# QSI Sound & 27 mghz TE



## chaingun (Jan 4, 2008)

*I had a QSI PNP Sound board for the Aristo Mallet given to me. I Have good sound but because I use the Aristo TE 27mghz system & batts. in a trailing car I can’t trigger the whistle or bell. I seem to remember a thread here that talked about using a Aristo Crest #55474 RC Wireless Accessory Switch to remotely trigger sound functions. Is this possible with the QSI PNP sound decoder? Any input would be greatly appreciated.*
*Thanks, Ted*
*Ted Johnson*
*GYT&S RR*
*Bouse, AZ*


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Yes, I did it. I'm the person who made one for Nick S. 

It was made specifically to trigger the sounds in a QSI using a trackside TE and the 55474. 

I made 3 functions operate, bell, short whistle and long whistle. I did something really simple, I used DPDT relays to reverse the track voltage, and controlled them from momentary or toggle functions on the accessory controller, so you had 3 buttons on the throttle to control this. 

The 55474 only works reliabily on freq 1, track 1, but recently I got it to work on freq1 and track 8... I need it proven out to be able to say this is reliable. 

I used a 556 dual timer to make the appropriate "pulses" to reverse the output voltage to make the sounds (the QSI will do horn or bell upon a "quick" voltage polarity reversal). 

You cannot reverse the track polarity quickly with the TE direction button. 

This should get you started. 

Regards, Greg


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## chaingun (Jan 4, 2008)

Greg 
Thanks for the info. I am electronically challenged but I will give it a shot. If - scratch that - When I get stuck can I contact you via email? 
Thanks, Ted


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Sure.. I put 3 DPDT relays in series, Radio Shack, wired them all as "reversers", fed from TE output. 

Then hooked them up, I'll see if I wrote down which outputs I used. 

Regards, Greg


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

And he did a Dam fine job Too !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! works great.


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Now that's right slick.







Is there a diagram for it available? 

Thanks for the video, Nicholas.


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

One of the features of the BELTROL system using a linear ESC to control a QSI sound is, you can program the idle voltage to whatever voltage level you want. This permits the loco to stop & change direction without losing the sound in the process. 
The sound triggers can be activated by a suitable DPDT relay controlled by one of the accessory functions. No fancy electronics needed. It only takes a few minutes practice flipping the function stick to get a brief whistle, long whistle or bell function.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks Nick, forgot which buttons I used, now that shows. When the lights are out, you can see the receive light blink on the accessory receiver, which is on top of a radio shack box. 

It is just a quick and easy way to get 3 functions from the QSI and use a trackside TE. 


Regards, Greg


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 10 Apr 2010 09:26 AM 

It is just a quick and easy way to get 3 functions from the QSI and use a trackside TE. 


Regards, Greg Hi Greg..... is there a diagram on your site on building one of these???? 

Thanks in advance.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

No, have not done it up. 

Custom made for Nick. 

Might write up something, but basically you might need to tune the pulse durations because of variations in the TE and I also re-tuned the accessory receivers to work better and match the transmitter. 

This should be done by someone that at least knows how to set up a 555 timer as a one shot. 

Regards, Greg


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks, Greg. Understand.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

If enough people bug me, I might go out to the garage computer where I at least wrote down the parts list. 

I just don't want to give people instructions that are like "tune" your receiver (without explaining how to tune a receiver without a frequency counter or oscilliscope), or "set the duration of the pulse to match the timing diagram in the QSI analog manual, or just experiment with the capacitor value to get it right"... 

I'm afraid all that would do is be frustrating for half the people, and unnecessary for the other half. 


Regards, Greg


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg, the TE accessory receivers only work on frequency one, but can be any track, hence the 50 limit (5 outputs times 10 tracks with the newer transmitters). 

And the receivers must be 3 feet away form power sources for reliable programming and I find 18 to 20 volts gives more reliable programming than lower voltages, I do not know why, just an observation. 


The receivers for engines are 10 frequency times 10 tracks for 100 total, both the 27 and 75 mhz units.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Actually Dan, my experience with about 8 of them is mostly what I have read, they only work on freq11 and track 1, that's what 90% of the people say. 

I know the theoretical number of frequencies and "tracks"... I did not find significant differences in programming at different voltages but I did find huge variations between accessory receivers. 

The Trackside TE worked pretty well most times, but the accessory receivers were very finicky. 

I re-tuned the transmitters to be spot on their main frequency, and "standardized the deviation"... after doing that, then I tuned the accessory receivers. 

That made all the receivers at least function. Some still had crappy range... after discarding them from the "pool" then I experimented with tracks 2 and 3 and got crappy range consistently. 

Then, a while back, I read a note by someone that they only worked on track1 and track 8... tried that and track 8 worked as well as track 1. 

I tested 6 or 8 accessory receivers, from two different sources... I would love for someone to demonstrate ANY 55474 working at a range of 30 or more feet. Until I see it, I will state the darn things only work on freq 1. 

Again, I have never seen these things work at any reasonable range on anything but track 1 or 8... I can get them to link and function at very low range on all tracks. 

And programming "distance" is a wild card. Some need 4 feet and no antenna in the transmitter, some (when I am through with them) are much easier to link and program. 

Of course I have an HP freq counter, an HP 'scope, and a Singer service monitor, which helped verify that I was not totally nuts. 

That's my experience. 

Regards, Greg


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

I ran the 2nd one Greg built for me on 8 this weekend and it works flawlessly, so i have 2 different ones to choose from. I will post videos from the show this week some time showing it operating my 0 6 0 with QSI before the engine locked up do to a rod bolt falling out............ SOB......


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

That's freq 1 ( not freq 11) in my first sentence... 

Regards, Greg


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Yes, the accessory receiver only works on frequency 1. If I'd known that, I might have planned something different.

Just keep Frequency 1, Channel 9 clear for me


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