# Airwire Problem



## dukebasketballer (Jan 13, 2008)

Hi Guys,

I recently picked up an Airwire 9000t set at the selsts. I ran it today with 2 dash-9s and sla batteries.  At first I was really happy to finally have control over my trains, bu then just a few minutes into the running session, the train stopped!!! I did not tell it to. It slowed down, stopped for 2 or 3 seconds and sped up again. Then it would run fine for another 5 minutes and do the same routine again. What the heck is going on? Am I doing something really stupid?

Thanks in advance,

David Wenrich


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

The  -- 9's might be pulling to many amps. I would try with one unit and see what happens.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Weird, what voltage are you running to the decoder? (please be specific, are you running a single voltage up to 12 volts, or are you running the "split battery" setup. The decoder is supposed to be rated for 120 watts, so at 12 volts, it should handle 10 amps. Even at 24 volts it should handle 5 amps. 

If you are running over 12 volts and 2 locos, you could exceed the power dissipation of the unit, i.e. easy to get 5 amps total from two -9's. How hard were you working them? 

Regards, Greg


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## Jim Agnew (Jan 2, 2008)

David, are you muing the 2 Dash 9's? If so, you need to bypass the polyfuses in the 1st Dash 9 by running a set of wires between the front and rear battery connectors.


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

Jim,

 Thanks  for bring that up, I forgot about the jumper wire. I don't do Aristo so I forgot about it.


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## dukebasketballer (Jan 13, 2008)

Currently I only have 12 volts (2 6 volt battery in series) for the 2 -9's. The same thing happened even when I ran just one loco around by itself with a battery car. 

Jim, I am running a pair of -9's and actually plan to run 3 eventually. Do you think that if I run the jumper all my problems will be solved? 

Thanks, 
David


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## Paul Burch (Jan 2, 2008)

David,
I have had this happen to me a few times.  No answer. I run single onboard batteries in all locos.  This problem can turn up in a single loco or mu'd locos.  By MU,I mean MU'd from the transmitter in a consist.. Both locos in a consist will do it at the same time so I tend to believe it is software oriented and coming from the transmitter.   I have mentioned it to Al at CVP but haven't followed through since it really doesn't happen very often.    I don't think it has anything to do with your setup.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

You do need to trace the MU cables. If your Aristo is wired such that the loads of both locos run through the polyswitches, then they can definitely overheat and stop. They are self-resetting. They turn off pretty quickly. If you are running with the shells off, you can feel them to see if they are hot. If so, that's the problem. 

I would NOT try to run 3 locos on the same decoder unless you stay at 12 volts. I think you still run a chance of overloading. 

Check the wiring on the Aristo, I won't say no two locos are wired alike, but there are plenty of variations. The polyswitches are rated at 3 amps each, and will "trip" near 6 amps, but can trip at lower current if they "soak" at load for a while. 

It definitely sounds like an overload problem, either the decoder or the wiring in the Aristos. 

Regards, Greg


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## Bill Swindell (Jan 2, 2008)

Also, please be aware that there may be a problem within the -9. A friend has one and it regularly blows the fuse on the AirWire powered battery car. I don't think he has tried to figure out the problem. We use the same battery car on an SD-45 and it works fine.


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## Bret W Tesson (Jan 6, 2008)

I have encountered occasional problems using the airwire with Dash-9s, E-8s and the Mallet and this is documented in an earlier post (http://archive.mylargescale.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=48730&SearchTerms=airwire). I even switched out the airwire receiver and had the same results. I too have spoken to Al who says he's never heard of this problem and Navin at Aristo who said the same. The Airwire system works fine with my Bachmann and LGB equipment, but doesn't play nice with Aristo. I tend to believe the problem is with the poly switches in the engines. By the way, these problems can occur without the engines being MUed.


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## Madstang (Jan 4, 2008)

I bought 2 Dash 9s' and had the same problem..untill I wired in a jumper on both engines from front to back and bypassed the poly fuses...no problem after that!

