Since the demise of the Soundtraxx Tsunami TSU-GN1000 what is Athearn using for decoders in their sound-equipped locomotives??? Are they available for purchase??? The thought of replacing all the little bulbs with LED's is overwhelming... Also is anyone having problems with the Soundtraxx Economi PNP-882004 Diesel decoders??? I bought a couple for an Athearn RTR SD45 & SD40-2 that didn't work...The SD45 was working fine till I tried to change the prime mover on the main to a EMD 645 turbo. Once I hit enter on my NCE handheld it took off at full speed in reverse (it was in forward), tried the emergency stop, nothing would stop it. After I grabbed it & set it back on the rails it took off again at full speed in the opposite direction. So I took it back to bench, yanked out the decoder & put in a Soundtraxx MC2H104AT & it ran fine. With the SD40-2 I hooked up just the power & truck wires to the decoder, went to the programming track & got "Can not read CV" multiple times, wouldn't even let me program it. Again put in a MC2H104AT decoder & it worked like a champ. $134.00 for 2 worthless decoders. Roger
Roger, I think you have my phone number; give me a call or send me a message. You may have had an issue with the way you were programming. We can get it sorted out. I have installed a lot of ECO-PNP decoders with no issues. I believe the issue may have been due to Service Programming (on a programming track) without a programming booster. BTW, Athearn is still using Tsunami OEM versions of the GN-1000 decoders in their sound-equipped locos. I have begun using Fiber Optic light pipe with LEDs in place of the bulbs on Athearn units when installing SoundTraxx decoders. All of the ECO-PNP and TSU-PNP boards are capable of powering bulbs or LEDs so a change from bulbs to LEDs is not required but may be desirable.
