# Athearn Genesis Tsunami Sound question...



## Flynn_lives (Jul 6, 2013)

I've never have bought a Athearn Genesis loco till today, which is the GEVO with Tsunami sound.

Is is standard practice for their loco's with sound to not have a dedicated "engine start function" and "engine shutdown function"? My MTH fleet has that ability. I guess the only way to "shut down" the engine is to mute the volume? Is this a common thing on other brands besides MTH? 


Anyways, the handrails are bent to hell right out of the box... but she runs fine. I'm not sure if I'd go with another Athearn loco, but I got a killer deal on this one. If anyone out there has one, are there some "must have" CV tweaks I need to know about?


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

Athearn's Tsunamis are supposed to be full featured...wich I doubt...but if they indeed are,giving CV116 a value of 0 will activate "manual notching" wich will enable you to have both manual start up (F9) and shut down (F10).Then,giving CV116 a value of 16 will activate "interlock"...in this case the loco won't move until startup is completed.<

If either option works,you'll lose manual control of the compressor and fans.You can then set them to automatic operation with CV112=3.Hope this helps.


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## Grabbem88 (Feb 24, 2012)

Brakeman is right. I use nce so I use notch 1 on 128 but have it only move on notch 2. And use my emergency stop for shut down. It's not the best way but it works.


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

Tsunamis can have the prime mover off with "Em.Stop" when automatic notching is set.The problem is that not all (Zephyr Extra for instance) controls have the "Em.Stop" available.The DT400 throttles do.

One press stops the prime mover,two shuts the layout down.


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## Flynn_lives (Jul 6, 2013)

thanks for the advice guys.... certainly put a little more faith in Athearn Genesis loco's for me.


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## Grabbem88 (Feb 24, 2012)

On the handrails being out of wack I used some atlas foam inserts they use to protect there rails. And if that doesn't help take a blow dryer and blow past it with the inserts in.

Make 2 passes and forget about it for an hour. Else you will melt stuff quick!!!!


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## BNSFcountryCA (Jul 22, 2014)

Go on to the athearn website. Search for your exact engine model n #. Click on it to see the specifics and there should be a link for the decoder manual which will have all the info on cv's and technical info. The hard part is finding the engine. It's easy after that. Hope this solves your problem


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

The diesel Tsunamis I have installed so far (5) all had CV116=39 out of the wrapping,wich is a setting that will please a majority of modellers.Sound come on with track power and throttle reacts automatically to the speed increase.

However,they offer more prototypical features but CV116 and CV112 have to be re-written to set the specific features wanted.

Where glitches occur though is with "factory installed Tsunamis"...Soundtraxx sells them in batches to manufacturers who stipulate the features they want.Bachmann's Sound Value Tsunamis are notorious as they have some CV's that won't accept being re-written to some settings while some other CVs just aren't available.

I could imagine that such is the case with Athearn's Tsunamis but I've had a reply to another post that they are full featured Tsunamis.If they are,then resetting CV116 should give the gentleman what he is looking for.


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## Flynn_lives (Jul 6, 2013)

So I figured it out. Emergency Stop on the Digitrax system will give me the pseudo shutdown sequence. I tried doing manual notching where F9 & 10 would be start/shutdown but that didn't work. The interlock using CV-116 value did work. 

I think I spent about 2 or 3 hours messing with the CV functions. Thankfully it's speedmatched to the MTH Sd-70aces within acceptable tolerances. 

Now if only I had the gusto to tackle the LED lighting upgrade.


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## Grabbem88 (Feb 24, 2012)

Brakeman the Athearn rtr sd40 coming in march and all genesis tsunamis are not full on tsunami decoders..

Don't get me wrong the genesis has a lot of features but if anybody can do it pull up a factory tsunami and pull up a purchased tsunami and see how many cv's are missing between the two..just saying is all


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

Thanks for the info...that's what I suspected though.Iwas sure the Bachmann's Sound Value Tsunamis were short legged after reading complaints about them but wasn't so sure about Athearn's.

There's obviously a potential market there for Soundtraxx but why they allow the manufacturers to use the Tsunami name...at least Bachmann added the "Sound Value" name to theirs,but it's still misleading.


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