 
Bubba


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## GeorgeMMR (Jan 19, 2008)

Hello all, 
I have seen this exact problem using my Airwire 9000, with the unit installed in an Accucraft C-21. It has run very well for about eight hours (three charges of the battery) but just the other day I saw this exact problem that you mention. It was running fine, I was not near the transmitter, and suddenly the locomotive stopped, and about two seconds later just as suddenly began to run once agiain. I run it with a Phoenix soulnd system and an Airsto smoke unit. ?????????????? 
George


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## Madstang (Jan 4, 2008)

I have also experienced this but have been told it is an interferance problem...from a cell phone, microwave etc..I have changed freq and it has went away..or It doesn't bother me enough to let it worry me.

I have noticed it when it does happen at night more then durring the day....when there are more people using those things I mentioned.

Bubba


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## Paul Burch (Jan 2, 2008)

I feel a little vindicated that others have noticed this quirk with Airwire.  I wasn't able to convince Al at CVP when I mentioned it to him that the problem exists.  It doesn't happen very often. I am pretty much convinced that it is coming from the transmitter. My reasoning is that I run individual receivers in all my locos. When I have a consist of two or more locos and this problem shows up they will all stop at once and then resume speed together  meaning all the receivers got the stop signal or whatever it is.


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## Bret W Tesson (Jan 6, 2008)

Paul, Do you also have separate batteries in all of your locos (along with individual receivers). If so, I tend to agree with your last post. If not, and you are using a battery car for power, you might be tripping the poly fuse in the engine closest to the battery car and thus "killing" power to both engines. 

Bret


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## Paul Burch (Jan 2, 2008)

Bret,
Separate batteries in all my locos.  No poly switches,I strip out all the factory boards and basically start over with 14.4v battery,Airwire,sound system,led headlights and mabe an auxillary decoder for ditch lights or gyra lights.  I do the same  type install  to both USA and Aristo locos.


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## Bret W Tesson (Jan 6, 2008)

Initially I had problems with both of my E-8s (run separately) just stopping as described.  With time, the problem seemed to go-away or at least wasn't as bad/frequent.  Then I put a different airwire card in the battery boxcar (as a test) and it started all over again with the engines stopping frequently.  It's been too cold and wet to play with them again lately, but I plan to do more investigating when it warms up.  At this point, I don't mess with Airwire for my Aristo locos as the operation is too problematic.  At least track power still works for those locos.


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## blueregal (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By Paul Burch on 02/20/2008 8:15 AM
I feel a little vindicated that others have noticed this quirk with Airwire. I wasn't able to convince Al at CVP when I mentioned it to him that the problem exists. It doesn't happen very often. I am pretty much convinced that it is coming from the transmitter. My reasoning is that I run individual receivers in all my locos. When I have a consist of two or more locos and this problem shows up they will all stop at once and then resume speed together meaning all the receivers got the stop signal or whatever it is. 


I too have had the same problem Paul, and Al doesn't seem to have an answer, or he kind of acts like its an isolated problem, and now that I have read this post others are having it too. I am getting ready to run 3 dash 9's myself, I am not sure how I am going to run or at least experiment with a battery boxcar, and or put batteries inside each loco. One already has this setup with batteries on board the other one has a trailing battery boxcar, and it just slowed down and stopped the other day. Two different setups and the same problem?????? My biggest issue with the Airwire right now is the range. 35ft on speed dial and 25 or less on functions. I also run QSI/G-wire in one and OEM Airwire rec and 2k2 phoenix in the other???? Been blizzards out here and been busy so much so haven't been able to get out on the layout to experiment. The Regal

P.S. tonight is LIVE chat nite on my channel 7-10pm mst come and join us we can share problems, questions, solutions LIVE on http://www.mogulus.com/crazytrainguyschannel


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