QSI Titan advanced function mapping and custom AML GP60 configuration

Note: updated & clarified manual:

Even though I have years of experience in DCC, CVs, and even a degree in computer science, I found that I was copying information from the QSI 5.2.0 manual into this site, correcting it, clarifying it, and modifying it, and then re-publishing tons of information just too much work, and I was still left with a manual with problems.

So I decided to make my own update to the QSI 5.2.0 manual, and please request a copy of my current 5.3.x QSI manual. This manual is evolving, but errors corrected, confusion reduced, and I just cannot keep duplicating the old manual and then copying it into the web site, where it should be a reference document.

It is available in the files portion of the QSI-Solutions groups.io forum, and all are welcome to join. https://groups.io/g/QSI-Solutions You can also email me if you are not a "joiner", but the forum is a no-nonsense, non-commercial site.

For now, go by section numbers, since the page numbering will vary until I update the TOC and Index.

Overview:

NOTE: I use my customized file for my GP60 as an example here

This page is to try to demystify the customization of the QSI Titan large scale decoder. Most will apply to the other Titans, but they do have fewer lighting ports

The Titan allows very flexible mapping of these 3 main components:

• FUNCTION KEYS (the buttons on your throttle that ultimately execute a DCC function command)
• OUTPUT (lighting) PORTS (the physical ports/connections on your decoder)
• FEATURES (like ditch lights and various sounds)

Note well: NMRA Function key mapping is not supported in the QSI

The "standard" NMRA mapping allows mapping "features" to a function key for F0 through F12. This table also allows mapping more than one item to a Function Key. Usually you can map up to 8 different items to that Function Key. This allowed a person to map, for example, the horn and ditch lights to a function key.

These are CVs 33 through 46 (section 4 in the manual) -  A reasonable idea when you basically had only maybe 6 outputs on the decoder.

When sound came around, many manufacturers extended the use of the table to include sounds as well as the physical "function outputs" on the decoder.

Since you can (usually) only map up to 8 "things" to a Function Key, many other manufacturers besides QSI abandoned the NMRA standard function key mapping, as it was too restrictive in many modern decoders.

Updated QSI Terminology - Important

Features:

QSI calls the actual things "going on" FEATURES

You perform 2 different mappings, hook a FEATURE to a FUNCTION KEY, and hook a FEATURE to an OUTPUT PORT

Function key mapping:

In the original QSI manuals, the mappings for FUNCTION KEYS is called OUTPUT MAPPING (what a way to cause confusion!) Most people would associate OUTPUTS with the physical outputs. Really confusing.

In my revised manual, I call this FUNCTION KEY MAPPING TO FEATURES

Features:

There is also mapping of FEATURES to physical OUTPUT PORTS (I call this OUTPUT PORT MAPPING)

Unfortunately QSI calls FUNCTION KEY MAPPING: OUTPUT MAPPING in the manual. Too misleading and confusing again!

Resolution:

This conflict has been handled in my updated 5.3.x manuals. No more referring to the original document, so going forwards from here, you should be using my "corrected" manual.

Also many features are NOT documented in the original QSI manual.

It is available in the files portion of the QSI-Solutions groups.io forum, and all are welcome to join. https://groups.io/g/QSI-Solutions You can also email me if you are not a "joiner", but the forum is a no-nonsense, non-commercial site.

OK, big mouth, how do I set up my decoder?

Do your "automatic" features first

The first thing that most people will want is the AUTOMATIC mappings of FEATURES, i.e. things that happen when the loco changes direction or stops.
Most of the lighting FEATURES (table in section 5.6.1) can be set to activate automatically when the loco is in reverse, forwards, or enters neutral.
These states are defined in section 1.5

In addition to mapping individual FEATURES, there also exists 3 "Automatic Lighting Groups" where multiple lighting FEATURES can be managed as a single group.
Automatic Lighting Groups are is buried deep in the manual at section 5.7.28.

So, normal steps are:

1. Determine what other FEATURES are to be used, and map these to operate automatically (either individually or in a group) or not
2. put most, if not all "automatic" stuff in Multiple Automatic Lights #1, and also this is normally tied to the F0 function key also, so an overall "all lights on/off" is controllable.
3. then you would normally assign certain FEATURES to a physical OUTPUT PORT (a.k.a. LED1 through LEDx)
4. Optionally you would map a FEATURE to a FUNCTION KEY, things like cab lights, or perhaps a particular sound.

Note: FEATURES can include both lighting functions and sound functions.

