# AirWire T9000/ AirWire900 AW9D10SS not communicating



## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

Hi folks, 
First off I'm new to this, so new in fact that it's been a mere couple hours with this. 
Here's what's happening. 
When I turn the power switch on the sound is on instantly.
When I enter the Ln nothing happens, no lights, no speed, no horn. 
I've since set the transmitter back to its factory settings and still nothing.
I've tried all 8 transmission frequencies and still nothing. 
I do not know what to do next. 

I don't know if it matters but the engine is a GP9 from USA trains and the transmitter, receiver and sound and batteries all came as a complete package on eBay. 

Any and all help is appreciated.


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

TheFishGuy said:


> Hi folks,
> First off I'm new to this, so new in fact that it's been a mere couple hours with this.
> Here's what's happening.
> When I turn the power switch on the sound is on instantly.
> ...


The AW9D10SS is one of the old boards and pretty easy to get linked up to run. Do you have a manual for this decoder? If not, go to the Airwire site and download a manual. Remember you need to link both the frequency and the cab number of the loco to get it to run.


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## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

I have a manual. I've linked the frequency, in fact I've tried all 8. I've also put in the cab number, the default number (3) and have also put everything back to its factory settings then reprogrammed. 

The person I got it from said everything tested fine and was shocked to hear that when I first turned on the transmitter it had the number 3 on the screen and not 1559, the cab number. 
What could possibly have happened in shipping? 

The manual is for lack of a better term ridiculous. There's soooooo much information it's overwhelming. I've tried everything I could try with my limited experience.


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## Bill Swindell (Jan 2, 2008)

Mske sure of the frequency for the receiver. Make sure that the transmitter is set to the same frequency. Put the T9000 in SVC programming mode. Set CV1 to the desired loco motive number. When you do this, the receiver should beep as it accepts the setting. If ths does not work, either the T9000 or receiver is no longer working properly.


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## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

I took the train and remote out to the shed thinking there might be radio interference since God knows there's plenty of wireless things and remotes and what not in the house. No change. I then followed your instructions Bill and still no change, a also did not hear any beeps from the remote. I then ran up to the store and purchased new batteries for the remote and still no change. 

When I turn the switch to the on position on the engine the sound starts instantly. Here's what's curious. I'll turn the remote on and nothing will happen but then if I turn the remote off, wait a few seconds then turn it back on the sound from the engine changes. The change sounds as if the rpms drop then slowly rise again. If I turn the remote off, wait a few seconds and turn it back on the sound goes through the exact same cycle. That is the only reaction I can get from the relationship of the remote and receiver. 

Thoughts?


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

I can "hear" your frustration with your problems with the T9000 and the Phoenix decoder. Take a deep breath and go back to "square one". The only reason you are hearing the sounds when you turn your power switch on is to show that power is reaching the board. Period. That's all. Diesels and steam engine cards go through various sound cycles when they start up. Even my Berlyn Goose #6 does a startup and idle every time. Just shows the card is getting power. It has nothing whatsoever to do with "linking" your locomotive to the T9000. Two things have to happen to get linked up. One, you will hear a beep coming from the decoder when you have made a SUCCESSFUL link. Two, the engine will make a short "jump" move on the track when the cab number or LOCO ADDRESS is linked successfully. AND when you are doing this linking process, you need to be in Service mode (SVC). ONLY for the loco address, not the frequency. This is all by memory for me because I sold all my T9000's a few years ago and only use T5000's now (much easier to access all the menus with the 5000's than the 9000's). Was your engine and the Airwire components shipped some distance? They can lose linking easily during that time. It doesn't take much. I really got used to the linking process when I first ran my Accucraft C19 #346 at the huge Fairplex layout in Pomona, CA. The problem was the metal coal load in the tender. Made by own custom coal load out of styrene and real coal and problem solved, including increasing my range. When I started using Airwire in 2007, I had the same frustration as you are having. 99% of the time, it's "pilot error".....not the Airwire products. Just remember that there are TWO distinct links that have to be made and Airwire will definitely give you a beep and a move by the loco in question. This is no guess work to be made on your part. You mentioned taking your components out to the shed to get away from all the wireless gadgets in your home. I, too. have wireless crap everywhere and that stuff has NEVER affected my Airwire or Phoenix.

Good luck. Our resident Airwire/Phoenix guru (Paul Burch) is away for a week or so. He can definitely help you with this.

