QSI Titan programming:
lighting lighting & sound features
function key and output ports

The QSI units have a lot of capability. There are a number of "pieces" that all go together:

• what lighting effects are available
• what sound effects are available
• what physical outputs on the decoder are available
• how to map things to function keys.

All this will be presented on this page.

There are many "modifiers" that will be detailed on other pages:

• how to modulate/dim lights
• sound levels, fader between speakers
• when things occur, like the transition from neutral to forwards, and back to neutral, etc.

These things will be on other pages.

So I'll try to present this in the clearest manner, but suggestions are always welcome.

Features (sounds and light functions)

It's important to note that FEATURES span both sound and lighting effects.

Using the QSI CVMANAGER program is a good way to see what is available. In the manual, this is section 5.7

In CVMANAGER, here are the major "tabs" available (groups of features):

• HEADLIGHTS
• MARS lights
• DITCH lights
• OHBL (OverHead Beacon Light)
• Strobe lights
• Number Boards
• Marker lights
• Truck and Step lights
• Cab lights
• Engine room lights
• Firebox lights

An alphabetical list of features is in the REFERENCE section below, click here

So these features each have a number called the FEATURE ID. The FEATURE ID is used with CV53 to assign the feature to OUTPUTS 0 to 30.

OUTPUTS (mapping to function keys)

So right off, OUTPUTS are NOT the physical pins on the decoder. OUTPUTS are the INTERNAL mapping to DCC function keys. (crazy and stupid naming convention)

There are 30 outputs, because there are 30 function keys defined. Function key 0 (F0) is actually 2 definitions in one, F0f and F0r, for forwards and reverse. This sort of simplifies the complex functions needed for "lights" on a loco in forwards and reverse, since most people want different lights in different directions, for example headlights.

So F0f and F0r are OUTPUTS 1 and 2

Therefore function keys F1 through F28 are 3 through 30.

So, again, CV53 (page 119) maps the FEATURES to OUTPUTS.

Notes:

1. the standard NMRA function key mapping does not work on the Titan (CVs 33-46)
2. when you map a feature to a function key, you can also indicate if it is in FWD/REV or neutral (NFF/NFR)
3. There are some additional restrictions on mapping functions 1-14 - see page 119 of the manual

Feature to (LED) Port mapping

You map FEATURES to the LED PORTS, these CVs are on the PORTS page of CV Manager, and use CV115 (page 410)

The LS Titan has 12 physical connections, called Ports, and from what I have found they are all programmable, but more later.

In documentation and diagrams they are called PORTS, or LED PORTS or "outputs" (but don't use that term to avoid confusion)

These ports are (of course) open collector that "sink" to ground. The supply common (positive) can be anywhere from rectified track voltage (J1 pin 6) to the regulated 5 volt supply (J3 pin 11).

There may be some restrictions in mapping, this is implied in some places in the manual.

Also, port 12 is a high current port to directly power the heater coil for a smoke unit, up to about 5 amps!

The table below indicates which screw terminal number on what header has what port. These are  J1 ,  J2, and J3, pay attention to the colors so you are on the right header, this is a common error. (Ask me how I know!)

Fine tuning

so there are tweaks on almost everything, lighting intensity, frequency, etc.

• Then you can map how these FEATURES are configured, on the FEATURE CONFIG tab of CV Manager. There are lighting features, sound features, etc. We will just talk about lighting features here, there are tabs for:
  1. HEADLIGHTS
  2. MARS lights
  3. DITCH lights
  4. OHBL (OverHead Beacon Light)
  5. Strobe lights
  6. Number Boards
  7. Marker lights
  8. Truck and Step lights
  9. Cab lights
  10. Engine room lights
  11. Firebox lights
• There are further things that can be done to modify the behavior:
  
  1. map features to F buttons
  2. map features to the direction and movement of the loco.

T

REFERENCE

Feature list - alphabetical

Map FEATURES to OUTPUTS

(there are 30 outputs, 1 & 2 are F0 forwards and reverse.

outputs 3-30 map to Function keys 1 to 28 (subtract 2 from the output to map to function key)

Map FEATURES to PORTS

So the next step is to map a lighting FEATURE to a port. I have listed the advertised default FEATURE mapping, but be aware I have not checked that this is right for every Titan file.

For my friend, I made an inventory of the features he wants:

• 2 - front ditch lights
• 1 - front headlight
• 1 - rear headlight
• 1 - cab light
• 1 - number boards
• 4 - rotating overhead beacon (using 4 LEDs)
• 2 - possible smoke or mars/gyralite 2nd headlight beam. (1 front 1 rear)

That's 12 ports. Now the loco is a SP GP-60, and he might opt to not have smoke, and that would free up 2 ports. The model has dual headlights, and I have seen prototype locos where one of the headlights is on solid, and the other a mars/gyralite.

The Below mapping is an EXAMPLE

Let's map!

Refresher: QSI uses "indexed" CVs, so when you see CV xxx.yyy.zzz in the manual, you use the index registers CV49 and CV50 for the yyy and zzz numbers.

So to map a FEATURE to a PORT, you set CV 115.yyy.zzz

• CV115 = port number
• yyy and zzz are feature coded
• setting CV115.yyy.zzz to zero disables the feature
• disable a feature on a port BEFORE you map a NEW feature to a port
• remember that if you program in OPS mode, you must cycle power to the decoder to see the change

see page 410 in the manual, section 7.1

basically CV115.x.y is what is used where x and y indicate the lighting feature

see the chart on page 411