All-
I left my 2 blueline decoders (SD40-2 and C30-7) with Digitrax DN143IP installed at the local club (they use NCE cabs). When I got them back, the sound was "dead" but the motor decoder was ok (sound comes on for a second then mutes). I have already tried FN8 and FN2 to no avail.
I panned through the blueline docs and I can't figure out how to reset the sound decoder.
Can anyone help guide me through this - I have a Dighitrax Zephyr at home along with a PR3 and DecoderPro (which I'm ust starting to play with).
Thanks in advance,
Have you tried F9 to start the prime mover if it's a diesel engine? What about F8, mute? Try these two functions before resorting to a reset. F2 is the horn or whistle, which won't sound off if mute or a shutdown has been carried out.
You can download the technical reference manual for both diesel and steam BlueLine decoders from the Factory Direct Trains web site, and these will tell you what the reset command is if you need to perform a reset.
What system the club and you are using should have no effect at all on what has happened. When power is turned off to a BlueLine diesel decoder it goes into shutdown mode. Pressing F9 should bring it back to life.
I did try F9 as well. No joy. Thanks.
I finally figured this thing out....what a PITA ! Now I know why people complain about dual decoders. For those who may come across this problem, here's how to fix:
In Ops programming mode, take out motor decoder and program CV 8 to 8. This resets sound decoder. Then you need a fresh decoder (make sure its address is 03). Throw it in. Go to Broadway Limited website and download 4digit.zip to get proper CV values.
Then you need to program CV17,18,and 29 in that order with the results from the file. All this needs to be done in Ops programming mode. Power cycle. Make sure to hit 8 to ensure sounds are on. Good luck...
Program on the Main CV8=8 is the reset. I have reset the blueline decoder and motor decoder together without a hitch. Then readdress and away you go.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
I have found that the BlueLine instructions on their web site is more wrong that right in many instances. Even the documentation that came with a BlueLine AC4400 locomotive was not written for the decoder that it contained and none of the listed CVs were right on changing the sound.
I've only had to perform a reset one time, and as someone else wrote, I used Ops Mode programming and reset both decoders and then changed the address without removing the TCS motor control decoder.
This is another case where the BlueLine instructions are wrong when they say you must remove the motor control decoder before performing a reset.
What's interesting is that out of the 2, I now have one (C30-7) that has both the sound decoder and motor decoder synced. The SD40-2 for whatever reason, I cannot get the sound decoder to sync to the motor decoder address. When I reset and run at Loco address 3, everything is ok. When I try to reset Loco address, motor decoder resets but sound decoder does not. Talk about frustrating....I believe all of this was caused by the local club's NCEs trying to consist these 2 engines together.
You're definitely on the right track there (pun intended). We use NCE ProCab Radio at our HO scale club and I use it at home, too. BlueLine decoders go totally berserk when you try to consist them with anything else, and become so scrambled that the only way to recover is a total reset.
This is not NCE's fault, though, it's a known problem with BlueLine sound decoders. BlueLine has some instructions on the Factory Direct Trains web site on how to consist them, and it involves tinkering with 10 or more CVs that have to be reset individually. Not something for the faint of heart.
I've given up on trying to consist a BlueLine with anything other than another BlueLine, and instead of trying to create a consist I just give them the same address and reprogram CV29 in one of the engines to tell it to run bass ackwards to the other.