In the end case, it's a very flexible system, but it does have some restrictions over other NMRA-TYPE mappings:

• when you want to mix automatic functions and also control/override with a function key.
• when you want to control some things automatically in a Automatic Lighting Group (the only groupings available) that is not allowed in the group
• There are some other restrictions on what FEATURES can be mapped to FUNCTION KEYS
• There are some other restrictions on what FEATURES are available in all "motion modes", i.e. moving or in neutral.

Can we get started now? No, sorry! you need the following notes:

FEATURES notes:

So the first thing is to look at all the FEATURES at your disposal. Again updated list of FEATURES is in section 5.6.1

Notice the directional states available, and the comments. It's quite a list, and my list is much more complete that the one in the original manual.

Notes on FEATURES:

• List of FEATURE ID numbers is section 5.6.1
• In the original document, not all FEATURES were in the original table, some more "sprinkled" through other QSI documents, often the user guide packaged with the decoder.
• notice that some automatic FEATURES also have an explicit "override" FEATURE too. Look at the first one: Headlight in automatic mode is FEATURE 70, but there is FEATURE 71 that can override it to allow the user to force it on and off.
• Note that the firebox flicker FEATURE 122 can be used to modulate a smoke unit fan to sync it in time with chuffs (look at the specific page on this site on how to set this up)
• Note FEATURE numbers are NOT the same as the Individual Sound Identifiers (section 5.5.1). The latter are used for setting individual volumes.
  

Notes on Automatic FEATURES:

• some features can also be automatic, i.e. will be controlled by directional state.
• also most of these automatic functions can be additionally explicitly be turned on and off

Notes on initial state control:

• There are also certain items that can have their initial state specified, mostly lighting. These start at section 5.7.8 (CV55.70.x)
• I would suggest this be the last part of your customization, after explicit control, and directional control are "done"

Notes on FEATURES, specific to Multiple Automatic Lights groups

• Notice that the 3 different Multiple Automatic Lights groups, they each have a feature code (see table 5.6.1)
• Their feature codes are 136, 137, 138, details start in section 5.7.28
• Each group has a restricted list of possible features, i.e. cannot have all lighting functions possible, it's easiest to see which functions are possible in CVManager, or by looking them up directly in section 5.7.28.
• here's the features in Automatic lights #2 (#1 is usually for normal lights, and #3 is often already in use)
  • 96 - rear ohbl
  • 92 - ohbl
  • 88 - rear ditch lights
  • 84 - ditch lights
  • 80 - rear mars
  • 76 - mars
  • 73 - reverse light
  • 70 - headlight
  • 113 - step lights
  • 109 - truck lights
  • 106 - rear marker lights
  • 104 - front marker lights
  • 102 - rear number board lights
  • 100 - front number board lights
  • engine room 2 light
  • engine room light
  • 122 - firebox
  • 118 - rear cab lights
  • 116 - front cab lights

OUTPUT PORTS notes:

• OUTPUT PORT MAPPING is in section 7.1 (CV 115.PI.SI)
  
• not all CV115 FEATURE to PORT MAPPING was in the original table, I have updated the table in section 7.1 (CV 115.PI.SI)
• Port 12 seems to have a heavy duty transistor on it, so you can directly drive over an amp to run a smoke heating element directly.
• I'll add more limitations on current for the 12 ports (LS Titan) as I find them
• Note since, like all decoders, these PORTS are open collector, you can either use the on board 5v supply or the rectified track voltage, or even a separate supply (just make sure you connect it's ground to the decoder ground.
• You can see what physical connections are mapped to which ports on the pictures in the basic pages.

FUNCTION KEY MAPPING notes:

• FUNCTION KEY MAPPING is in section 5.6 (CV 53.PI.SI)
  
• Once I realized that in the software "output" numbers in the documentation are actually 2 added to the function key number, I was off exploring. (outputs 1 and 2 are FL(f) and FL(r) or as many people are used to, F0 for front and F0 for rear. (FUNCTION KEY mapping is in section 5.6)

Example:

• So, your F1 function is on output/index 3 (1+2=3), and F28 is output/index 30 (30-2 is 28)
• Note each "CV53" has 2 settings, one for when it is in FWD or REV, and the other for Neutral (NFF and NFR)
• So the primary index (cv49) is 1 through 30 for FUNCTION KEYS 0 through 28
• The secondary index (CV50) is either 0 or 1, 0 for fwd/rev, and 1 for neutral
• (pi = primary index, CV49, si = secondary index, CV50, per standard QSI notation)

OK, finally we can start!

Note: From here on, this example uses my custom configuration for the AML GP60 installation.

