I installed a QSI sound decoder in my Genesis #76.  A few weeks ago, I asked for advice on the install.  http://www.mylargescale.com/Communi...fault.aspx

Contributing replies were made by  GregE, Bills, sLemcke, & a web reference to a QSI Solutions page was made. There were many valuable explanations and pictures shared.  Rather than place this install log at the end of that thread, I decided to report the installation in this new thread.

During the install, I kept a log to share.

1.        I removed the side truck frames to make easier access to screws holding the shell to the chassis.  I later figured out that the side frames did not need to be removed. 

2.       The four screws holding the front apron must be removed to gain access to two chassis/shell screws.

3.       Sixteen body mount screws must be removed.  Then the body lifts off.

4.       The third [3^rd] of four bulkheads is repositioned to behind the LGB PCB, creating enough room with access for batteries through the lift off smoke stack panel.

5.       Slight trimming of the LGB frame allows oversized Phoenix SP-03 OF. Speaker to be installed.

6.       The LGB PCB retaining screws are removed.   The PCB is moved to the left side of the weight to allow placement of the Gwire board.  The PCB is secured in place with double sided sticky tape.

7.       A momentary push button switch, DPDT switch, and a SPST switch are installed in the moved bulkhead for Volume, Battery/Track Power, and Gwire on/off functions.

8.       A fuse holder was fashioned inline from the positive output of the DPDT to the Track + input of the QSI Magnum board.  

9.       The Gwire board was placed after wires to the ON/OFF SPST switch  were soldered.

10.   The Allelectronics #CON-2410,  10-pin plug was installed into the LGB Decoder plug.

11. The QSI Magnum board was wired, speaker and Gwire ON/OFF plugs inserted, and the battery feed/blue-brown  wires from the 10-pin plug supplying track power were connected to the DPDT switch. 

The wiring is illustrated in the following diagram.

12. A piece of .040 styrene was cut to cover the speaker and make battery installation/removal easier.  The LGB wires leading to the cab, motor and front lights were wire-tied to the styrene.
13. 

13. The battery supply harness/distribution block was attached to the bulkhead on top of the smoke unit mounting platform.  A pair of plugs wired in series and a single directly wired plug [green] are provided for different battery pack styles.

14. The Genesis was tested using a Gwire ProCab controller.  At first the lights didn’t work properly.  After reversing the positions on the Magnum board for the RL, FL, Pwr, and Grd, the system as pictured, now works properly.  The bell  [F1], horn [F2], crossing [F3], clank [F4], Alt. horn [F8], and headlight [ON/OFF] all function as expected.  The headlights dim when in reverse.  The reverse lights dim when in forward. 
15. The Genesis operates well in RC-Battery mode, RC-Trackpower mode, Analog DC mode, and presumably DCC mode. 
16. Overall, I am very pleased with the results.  I hope this write-up will be useful to other Genesis owners.

Jim Carter

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 26 Oct 2009 12:55 PM
JC, take a ohmmeter out... I think that the "shunt" was for testing the board, and then they drill a hole, splitting the traces you can see that in several locations.

(typical manufacturing technique) ...

 

 Greg - I was in Test Engineering for 25 years, and I have never seen this test strategy before. Can you shed some light on it? (I don't want to derail the thread, so if you don't think it is appropriate, just send me an e-mail).

 

The typical test strategy for more complex boards is In-Circuit test, followed by a full functional test at either the board level, system level, or both. After final test, you don't do anymore operations because you may have screwed something up doing it, and now it isn't tested. This scheme appears to short out all or most of the components, perhaps to just do a simple continuity test of the traces plus wiring? Then you drill the holes. Do you now do another functional test? I don't get it. It must simplify the test setup.