EDIT: Go to the bottom of page 11 in the T9000 manual and follow those instructions to set the transmit frequency. In the manual for the AW9D10SS, Go to the bottom of page 32, to PROPERLY set your decoder to factory defaults including frequency 3. Go to page 26 in the same manual to see what changes when going back to default settings.

Once you have made these settings AND THEY WORK, then use the Computer Interface Cable (You DO have one of these I hope ) to copy all of this to your computer. If the person you purchased this engine from had some personal preferences and settings in place when he sent it, those are probably lost now because of the changes you might have made to the decoder already. You might need to contact that person regarding some custom settings he might have had in the engine. That's the one big reason to have a Computer Interface Cable from Phoenix. They can be pricey but well worth the money in time saved when you make your own changes.


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## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

I don't think I have anything by Phoenix... I will do as you say. 
I don't think the person I got this from knows enough about it to guide me. There's no doubt he know ho stuff though.

Does the engine need to be on whilst doing all of those steps?

Also no computer interface cable.


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## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

And thank you, I will try this later!


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

TheFishGuy said:


> I don't think I have anything by Phoenix... I will do as you say.
> I don't think the person I got this from knows enough about it to guide me. There's no doubt he know ho stuff though.
> 
> Does the engine need to be on whilst doing all of those steps?
> ...


Yes the engine needs to be turned on. Here's the Computer Interface Cable you WILL need. A lot of guys say NO, but I am a firm believer. Your case is one of the prime reasons. Is your frustration worth $90? I know mine isn't. Eventually when you really get the hang of this, you can save your favorite configurations on your computer and start to tweak the sounds and adjust your engines acceleration/deceleration, momentum and all kinds of cool things. You can even remove the diesel sound in your card and use it in a steam engine. ALL sounds from Phoenix are downloadable from their website FREE! Are you in the U.S.? Just give the guys at Phoenix a call. They can definitely walk you through this and you can order a cable in the meantime. Jim Calahan or John Weaver. Great guys to talk to.

http://www.phoenixsound.com/products/ci.html


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## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

I believe the sound is MRC... I'm in a meeting right now so I'll try this when i get home. Thank you!


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## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

Something is not right.
I followed your steps and it's like the remote froze up. 
Now I can't get it to turn on. 
The LCD screen went blank.


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

TheFishGuy said:


> Something is not right.
> I followed your steps and it's like the remote froze up.
> Now I can't get it to turn on.
> The LCD screen went blank.


I have sold three of my old T9000 controllers to various individuals and non of them had the trouble you are having. I think if it were me, I would contact the person who sold you this stuff and have him explain to you why you got a default #3 upon turning it on. Maybe the shipping was dropped along the line? The seller needs to tell you some more about the controller, what kind of sound you have AND how he programmed the engine. Also you need to do a little more explaining on YOUR part so those of us helping you have ALL the information we need to run down your problem. Good luck with this. I'm at a loss. Because of the age of your T9000 (I bought my first one in mid-2007 and they had been out for a year or more then.....an electrical item going on ten years old) and not knowing how it was treated by the previous owner, this could be a crap shoot. I would still call CVP in Texas and talk to one of the owners.


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## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

Got the transmitter (remote) to work but no beeps no action.


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## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

He says he thinks the t9000 is about five years old. Honestly it looks like it's never been used, very clean, no scratches or anything the like. He's been very helpful over the phone and is just as frustrated as I am. He says he didn't do anything special just bought the stuff, installed it, programmed the cab number and it worked great. Then he was getting out of g scale and put the engine and remote in a display case. 

I have a call into AirWire which of course they'll call me back when I'm not home in front of anything lol

When I go through the steps to get it back to the factory settings it says to press the * key to exit and it's not exiting. So I shut it off and turned it back on and it had a 3 for the loco number. Still no beeps from anything though.

The sound decoder is from MRC. I also have that manual. Item #0001817.
t9000
And the AW9D10SS
USA GP7/9
And all the manuals for everything. 

He seems like a really nice guy, gave me his phone number and was willing to talk me through things...

All the stuff looks to be in great shape, the train looks as if it was never run. No marks on the wheels... Nothing...
I paid just under $500 for it all. Did I over pay?


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

TheFishGuy said:


> Got the transmitter (remote) to work but no beeps no action.


Explain how you got it to work.......
I have sent emails on Saturday's and have always received a response within 18-24 hours. Once I receive an email and just go ahead and call. If you think you will miss a call, give them a specific call-back time. They understand.