Note the physical/electrical installation is detailed here: AML GP60 electronics

Sound set for this project:

from Quantum Upgrade, or CVManager about decoder:

Mfg ID: 113

Model: 1158 FX-LE EMD 710

Class: Diesel

Soundset: 1000

Version: 9.3.0

Build Date: 6/3/15

Last Modified: (varies, you can change it)

Hardware: 7022 (FX-LS)

Select and & map the features to the physical ports

So the following table shows what FEATURES are mapped to what PORTS (LED1 through LED12)

 Review of QSI LED light ports on GP60 example for reference (and double check):

• Port 1 - front headlight
• Port 2 - rear headlight
• Port 3 - front left ditch light
• Port 4 - front right ditch light
• Port 5 - reserved for front overhead beacon (1 of 4)
• Port 6 - front number boards
• Port 7 - reserved for front overhead beacon (2 of 4)
• Port 8 - front cab light
• Port 9 - smoke unit fan (using truck lights feature)
• Port 10 - reserved for front overhead beacon (3 of 4)
• Port 11 - reserved for front overhead beacon (4 of 4)
• Port 12 - reserved for smoke unit heater (special high current port on QSI) (using step lights)

Note all 12 LED ports are mapped

Again, this is an actual screenshot of CVManager for my AML GP60 project

You see the indexed CV 115, and it's indexes as used.

The targets show the port number and (somewhat redundantly) the "L" number that matches the "LEDx" on the titan drawings, LED1 through LED12

Note this mapping matches the adapter on my GP60 pages:

 Notice that I programmed all ports: Ports 1-12 are indeed mapped in my GP60 with a LS Titan (see the GP60 page)

 I built a double check" table, organized by port number, for what I am using on the GP60 at this time. I might add more notes later

Second: Map FUNCTION KEYS to FEATURES

 The table below shows the FUNCTION KEY mapping to FEATURES in my GP60

This is an actual screen capture from CVManager.

Note you can map both lighting functions and sounds to a function key, this is why they are both under "FEATURES"

The output numbers go from 1 to 30, these are actually:

1 & 2 are F0 forwards and F0 reverse

3-30 are actually F1 (3) through F28 (30) (subtract 2 and you get the actual function key number)

The literal indexed CV is shown for either:

• forwards and reverse (FWD/REV)
• neutral (NeutralFromForwards or NeutralFromReverse) (no real distinction on how you "entered" neutral)

You also see the text description of the FEATURE, and the FEATURE INDEX

Notes on my specific implementation:

• I noticed a lot of function keys are mapped to the short air let-off, instead of FEATURE ID 0, I guess that might help prove you pushed the key? I'd prefer to map them to FEATURE ID 0.
• may change grade crossing to work when stopped, fun to demo.
• if I want to enable fan and heater, maybe I should use multiple automatic lights group 2, need to look at why group 3 exists

Also notice the 2 CVs for Initial state of some misc lights, sections 5.7.26, 5.7.27

 Note:

 Multiple automatic lights 1  fl(1), rl(2), flditch (3) frditch(4), front cab (8)

 Multiple automatic lights 3 for smoke on off rear mars (9), rear cab (12)

User manual

Initial state:

• Everything is off, sound and lights
• Use F6 to power up (standard QSI startup)
• if you use F9 (3 times) to shut down, then F6 has extended startup

Startup state:

• Audio is at LAST volume before shutdown/power off
• Headlights on (dim)
• Ports headlights dim, cab light on, number boards on

Headlight notes:

• Both off if loco stopped
• Both can be turned on and off with NCE headlight button
• Bright in current direction if moving, off otherwise
• headlight button also turns off number board lights

Other light notes:

• cab light comes on automatically when in neutral/stopped, goes off when starting to move after a delay
• ditch lights come on with horn when loco is moving any speed

So on to the smoke control:

(not finished yet)

A tricky item: smoke unit control: (I drive the heater and fan separately)

Goals:

• control smoke
• have remote control of different smoke levels
• modulate fan speed with load?
• single on/off function key if possible

 Givens:

• smoke unit needs to be on L12 port, high current
• try fan on port 9, seems to be intended on
• try lighting group 3 to put both features on one key

Ideas:

• regulate the unregulated DC output with a regulator (fed from unregulated power) for the heater
• there is explicit control of bright/dim on mars light, could that be high/low smoke power?
• could put smoke and fan in a single lighting group, like group three, then use feature 138 to turn group on and off, but realize you need the features on the group to be "explicit" also, which normally means always on in any state

Issues:

feature code of mult lights 3 is 138??

function key 3 (output 5) was coupler sounds for both moving and neutral, try mult lights 3 for both (138)

port programming: put fan (port 9) on truck lights
and heater (port 12) on step lights

