for a 1.5 amp Power Cab.  Most O scalers run their layouts with 10 amp PowerHouse Pro systems.    But when standing still or running light a NCE Power Cab should able to program the CV's on most O scale DCC decoders.  I regularly use a NCE Power Cab to set up my DCC locomotives on my workbench roller stand.  QSI used indexed CV's for some functions and programming them can be somewhat complex - but it can be done.  If you know someone who has a QSI Programmer or JMRI on a computer setting up QSI decoders is relatively easy.

The QSI decoders with sound function sometimes require more power than typical programming tracks put out.    You probably need to program on the main using the indexed CVs.  

I have the E7s, F7s, and FP7s and I have programmed some on the main with my Digitrax DT402 and some with Decoderpro through my Sprog II.    

On the diesels it is not the motor that is the issue, it is the sound decoder.    This has been the case in HO for some time too.   Most of my friends are HO modelers, and they often cannot program on the programming tracks with various NCE and CVP systems.

Keystoned Ed posted:

You can reprogram CV,s on QSI Titan's in either the Program  on the Main or program track mode using a NCE power cab - if you know what CV do what function on a QSI Titan.  The current draw of the large motor in those locomotives are at the margin for a 1.5 amp Power Cab.  Most O scalers run their layouts with 10 amp PowerHouse Pro systems.    But when standing still or running light a NCE Power Cab should able to program the CV's on most O scale DCC decoders.  I regularly use a NCE Power Cab to set up my DCC locomotives on my workbench roller stand.  QSI used indexed CV's for some functions and programming them can be somewhat complex - but it can be done.  If you know someone who has a QSI Programmer or JMRI on a computer setting up QSI decoders is relatively easy.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your response.  My “Layout” is 14’ of straight track that spans my work bench.  When running either of these engines I use less than one amp so I don’t think I’m exceeding any electrical limits here.  I’m pretty new to DCC, what is a JMRI?  Also, I don’t think there’s any customer service from QSI, the company (What’s left of it) may soon be acquired by someone else so is there anyone who knows what the indexed CV’s are who could post them here?   Which QSI programmer (Qterm-G55, Qterm-IV or something else) would work?

TIA

JMRI - JAVA Model Railroad Interface

http://jmri.org/

I can look the CV up when I get home from work.

or if you search online for ‘QSI decoder manuals’, you will find a link to download it.

PRR5841 - do you have a user manual for your QSI Titan version7?  It lists what CV's do what and how to change them.

Now to your specific questions: 

• The  "Ready to move" automatic bell and whistle feature is controlled by indexed CV 51.20.  Two de-activate them requires 2 CV changes that can be done with your Power Cab in Programming on the Main (Ops Mode). Indexed CV changes must be made in the specified sequence -   To silence the automatic ready to move bell sound first set CV49 to value 20, then set CV51 to value 0.  

• With many decoders the bell function is triggered by the cab sending a "1" command and the whistle by sending a "2".  Some decoders use other values and they typically can be reassigned by reprogramming the appropriate CV in the decoder.  Your issue could also be that the bell button on your PowerCab is set to send out a "2" (whistle) rather than the default "1" (bell) .  To determine if it is the decoder or the PowerCab that needs to be changed, put your locomotive on the track and see if pressing the F1 button triggers the bell.  If it does the decoder bell is programmed ok - but the Bell button on the PowerCab is sending a 2.  To fix that follow the SET UP CAB PARAMETERS process in the PowerCab manual (P.59 in my manual) to assign the bell button to FUNCT: 1.  However if in your test if pressing F1 on the PowerCab blows the whistle instead of the bell - the bell assignment controlled by CV35 needs to be changed.  Per the QSI reference manual (downloadable on their web site) if you want the bell to be triggered by pressing F1(or a properly assigned bell button)  CV35 should be set to value 4.

• QSI Chuff timing is set using several indexed CV's.  Later versions of QSI decoders have sophisticated methods of adjusting chuff timing and response.  See the manual for your decoder on what steps to take.  The process is somewhat complex - to simplify it I did my chuff calibration using a QSI Quantum Programmer while running the locomotive on a roller stand.  You may want to contact QSI Industries or post your question on the QSI Yahoo Forum ( QSI Yahoo Forum) to inquire how best to proceed. 

Other info

JMRI (Java Model Railroad Interface) is a suite of free software for model railroaders sponsored by the NMRA.  See http://jmri.org/  for detailed info and download links.  DecoderPro is the JMRI program for programming DCC decoders from  wide variety of manufacturer, including QSI.  It provides an English language interface for setting up(CV programming) DCC decoders.  Of significant help is that as you build up a roster of DCC locomotives one can save the settings for each locomotive in a file on your computer and reuse/reload them should you acquire a similar locomotive or if the settings on the model get corrupted.  This is particularly handy for diesels - say for A-B-A's.    Set up and save the individual sounds, lighting and tuned motor control CV's for one unit, and then download those CV settings to the other units.  JMRI Decoder Pro requires  a computer connected to your track (mine is a laptop on the workbench) and an interface device.  One such device is the SPROG II PRRJIM mentions in his post above.  For those with a NCE PowerCab system I recommend using NCE's USB Interface board (https://www.ncedcc.com/online-...-Power-Cab-p38322160.

QSI Industries is still in business, but their former partner QSI Solutions (previously sole licensee for aftermarket QSI decoders) no longer is producing product or providing support services.  In the past QSI Industries licensed their designs to others (like Sunset, AtlasO, and QSI Solutions ) for manufacture and  marketing.  Since the failure of QSI Solutions several years ago QSI Industries has begun to directly market decoders to end users.  They also now sell their Quantum Programmer - that when loaded on a Windows PC and connected to an isolated track can greatly facilitate programming QSI decoders.  I purchased a Programmer 10 years ago and find it to be effective and user friendly.   Of the 50+ locomotives on my roster, approximately half of the decoders are QSI designs.  Since the demise of QSI Solutions I've been installing a mix of decoders from Soundtraxx, ESU, and TCS.   If you ask around you will find advocates for each.  The good news is that they all work well with my DCC system, and competing market pressure has moderated price increases while functionality and sound quality continues to improve.   So far I have not found the need (or value) to replace any of the QSI decoders in my locomotives.  While I have Decoder Pro (it can program QSI decoders), given a choice I used Quantum Programmer to initially configure QSI decoders.  For simple changes (like engine # or master sound volume) I generally make them using the NCE PowerCab in Programming on the Main mode.  For info on QSI products and manuals see the QSI Industries web site (QSI Industries). For user questions in the past I found the QSI Yahoo Forum to be helpful (the owner of QSI Industries monitors and comments on that forum). 

Index CV's  is an approach used by DCC decoder designers to extend the range of decoder control (particularly sound control) beyond the standardized set of  CV's initially set up by the DCC standards committee.  See the QSI Titan manual for your decoder or the QSI DCC Reference Manual (available on the QSI web site) to learn what they do and how to program them.

Hope this helps 

Gentleman,

Thank you for your generous and insightful comments.  I’ll apply what I’ve learned here and report the results.  

Chris