# Using Tsunami with Airwire



## BearFlattsRR (Nov 1, 2012)

Hello all, 

I am looking to get my tsunami hooked up with my airwire.


I have a tsu-100 decoder and one of the first generation airwire decoders and the locomotive is ran off of battery power. 


I am having a hard time finding a wiring diagram for hooking the system up. I have checked both sites with no luck. Possibly I have missed it on the sites, and if someone could point me in the right direction it would be great. 

Thank you for any advice in advance. 

Matt


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Pins 4 and 5 on TM4 will connect to the track inputs on the Tsunami.

*http://www.cvpusa.com/doc_center/ai...ential.pdf*

no offense, but found this document in about 20 seconds on the CVP site...

there is a documents section...

I believe the tsunami will need a load on it's motor outputs...

the tsunami does NOT connect to the motor.

Greg


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## BearFlattsRR (Nov 1, 2012)

Hey Greg, no offense taken. That is where I was at earlier on the site. 

I have my decoder plugged into 4 and 5, but I am not getting any kind of feedback from the decoder aside from the "idling" mode... Meaning the whistle, bell, etc is not working from the controller. 

I was curious if there were any other inputs I may have to connect to since there was not a specific tsunami wiring diagram listed within the pamphet?


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## BearFlattsRR (Nov 1, 2012)

Also, how would you go about the load on the motor outputs if i am using the airwire to control the motor? 

Thanks


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Yep, you need a "motor".... the Tsunami changes sound with the motor speed and load... there is no motor hooked to it. 

I'm not sure if you need a motor with a commutator, or a large resistor will do. 

The bell, whistle commands should be passed through the CVP... do you have the address of the Tsunami set to the same as the airwire? 

Hang in there, hopefully one of the Airwire experts will pop in here.... usually they do... 

Greg


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## BearFlattsRR (Nov 1, 2012)

Okay the resistor makes sense to me and you mentioned a large one, so are you thinking a resistor equivalent to the power of my actual motor? 

I have not set the address of the Tsunami to my airwire. How would one go about doing so?


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Again, I am not the expert, but you can set the address in "service mode"... here's where it sounds like you should spend a few minutes reading the manual and familiarizing youself with the commands. 

If the Tsunami is stock, it's at address 3, so you could set the airwire that way and use loco #3 for now until you get things working. 

I would ask the soundtraxx folks, or wait for someone who knows more than me to come to this thread. 1 amp at 24 volts is 24 watts, but I doubt you need to set it up that way. 

Figure 1/2 amp, so using Ohms law: V = IR, then 24 = 1/2 times the resistor, or 48 ohms and 12 watts.... I would think a 50 ohm 10 watt resistor would be fine BUT again, I'm not sure that the Tusnami does not require an actual motor. I don't believe it does, but you need to verify. 

Also, you have not indicated what loco this is in... need that info now... 

Greg


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## Don Gage (Jan 4, 2008)

Hello Matt and Greg, 
I have installed quite a few Tsunami's in G-scale and the Tsunami's do not require a load to function. It may require some tweaking to achieve the desired chuff or diesel engine speed using CV116 (if memory serves). 
Hope this helps, 
Don


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By BearFlattsRR on 06 Dec 2012 09:57 PM 
Okay the resistor makes sense to me and you mentioned a large one, so are you thinking a resistor equivalent to the power of my actual motor? 

I have not set the address of the Tsunami to my airwire. How would one go about doing so? 


Matt,

E-mail sent.


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## Paul Burch (Jan 2, 2008)

Here is a page from the new G3 manual about the Tsunami. Scroll to page 36. Might help.
http://www.cvpusa.com/doc_center/r9..._44_pg.pdf


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## BearFlattsRR (Nov 1, 2012)

Guys, thank you all very much for the help! 

Will update as I get it done. 

Matt


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Took me a while to find page 36 in this booklet printing image CVP now has posted. Everything is out of order. The new link is http://www.cvpusa.com/doc_center/r9..._pg%20.pdf


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## BearFlattsRR (Nov 1, 2012)

Okay, 

I have the tsunami hooked up as displayed in the manuals, I still only get the idling noises. None of my functions work though. 