• function key programming (output map): put 138/ mult lights 3 on output 5 (function key 3)
• mult lights 3 programming (feature config):  put truck and step lights in group 3
• turn off initial state for truck and step lights (misc lights 55.134.0)

this did not work, they always came on at startup.. but F3 controlled them after

try 2 other features:

try rear number and rear marker

• mult lights 3... set
• initial state rear number initial state
• initial state rear marker

came on at startup, but F3 had no control

try on mult lights 2, no difference... back to mult lights 3 and truck and step lights

now it works !!!!! WTF???

bit 0 - 0 - no automatic ditch lights

bit 1 = 1 - explicit on off of ditch lights

bit 2 = 0 - don't dim ditch lights

bit 3 = 0 - don't strobe ditch lights (both on all the time

bit 4 0, no strobe with horn

bit 5 =0, no strobe with bell

bit 7 = 0, don't turn ditch lights off if the headlight goes off or dim

initial state

These are FEATURES that actually can be GROUPS of individual FEATURES.

It seems that groups 1 and 3 are often default, group 1 is to control the normally expected lights, group 3 is unusual in that it has the rear mars light, which I think may have been to turn smoke on and off... we'll see.

map fan to port and mult auto lights

1. use rear number board lights for fan
2. map LED port 7 to rear number board lights (115.102.0 = 7)
3. assign rear number board lights to multiple lights #3 (55.138.1 = 2)

map smoke heater to port and mult auto lights

1. use rear cab light for smoke heater
2. map LED port 12 to rear cab light ( 115.118.0 = 12)
3. assign rear cab light to multiple lights #3 (55.138.2 = 2)

set these light features for explicit control

set multiple lights to F12, works in fwd/reverse/neutral

1. add multiple lights 3 to F12, CV53.14.0 = 138 (maps F12 (14-2) to feature 138 (multiple lights 3) for 0 (feature works in fwd and reverse)
2. do again for neutral CV53.14.1 = 138 (the secondary index of 1 is feature works in neutral)

tune fan settings for speed

Fan connections: rear number board lights are on port 7

• , (J3 pin3), connect fan minus here,
• other side to +5 volts

Heater connections:

• rear cab light on port 12, (j1-8 heater)
• I added a regulator so the +18v output goes through the regulator
• use ground

Notes on my "TEST" file:

Doing the GP60 was a bit of a daunting task at first, finding omissions, errors, and just discovering how stuff works.

I built a "TEST" programming file to use in a titan for debugging. This was designed to let you individually and explicitly turn all 12 LED ports on and off with function keys.

Also I mapped the FUNCTION KEY directly to the same numbered QSI LED Port. so F3 turns on QSI LED output 3.

Contact me and I'll be happy to share this file with you so you can use the QSI CVManager to load it into your decoder in one shot!

test build
mult lights 1 is headlight
mult lights 2 is rear headlight

f key port # out# feature
1 1 3 136 mul lights 1 (front headlight) j1-4
2 2 4 137 mul lights 2 (rear headlight j1-9
3 3 5 117 front cab j2-8
4 4 6 105 front marker j2-12
5 5 7 101 front number j3-1
6 6 8 77 mars light j3-2
7 7 9 107 rear marker j3-3
8 8 10 103 rear number j3-4
9 9 11 109 truck lights j2-10
10 10 12 113 step lights j2-11
11 11 13 119 rear cab lights j3-8
12 12 14 81 rear mars j1-8

13 vol down
14 vol up
15 shutdown
16 startup

26 horn
27 bell
28 status (can also startup)

QSI Test box:

(picture)

describe connectors

don't use j2 pins, only one connected is pin 1 maybe

Weirdness in QSI QCV files.

The QCV file has a list of the CVs and their values.

Unfortunately, even if not specified in the file, CVManager will try to program "undefined" CV's

the following list is my notes...

not in file, but system insists on trying to program anyway

52.14
52.26

55.21.0

56.50.0
56.50.1
56.50.2
56.50.3
56.50.4
56.50.7
56.50.8
56.50.9
56.50.10
56.50.11
56.50.12
56.50.13
56.50.14
56.50.15
56.50.16
56.50.17
56.50.20
56.50.21
56.50.22
56.50.23
56.50.24
56.50.25
56.50.26
56.50.27
56.50.28
56.50.29
56.50.30
56.50.40
56.50.41
56.50.42
56.50.43
56.50.44
56.50.45
56.50.46
56.50.47
56.50.48

56.50.128
56.50.129

116.14
116.26

117.0.1
117.8.1
117.10.1
117.16.1
117.19.1
117.28.1
117.40.1