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## Dick413 (Jan 7, 2008)

Just a thought can you see the frequency selector on the 10ss where is it pointing that is what you must match on the t9000. also what are you using for a battery?


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## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

The selector is pointed at zero. 

The remote just came to life on its own after leaving the on button on for a few minutes.

I'll keep you guys posted. 

Thanks guys


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## Dick413 (Jan 7, 2008)

did your T9000 come with the batterys in it if so one or more may have come loose did you check this if not i would but be careful taking it a part and when you put it back together make sure you put the ant. back in the center of the hole.or it will not close.


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## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

Already put new batteries in it.


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

The MRC board is a motor/sound decoder. Is the MRC board working as a sound unit only, or is it also controlling the motors? The original Airwire DCC outputs were rated at 3 amps, so it was plausible to use it as a feeder for a motor/sound DCC decoder, and not use the motor and light outputs of the Airwire receiver. If that's the case, the response to programming will be dependent on how the MRC board provides feedback. The MRC decoder will have to be set to the same address as the Airwire board (by default, 3, but if you reset the Airwire board, you may not have reset the MRC board.) You'll want to enter service mode programming, then set CV1 = 3. That will set both the Airwire and MRC board address to 3. Once you have things running, you can always reset the address to the road number of the loco or however you choose to ID the loco. 

Later,

K


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## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

I have no idea how to answer your question...


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

You'd have to open the loco up and look at the wiring. (Or ask the seller who sold it to you.) Most modern decoders use the motor's BEMF to some degree to control the prime mover sounds, so using them as stand-alone sound boards isn't always effective. The MRC decoder is an older board, so I don't know if it's just reading speed steps to transition the prime mover sounds higher or what it's doing. (I've got one here... somewhere... I never tried it as a standalone sound unit, though.) 

Later,

K


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## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

Ha ha! What is a BEMF? 
I'm am totally new to this!
Track power is all I've ever done and know... I've had HO for 32 years, now it's my boys and the G is mine.


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

BEMF = "Back Electro-Motive Force." It's a property of an electric motor which can be detected and used by the decoders for a number of purposes. Most commonly, it's used for speed control, allowing for very precise control of speed, especially at very slow speeds. Some decoders use it as a kind of "cruise control," whereby the locomotive will maintain a constant speed at a given throttle setting no matter how heavy the train or steep the grade. More and more, decoders that have motor and sound control on the same board are using BEMF to shape the sounds you're hearing. For instance, many steam sound decoders will use BEMF to trigger the locomotive's chuffs, as opposed to using a mechanical or magnetic cam. They'll also adjust the volume and tone of the chuff you're hearing as the locomotive encounters a grade based on how hard the locomotive is working. Diesel sound systems will "notch up" the throttle when the loco encounters a grade, or drop the throttle back when going downgrade. 

You can worry about that once you get your loco running. First things first, and all that. 

Later,

K


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## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

Wow! That's pretty cool, I thought it just went by speed. I have a 20 year old f3 AB with sound tripped by magnets lol seems kind of silly now reading this...
I'm going to shoot AirWire an email tonight with my number and time to call. Hopefully they can talk me through this.


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

DC motors when run have a feature where when a magnetic field collaspes creates a voltage, (thus becomes a generator for a brief instant) and this can be measured by electronic circuits. In decoders this is used to determine not turning (no BEMF), accelerating or cruising. Zimo uses this to control the sound, smoke heater elements and fans in smoke units to make engines appear more realistic when run.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

To add a bit more clarity, BEMF is caused by the sudden absence of power and the magnetic field breaking down.

This reverse (Back) voltage/current (electromotive force) is proportional to the load on the motor at the time (as well as the strength of the original magnetic field )

So, it's not exactly right to call it acting as a generator, which would imply a constant voltage that could be used as power.

The rate of these pulses is exactly the rate of the changing of commutator segments, thus tied directly to motor rpm.

So now you know how fast the loco is running and how much load it was working against.

So you can now have a speedometer function, synchronized chuffing, sounds or other things that vary by the actual load on the loco.

Also, since you know the actual speed of the loco, you can make a "cruise control" to limit or fix the speed of the loco.

All great stuff.

Oh, your 5 amp 1817 MRC decoder does not have these features, it does not use BEMF.

Greg


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## TheFishGuy (Feb 1, 2011)

Sweet. I'm sending the decoder or whatever the **** it is to AirWire. I talked with Al at great length today, what a great guy. I just need to pull it out of the engine. The remote is fine.


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