Soundtraxx told me that the default address for the tsunami is 3- so i set my airwire to 3 as well... still nothing. 

I am not sure if it has to be on a certain frequency? 

It was also recommended that I should program the tsunami board separate through a dcc system... that I dont have. 

I am coming to wits' end here... this is why I love live steam...


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

can you honk the horn/whistle? 

Does the Airwire decoder run the motor? 

Can you turn the lights on and off? 

I think there is a fundamental problem here. 

Greg


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## Dick413 (Jan 7, 2008)

I have a ? have you tried a total reset of the airwire board with the tsunami hooked up this should reset both to address 3. airwire is a dcc output system


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## BearFlattsRR (Nov 1, 2012)

Hey Greg, the whistle/bell functions do not work. 

The airwire board controls the motor/lights and those are both functional. 

Dick, I have tried that, with no luck. But I will have to try it again. 

I feel like I am missing something here, it seems like it should be much easier than this. I suppose my last step is to track down a DCC system to separately program the tsunami, or I just send the decoder back and go with a different company. 

Matt


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Sounds like you have no function to the Tsunami at all. 

Any possibility that the Tsunami is at the wrong address? It's brand new, right? Try service mode to reset to short address 3. There is a fundamental issue here. 

Regards, Greg


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## BearFlattsRR (Nov 1, 2012)

Hey guys, I actually got it all figured out last week, Finally! 

All I had to do was swap the wires to the opposite of what the wire diagram showed- so simple, right. lol 

So here is a small clip of my C-21 running around the layout. Everything seems the be working great now. 



Thank you all, for all of the input. It definitely gave me a better idea of what I was working with. 

Matt


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Lookin' good Matt.


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## BearFlattsRR (Nov 1, 2012)

Hey Gary thanks! Hope all is well over there in sunny Ca!


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

How about sharing what exactly was swapped, so next time we can help the guy in trouble right away? 

It would benefit everyone. 

Greg


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## BearFlattsRR (Nov 1, 2012)

Sure Greg, not a problem. 

It was the input wires into the airwire board. Just swapped the red and black opposite of the picture and everything worked! 

Happy to help


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Wow, input polarity sensitive... That would imply that the DCC "output" on the Airwire is unipolar (not great), and the Tsunami only looks at 1/2 of the DC signal (also not great) 

Thanks for the info! 

Greg


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 26 Dec 2012 11:52 PM 
Wow, input polarity sensitive... That would imply that the DCC "output" on the Airwire is unipolar (not great), and the Tsunami only looks at 1/2 of the DC signal (also not great) 

Thanks for the info! 

Greg Damn this site is SLOW this morning. Taking me forever to answer Greg's post...............knocked me off the site, too!









Greg,

BTW, the Airwire board is a AWD10SS model, I believe. Old.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks Gary, this will definitely be of value to others in the future. I know the Tsunami has some quirks... interesting the combination of circumstances. 

Greg


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 28 Dec 2012 01:19 PM 
Thanks Gary, this will definitely be of value to others in the future. I know the Tsunami has some quirks... interesting the combination of circumstances. 

Greg I said "I believe" he was using an Airwire decoder because I sold Matt two of my AWD10SS decoders to him a couple of months ago. They were just tucked away as I had replaced them with G2's. I just wasn't sure if he had installed one in that particular locomotive. Airwire's earlier documentation had some "transpositions".


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Gary Armitstead on 28 Dec 2012 01:45 PM 
Posted By Greg Elmassian on 28 Dec 2012 01:19 PM 
Thanks Gary, this will definitely be of value to others in the future. I know the Tsunami has some quirks... interesting the combination of circumstances. 

Greg I said "I believe" he was using an Airwire decoder because I sold Matt two of my AWD10SS decoders to him a couple of months ago. They were just tucked away as I had replaced them with G2's. I just wasn't sure if he had installed one in that particular locomotive. Airwire's earlier documentation had some "transpositions".










Greg,

For your information, I made a mistake on the model number of the Airwire decoder. Should read AW9D10SS, NOT AWD10SS.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks Gary, made a note of this specific instance, but it could happen with a different sound decoder too. 

Greg


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